Month: June 2017
We all create our own geographies. At home, my route to the shops ensures I go past whichever trees are at their flowering best, or in Autumn, past the ones with the most firey colours. In The NL, the streets…
We’ve seen variations on this image all over the place. The Elfstedetocht is the ‘Eleven Cities Race’. It started as an organized event in 1909, but there are references to it from 1760. The route is along the frozen canals, beginning in Leeuwarden and…
I thought that not having easy access to a bookshop would be my greatest challenge. So I got a Kindle. While I love the portability of a Kindle and how easy and quick it is to download books onto it…
I’ve had directions like this on dry land and the navigation ‘book’ for the tidal part of the River Trent in Nottinghamshire at one point instructs boaters to ‘take the side of the channel by the three willows.’ In a…
Did the laundry today in Dokkum. Much easier than the last time, when I walked about 3km round the outside of the town to (i) locate the launderette – this turned out to be a two washers and one dryer…
The first time we took the family to The NL, aboard a ferry from Harwich, I was so struck by the resemblance of Harwich to the descriptions in Ladybird’s ‘Man on the Sea’ that I said, ‘It’s a real working…
What haven’t we got on board our Small Ship? No shower, dishwasher, washing machine, bath, tumble dryer, double bed, fridge, TV, Radio 4, microwave, blender, breadmaker…. But we do have: a chemical toilet, a gas cooker, improvised fridge under the…
Moored just shy of the road bridge in Garnwerd, ready for dash to Groningen tomorrow and feeling very pleased with ourselves. Mooring wasn’t easy and then we had to move along and do it all over again to make room for…
HEMA and BLOKKER in DOKKUM Sounds like code? Dokkum is where we are at present. Our ‘Rough Guide to The Netherlands’ advised, ‘give it a couple of hours and move on.’ We disagree. Dokkum is probably the most ‘Dutch’ town…