Early July 2015 – Medemblik and 50th Birthday

 

29th June – Monday – Enkhuizen to Medemblik

We sailed most of the 11.5 miles from Enkhuizen to Medemblik, taking just over 3 hours.  There wasn’t much wind to start with and all slow sailing skills were applied.  Then the wind picked up to 15 knots and the Captain really enjoyed himself.

Kasteel Radboud, which welcomes you to town.

Sailors Info : Medemblik ‘Pekelharing’ Marina.  Yes that really is ‘Pickled Herring Harbour’!!  Only 18.5 euros per night, buy 2 nights get one free.  Free electric, water and push button showers.  There is a Spar on the main street and an Aldi and Deen nearby.  Exit the marina and turn left away from town, turn right at first junction, pass petrol station and supermarkets are on the right.  Approx 10 minute walk.  Market Day is on Monday.  Chandlers in the large marina and there is a ‘Four Candles’ hardware shop on the entrance channel, before the bridge.

We only came to Medemblik because Brian and Lynn from Sunderland told us how nice it was.  The day after we arrived ‘Colne Rose’ appeared in the birth next to ours.  We had met Adrian and Jane in Lorient last year and literally went to talk to them because their boat is called Colne, which is a Lancashire town.  As it turns out, it is a river in Suffolk too.  As they pulled up I said ‘You’re the lady with the sewing machine on board’.  And of course we got chatting.

The next few days were incredibly hot so Jane and I chatted and she taught me to Tatt with the equipment Liz had given me for the trip.  We swopped books and each hosted an evening pre dinner gathering.

3rd July – 50th Birthday

The birthday fairies visited during the night and put up balloons and a banner.  What a surprise!

Boat decorations put up by my stealthy, lovely husband.

Birthday Cards, Liz and Jane made beautiful cards, and an E-Card from Annette.  I also got an enormous amount of good wishes on Facebook following Michaels Breakfast Waffle post.  Thanks everyone.

Adrian made Michaels day by being the proud owner of a tin of ‘Volvo Penta Green’ paint, and being kind enough to part with some.  Mick spent a happy couple of hours lovingly touching up the engine!  Fellow boat nerds happily finding each other.  

Indonesian Rice Plate meal at Danny Leung’s.

A lovely sunny day, I could not ask for more.

4th July – Sunday

Medemblik ‘Pekelharingharbour’.  There are at least 2 more marinas here.  The Irish guy in the Pink ice cream shop told us that this marina used to be a football pitch and they dug it up.  Imagine buying a house next to grass and ending up with a marina side property.  Good for the house price.

Medemblik Main Street – Summer market.  Held every few weeks, the summer markets have a theme, this one was the babies and children’s, including mini cafe with small chairs and pony rides.

I had a quick walk while Mick was watching F1 qualifying and saw this steam train.

The train line from Hoorn Steam Train museum terminates here.

And connects to this steam ferry service.

I also had a quick look around the small Medemblik town museum, which had really friendly volunteers and English guide books.  There were lots of old Dutch tiles, glasses and bottles and pictures of the building of the Dyke, and masses of items found during the dig.

5th July – Sunday

We walked round to the large marina to visit the Chandlers and purchase the ‘Friesland’ Water Atlas, which Jane found yesterday.  It has the canals for the area not shown in the ‘Standing Mast Route’ book.

Afterwards we heard drums and pipes and walked round to see the ‘Steampunk’ festival at the Kastel Radboud.  Complete with tents and stalls and lots of people dressed up.  Whatever floats your boat.

Finally, many of the boats here have their names written in English.

‘Touch of Wind’, some translate better than others!  ‘Gentle Breeze’ may have worked better.

Late June 2015 – Hoorn and Enkhuizen

21st June – Sunday – To Hoorn

As usual our route follows to the next place with a nice marina and a large enough town to spend a few days.  So our journey to Hoorn started at 08:45 and took only 2 and a half hours to cover the 10 miles.  Unusually we set off in the rain and got pretty soaked, but it wasn’t far, so not too much hardship.

A bit of work was required on arrival to remove the mass of weed which had been caught on the rudders.  It was not as tough as the French stuff last year but put up a fair fight to remove it.  We were told that it only occurs in this area.

The sailing ship ‘Half Moon’ greets your arrival into Hoorn now.  It is a replica of a boat sailed by Henry Hudson for whom the Hudson River in New York is named.  The ship only arrived in Hoorn from America on the 23rd May 2015, but we believe this will be its home as the Americans could not justify its upkeep.

Today the crew was not keen to set off in the rain, but the journey proved worthwhile as our early arrival meant that we caught the tail end of the ‘Kaaphoorn 400’ celebrations.

A festival to celebrate the rounding of Cape Horn 400 years ago by sailors from Hoorn and therefore the town which ‘Cape Horn’ was named after.

There were several stages set up around town, playing different types of music on each stage, so the oldies did not have to listen to modern music and vice versa.

We spent 3 days in Hoorn and there are some lovely buildings to explore.

View of the harbour-side tower, which is a quirky, circular restaurant.

Beautifully decorated buildings.  Many of the buildings have plaques which represent the type of work carried out in them.

The ‘VVV’ tourist office is located in this elaborately decorated building in the main square.  They do seem to choose some of the best buildings for their offices.  The chap on the plinth is a local member of the Dutch East India Company who appears to have made his money by un-scrupulous means, and there is a plaque on the plinth stating that the man is not to be admired!  Wonder how long it will take for them to melt him down?

The Physical Performance Arts Theatre had a very eye catching statue on the roof.

Info:  Hoorn Marina ‘Stichting’ cost 19.80 euros per night, inc electricity.  The facilities were good but a little dated.  A shower costs 1 euro, with a machine on the wall indicating the shower number you had paid for.  Select the number before inserting your money.  We stayed on the visitor pontoon which was a walk to the facilities.  The wifi was excellent and free.  There is a small shop on site and a large ‘Albert Heijn’ at the other side of the railway station over the bridge on the left (20 mins walk).

Hoorn must be on the Lake Cruisers itinerary as a fresh set of tourists were deposited each day from the huge cruise boats, which must be good for the local economy and it is a lovely compact town to walk around.

24th June – Wednesday - To Enkhuizen

Only 12 miles to Enkhuizen, but we took our time.  It was a beautiful sunny and breezy day and we sailed, that’s Sailed most of the way.  09.30 to 15.00 lazy lovely sailing. 

Except, that an hour of that time was spent in the ‘Naviduct Enkhuizen’.  Normally a place of precision and punctuality, but the ‘lecky was off.  The Naviduct leads from the Markermeer to the Ijsselmeer.  There is a huge lock at each end of the dyke.  The delay meant that the spaces filled up pretty quickly and we all kept moving along until the waiting pontoon was full.  

That is why they need such a big control tower.  You can see this for miles and they can obviously see you.

Enkhuizen inner harbour, summer sighting of ‘Bondicus Shorticus’, a rare display of plumage.

As above.

Picturesque Enkhuizen.  The best Kebbelin shop is just over the bridge.  There are 2 excellent Ice-Cream shops too.  Only 1 Euro for 1 blob, cheapest yet (The pink shop on the main street).

Info: Enkhuizen Marina ‘Compagnieshaven’ 21.50 euros per night.  1 Euro per day for electricity.  Free wifi but this is a large marina and at weekends the signal is poor.  1 Euro for a shower.  Top tip: there are showers and toilets upstairs too.  There is a comprehensive site shop which sells fresh baked bread and pastries and a good chandlers.  The supermarkets are ‘Deen’ and ‘Aldi’ near Westerstraat and are not that easy to find, but are worth the search.

27th June – Saturday – Grand Day Out – Zuiderzee Museum Open Air and Indoor.

The museum is worth every cent of the 15 euro entrance fee.  It comprises 130+ traditional homes and businesses gathered together from around Holland to represent a town of 1905 or thereabouts in a fishing harbour setting.  There is also an indoor museum included in the price, opposite the Marina and a free ferry from the train station.

Tanning the fishing nets, to stop them rotting.

Children’s clogs lined up outside the classroom.

Traditional classroom.

These poorer houses had people ‘living’ in them, very well done.  It felt like you were intruding as they cooked their lunch on a paraffin stove.

It is so higgeldy-piggeldy, it is hard to take a good photo to do it justice.  The most curious people will get the most from the visit as there are gems to find round each corner.

These wooden carved heads are from a private collection and were used to identify Chemist shops when people could not read.  (There is one near the V&D shop in Haarlem too).

Goats getting out of the sun.

The indoor museum, which was very modern inside a traditional building.  There is something for everyone.

Marken Lace.

A sampler from 1617.  Don’t think my bears will last that long.

Amazing hall full of traditional boats.

Sunday 28th June

Enkhuizen ‘Haringparty’ a festival for the beloved Herring.

Young ladies traditionally dressed.

Fishermen singing on a boat.  Also many of the restaurants were handing out samples.

Got to love a festival.

Mid June 2015 – Vollendam, Edam and Monnickendam

16th June – Tuesday

18 miles from Amsterdam to Vollendam, we left the Northsea Canal and entered the Markermeer the first of the large inland seas.  09.45 start and arrived at 14.00.  Again we timed our departure from Amsterdam to reach the large lock with leads to the Markermeer.

Sport (small craft) channel and waiting pontoon outside the lock.

Inside the lock.  We were in the middle of the lock.

Road bridge, all the passengers on the coach waved to us.

We passed the Paard den Marken, a lighthouse on Marken Island, which is a National Monument, but sadly it is currently covered in Scaffolding.

Our first sight of Volendam.

Volendam Marina village.

Info:  Volendam Marina village appears to be a purpose built holiday complex.  Approx 18 euros per night.  The facilities are excellent.  The marina require you to pay a 10 euro deposit for the security card which allows entry to the village out of hours and is also used in the showers to turn on the water flow!  Wifi is 1 euro per day, and had a poor signal.  The marina is an easy 10 minute walk from town, where there is a ‘Deen’ supermarket.  The market is outside Deen’s on Saturdays.  There is also an excellent Chandlery on site.

Children’s car garage with 6 cars and petrol pumps on the marina pontoon.  Very child friendly.

We had a lovely evening with John and Eileen from Largs on their Catalina.  We started our trip last year from Largs so had lots to talk about.

17th June – Wednesday

Walked to Edam from Volendam along the dyke approx 4km, on a sunny but windy day. 

Another very pretty town with a bakery which had to be sampled.

We had wondered about the large car park full of coaches as we entered town.  Then we found out it was Wednesday and therefore the famous Edam cheese market.  Volendam had been very busy on our way out and we think it was the second stop of the day for the cheese tours.

Edam cheese market, just after the crowds.  (The market is only on from 10.30 to 12.30).

18th June – Thursday

Cycled to Monnickendam on our folding bikes, which are far less comfortable than the Dutch bikes.  Approx 10km round trip with an Ice Cream stop in town.

Monnickendam town quay towards the town.

Town Quay towards the marina.

Monnickendam is worth a visit but do not try to walk, use the bikes, as the journey follows a main road.

19th June – Friday

We walked into Volendam on this overcast day.

The main street is very picturesque.  It was a fishing village and cheese producer and is famous for the old fashioned costumes worn by the locals.  Less so these days but we did see a few.  Hence there are numerous photo shops where people can have their photograph taken in traditional costume.  I wondered how they all made a living until the tour boats arrived.

The town gets much busier and the photo shops do swift business.

As promised this is Michael with his portion of ‘Kebbelin’.  We just remembered to take a picture before it disappeared.  It is small pieces of cod fried and served with a choice of sauce.  It is usually freshly cooked and irresistible.

A particularly snazzy tour boat. 

We had a very pleasant evening on our boat with Brian and Lynn from Sunderland.  They moored next door and we immediately recognised their boat ‘Mad Crab’ from our time in Hartlepool.  They now keep her in Sunderland and once again we had lots to chat about.

Another sign I could not resist, from Volendam Marina.

We really enjoyed our time in Volendam, it has a holiday atmosphere and is a honeypot for tour boats which equals great people watching.

Next stop Hoorn, of ‘Cape Horn’ fame.