Zeeland - Middelburg, Vlissingen, Breskens

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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Zeeland - Willemstad, Sint Annaland & Veere

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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Zuid Holland - Dordrecht

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 16^th century, and is very attractive with many harbours, canals and bridges.

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Zuid Holland - Rotterdam, Delft & Den Haag

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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Zuid Holland - Gouda

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.

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Noord Holland - Haarlem, Lisse, Boskoop

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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Amsterdam

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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