Sunday,
Headed down to Dordrecht to visit Wendy’s cousin Harma but had to first rendezvous with cousin Marcel (he’d left his wallet behind the night before) before getting lost between Dordrecht and Parpendrecht. We were following a ‘route planner’ that we downloaded of the internet but it left out specific information and we may have missed some of the finer points of the Dutch language. Anyway after a bit of round and round the Dordrecht town and some phone calls, we were guided to the house via the mobile phone... Nice to see Harma again and met the children, but Dik was away so we didn’t catch up with him. They have a nice house and make the most of the space they have. When (land/house) space is at a premium, good design is important - four bedrooms have been squeezed in and the house has three levels. The visits all seem to go quickly and it would be nice to spend more time with everyone but then we’d have to stay in Holland for another month. Next time we come it will have to be at a different pace with a different agenda.
Back to Vooschten and we managed to make a rendezvous with Apoline and Ben on the highway (they zoomed past in a bright blue MX5) and followed them to the yacht club where Ben has a motor boat. We enjoyed a wonderful cruise around on the lake and up and down the canals around Brasema Meer. It was a sunny afternoon and a very nice way to spend a long afternoon. There were lots of boats out on the water, little dinghies (rubber ad wooden), sailing boats, open launches, double & triple decker power cruisers (called ‘irons’ over here), tourist boats, barges and whatever else. It was quite busy once we got into the narrower canals and we had to keep to the right and follow the boat in front. Some people are in a hurry, but generally it’s a gentle 5-9 kms cruise and waving it people going the other way. People actually have houses and businesses right on the edge of the canal so there are docks and jetties for mooring. Had to stop for a bridge to open (it didn’t lift but rotated) and also saw a couple of punts that get dragged across the canal by wire. The water level in the canal is higher than the surrounding farms, so a little strange to see cows and sheep grazing a few meters down below the edge of the dyke.
We ended up in a sort of dead end/pond near to a wind mill with a few other boats, and threw out the anchor and stopped for a picnic on the boat. Fed the ducks some crackers and then did the return trip. As they say in Holland, ‘en heel gezellig daag’. Enjoyed a great stir fry at home and organised ourselves for tomorrow.
Headed down to Dordrecht to visit Wendy’s cousin Harma but had to first rendezvous with cousin Marcel (he’d left his wallet behind the night before) before getting lost between Dordrecht and Parpendrecht. We were following a ‘route planner’ that we downloaded of the internet but it left out specific information and we may have missed some of the finer points of the Dutch language. Anyway after a bit of round and round the Dordrecht town and some phone calls, we were guided to the house via the mobile phone... Nice to see Harma again and met the children, but Dik was away so we didn’t catch up with him. They have a nice house and make the most of the space they have. When (land/house) space is at a premium, good design is important - four bedrooms have been squeezed in and the house has three levels. The visits all seem to go quickly and it would be nice to spend more time with everyone but then we’d have to stay in Holland for another month. Next time we come it will have to be at a different pace with a different agenda.
Back to Vooschten and we managed to make a rendezvous with Apoline and Ben on the highway (they zoomed past in a bright blue MX5) and followed them to the yacht club where Ben has a motor boat. We enjoyed a wonderful cruise around on the lake and up and down the canals around Brasema Meer. It was a sunny afternoon and a very nice way to spend a long afternoon. There were lots of boats out on the water, little dinghies (rubber ad wooden), sailing boats, open launches, double & triple decker power cruisers (called ‘irons’ over here), tourist boats, barges and whatever else. It was quite busy once we got into the narrower canals and we had to keep to the right and follow the boat in front. Some people are in a hurry, but generally it’s a gentle 5-9 kms cruise and waving it people going the other way. People actually have houses and businesses right on the edge of the canal so there are docks and jetties for mooring. Had to stop for a bridge to open (it didn’t lift but rotated) and also saw a couple of punts that get dragged across the canal by wire. The water level in the canal is higher than the surrounding farms, so a little strange to see cows and sheep grazing a few meters down below the edge of the dyke.
We ended up in a sort of dead end/pond near to a wind mill with a few other boats, and threw out the anchor and stopped for a picnic on the boat. Fed the ducks some crackers and then did the return trip. As they say in Holland, ‘en heel gezellig daag’. Enjoyed a great stir fry at home and organised ourselves for tomorrow.
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