We left Sneek on Tuesday, and waved goodbye to our British friends on 'Constellation' who had been a mine of information and good company since we met in the Kiel Yacht Club some two weeks before.

South of Sneek we passed through the big locks used for flood protection and out into rough weather in the Ijselmeer, famous for its nasty short seas. Roland enjoyed one of his last sails of the season, with a good beat in 25-30 kts of wind, before we tied up on the sea wall at Urk. Urk is a picturesque town that used to be an island, now part of the huge Flevo polder system. We went ashore for croquettes and chips. The town is now a big fishing and shipyard base, although it is still some distance from the north sea, across the Ijselmeer. Whilst there we had a phonecall from friends we had met on their boat 'Eider' whilst transiting  the Gota Canal in Sweden. They were leaving in a few days to live in Gisborne, NZ, but  kindly found time to pick us up and take us to their lovely home-farm in Apeldoorn. There we used their internet to contact the many boatyards Mechelien had listed for us as possible winter-homes for 'Restless'. They were busy packing up, but made us delicious Dutch meals, hopefully  we will see them in the Bay of Islands soon.

 

The next day we set off across the Ijselmeer to Enkhuizen, where we anchored by the Zuiderzee museum. Let's clear up the confusion that the Zuiderzee became the Ijselmeer after the sea was enclosed by the dykes and waterways which make up a large part of Holland which used to be underwater. On Friday 25 Sept. C's cousin Maurits drove up to Enkhuizen after work, and stayed on board for the weekend. We had not seen each other for 50 years, and had a great time catching up. Maurits steered and we had a lovely sail  back and forth across the Ijselmeer, ending up in Medemblik, where we tied up, three deep, in the centre of town with many botters (huge old Dutch sailing barges) carousing nearby. We sat near them at an open-air bar and had some bitterbollen and Dutch beer before dinner. At the first bridge opening on Sunday, a huge botter motored through town playing reveille on a bugle, to rouse everyone for a botter race. It was magical to see about 20 of these 100 year old boats drifting around the buoys, like an old Dutch sea painting, and we sailed with them back to Enkhuizen. Maurits left us to drive home, just as June and Pat arrived at the trainstation, to spend afew days with us. They are looking for a boat in Europe and plan to liveaboard for a few years, like us.

 

We walked around the Zuiderzee open air museum at Enkhuizen on Monday morning. It was washing day, and all the laundry was out to dry. It is a lovely reconstructed village with many of the ancient crafts on show, sweetshop, cheese, apothecary, coopers, sailmakers, boatbuilders, and fresh smoked herrings and eels, heerlijk! We set off in the afternoon for Hoorn, another picturesque town. We used our dinghy to motor through the tiny canals around town, famous because it was where the East India merchants set off in the 1500s, long before there was any thought of this being cut off from the North Sea. We left in misty light rain the next day for Edam, everyone knows what Edam is famous for! The cheese market is not as busy at this time of year, but we still enjoyed buying balls of Edam cheese and fresh herring, croquettes, cinnamon cake and mouse-shaped sweets and chocolates in the traditional snoepjewinkel (sweetshop). Then it was on  to Monnickendam, about 5miles south, where we tied up alongside a huge blue Dutch botter, near the centre of town. There is an old church with a clock tower and Consie remembered seeing this many years ago with her family. When the clock strikes the hour a group of jousting men on horseback chase each other in a circle, and the angel blows his bugle, all proceeded by a carillon of church bells. Quite something!