5 - 10 October
We took advantage of some good weather with light easterly winds to make the return journey via Dunkerque, Dover, Eastbourne and Brighton.
We mainly motored, but had a couple of pleasant sailing days. A nasty weather front came through whilst we were in Brighton so we stayed an extra night.
We finally returned to Portsmouth Harbour and moored up in Port Solent at the top end of the harbour for the winter.
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4 October
Again a day out by train to Brugge – an amazing place, historic and attractive, but very vibrant with a 'lived in' feel, not just a tourist attraction.
We went on a half-hour boat trip along the canals – our driver/guide was a turn in himself – he spoke in English, German, Italian and Spanish, with a lot of humorous cracks, and had us and another English couple in stitches.
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2 October
Day out by train to Brussels. Fog all day but not too cold.
Le Grand Place (the main square) was incredible, beautiful historic buildings. Had a walk round a couple of other areas of the city, including the upper part with a lot of Art Nouveaux architecture.
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29 September - 4 October
Motored to Zeebrugge – wind on the nose and drizzle turning to rain by the time we arrived. Brightened up after lunch. Very long walk (nearly an hour) to train station and discovered no trains at weekend. Zeebrugge a dump and we decided to go on next morning.
Next day we had sunshine and a light west wind so we part sailed and part motored to Ostende and moored near the entrance. On our return from a walk around Ostende we found the boat bouncing around very badly (fenders nearly popping out). Decided we would be better in the marina the other side of the lock – we phoned them up, obtained a berth and moved – very quiet and closer to the station.
Day out to Antwerp by train. Had a walk around historic part for an hour, in the pouring rain. Caught tram to South Antwerp to visit Jim's aunt, Sister Camille. She was delighted to see us, introduced us to all the nuns and showed us around the care home. They gave us afternoon tea when we arrived, and an early supper before we left.
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22 - 28 September
A short motor down the canal to Middelburg. Cycled round the town moat and bastions, then explored the old town on foot. Yet another very impressive gothic town hall and large market square. Went inside the Abbey complex and were surprised to find an intense boules competition taking place which we stopped and watched for some time.
We had an hour's wait for the bridge to open when we left Middelburg, then another short motor down the canal, through another huge lock back into the North Sea, and moored in the marina at Vlissingen (Flushing).
It was tremendously bumpy in marina, especially at high tide, with lines creaking all night. Decided to move immediately to Breskens for a quiet night.
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18 - 21 September
From Dordrecht we motored down the river and entered the southern delta where we were able to sail again.
Willemstad – a very pretty village surrounded by bastions and a moat, with yet another very large church in the middle of the village.
Motored to Sint Annaland (wind on the nose again) and a couple of huge locks to negotiate. As Anne was not feeling 100% Jim got the job of all the moorings, not too many cock-ups. This is a nice village, part old and part new, in the centre of a national park.
After a couple of nights in St Annaland we motored through the Oosterschelde and entered the Veerse Meer via a lock. The sun came out, we had a delightful sail for a time, and the Veerse Meer is very pretty with lots of wooded islands dotted around - a beautiful area and very popular with sailors. Moored up in Veere, a small village - very pretty but unable to buy food or drink there other than bread.
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16 - 17 September
The motor to Dordrecht was along major rivers/canals with much commercial traffic. The confluence of the two rivers at Dordrecht is the busiest in The Netherlands.
We moored in the tiny Martensgat harbour in a strong wind, but were given help to get into a difficult box mooring. The large church is right by the harbour - chimes every quarter hour through the day, and the hours are sounded all night. The town is full of very old buildings, some 16th century, and is very attractive with many harbours, canals and bridges.
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11 - 15 September
Rotterdam – a very modern, lively city with a lot of sculptures, but there are older parts, especially by the old harbours. We wandered around the very extensive market (buying food). Anne visited the Museum Boijmans van Beuningen (marvellous art and very well laid out), Jim took a tour around the city on the Museum tram (excellent).
We took a train to Delft for a day as it would have taken us a day there plus a day back by boat. Fascinating town with many very old buildings and well worth a visit.
Again we had a day out to Den Haag (The Hague) by train. A great shock on walking out of central station as all the buildings are very modern and high rise, but the centre of the city is much more historic. Visited Panorama Mesdag – a painting collection including an amazing panoramic full circle painting from late 1800's of coast near Scheveningen, viewed from a central platform built on top of an artificial dyke.
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6 - 10 September
Gouda - moored up at side of canal. We started following a historic walk in the tourist guide/map. Visited main church (longest in Netherlands) with marvellous stained glass windows, then to museum which was a hotch potch of things including artefacts from local history and torture chamber as well as modern art gallery!
Continued with walk, then realised something was going on – Open Monuments Day – and started visiting the buildings that were open to the public on this day only. We were given a private conducted tour around the former orphanage (now the public library) as we were English.
Earlier in the day we had walked through a park where marquees were being erected and were told it was for the "Culinaire Festival", so we went along in the evening. You had to buy tokens to purchase drinks and fixed price sample meals by local restaurants. We tried a couple of main courses and a dessert at different places - all were excellent. Shared a table with Dutch couple, both teachers, for one course who told us about the education system. A band was playing on a stage. Loads of people and great atmosphere.
We finished our historic walk over the next couple of days as we kept getting distracted - one of our favourite places in The Netherlands.
We stayed an extra couple of days as bad weather was forecast - and just lazed around.
For more pictures of Gouda please click here
2 - 3 September
We moored alongside a traditional Dutch yacht on the canal in the centre of Haarlem. A very attractive town with lots of little cobbled streets, many hofjes (almshouses around a courtyard), and some very impressive buildings on the main square.
4 - 5 September
Moored overnight at Lisse (a mainly modern town), motored through Oude Wetering which had beautiful houses lining the canal, then moored by a bridge in the middle of nowhere (near Boskoop) overnight.
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26 August - 1 September
Lovely sail to Amsterdam. Moored in a marina just north of the main canal, a few minutes walk and free ferry across to Amsterdam Central.
Purchased “I Amsterdam” cards for 3 days sightseeing of major sights - a very enjoyable canal tour, Van Gogh Museum (not impressed), Dutch Resistance Museum, Rembrandt House and studio, Museum Het Ship (social housing project by Amsterdam School architect Michel de Klerk, 1920), Rijksmuseum (stunning paintings by the masters), St Nicholas church.
Generally wandered around by foot and tram enjoying the sights including the flea market, a bronze of Rembrandt's famous Nightwatch painting, the Begijnhof (17th century enclosed courtyard of houses for elderly catholic ladies - an oasis of calm in the centre of Amsterdam, and (by accident of course) stumbled upon the Red Light district.
We took a train to Zaanse Schans expecting a working museum, but very disappointed to find it mainly "museum shops", but fascinating to see inside a working windmill.
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22 - 25 August
Sailed to Hoorn. Very narrow entrance into attractive tree lined harbour but only stayed 1 night.
Sailed to Volendam. Very touristy, but attractive, with the harbour lined by restaurants, cafes, souvenir and 'your photograph in Dutch costume' shops (very popular with children).
We cycled to Edam for a day out. Attractive place where we strolled around for some time. Interesting cheese museum where we bought an Edam cheese. An extraordinarily large church for the size of village, with a impressive and interesting interior.
Short motor across the bay to Marken, an island attached to the mainland by a dyke built in 1950's. Old houses were built on piles although now filled in with another floor, with painted wooden gables. Cycled around most of perimeter of island. Very popular with day trippers.
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19 -21 August
Sailed across Ijsselmeer to Medemblik in blue sky and sunshine - perfect sailing weather. Spent 1 night in marina and walked around the town.
Enkhuisen. A fairly large town with many old buildings. Visited Zuider Zee Museum – open air part consisted of old buildings, homes and businesses which had been moved to this site. Boards gave information about history of building - some were set up as home and/or shop/business contents. Also a reproduction of the harbour at Marken with boathouse and working boats. Inside part of museum had large collection of vessels and artefacts from history. Excellent museum and spent whole day there.
For more pictures of Medemblik and the Zuiderzee Museum please click here
14 – 18 August
Grouw, moored at canalside. Small town with some older parts. In the evening we watched a visiting folk dancing group in local costume.
Lemmer. A very attractive seaside type of town. Moored alongside on the canal in the centre of town.
For further pictures of Leeuwarden, Grouw & Lemmer please click here
10 – 13 August
Sailed down Ijsselmeer to Stavoren and went through lock into inland waterways, motored and sailed along the Franz Josef canal (genoa only) to Heeg Passentenhaven. Nice village, popular with yachts; wandered and lazed around for a couple of days.
Sneek. Moored at canalside on municipal moorings. Very attractive, espeically around Waterpoort and along canals.
After leaving Sneek we sailed across the Sneekermeer.
For more pictures of Heeg and Sneek please click here
3 – 9 August
We stayed a further couple of days at Den Helder to get some washing done. The washer and drier needed tokens from the Harbourmaster. As he wasn't around we had to use our small hand-cranked washing machine for the first time - fortunately the weather was good enough to dry the washing on a line strung around the boat.
On leaving, we passed through the Den Oever lock into the Ijsselmeer and crossed to Hindeloopen, a small village with miniature canals running through it - very picturesque and quiet.
We cycled to Workum for an afternoon for provisions and a walk round – nice church and weighhouse, had coffee in main square.
For more pictures of Hindeloopen and Workum please click here
26 July – 2 August
Took the train from Den Helder to Bremen in Germany for our flight to Verona, Italy where we joined the rest of the wedding party for Sharyn & Will's wedding, preceded by a week's holiday near Malcesine on Lake Garda.
Hotel was great, scenery absolutely fabulous and, best of all, the wedding was beautiful and romantic, held on top of a tower in the Castle at Malcesine. Sharyn and Will both looked fantastically happy, with a very beautiful bridesmaid, Victoria.
For pictures of the wedding please click here.
For more pictures of Italy please click here.
11 - 25 July
We left Portsmouth on 11 July, heading for Brighton, but with strong SW winds we made very good time and decided to continue on to Eastbourne. Day sails to Dover, Dunkerque, bypassed Belgium and sailed to Breskens in The Netherlands.
Continued with day sails to Stellendam, Scheveningen and arrived in Den Helder after a very bumpy ride on 17 July. Moored in marina on inland canal.
Remained in Den Helder as weather deteriorated further and was not suitable for continuing past Frisian Islands to Cuxhaven.
Den Helder is the main naval base for Netherlands, a pleasant town; we cycled around and did a few jobs on boat.
For more pictures of the journey from Portsmouth to The Netherlands click here.
