Netherlands Trip - Stavoren      17th June:

    We awoke to blue skies criss-crossed by vapour trails. I took a stroll across to the other side of the marina to take a photo or two from that angle. On my way back I called into a supermarket to buy the unique combination of soap, mustard soup and apple pie - potential for another good breakfast here.

Duonita in Sneek Marina, with Boatsheds in the Background

    I strolled back into the marina the same way I had left, and found part of my route taped off. There was still room for me to get around, and as I sidestepped the tape, I noticed two men dressed like spacemen in protective suits, complete with respirators. I quickly got out of the area. A few metres further on, I bumped into a Dutch chap, who in desperation that I couldn't understand a word he was saying, showed me a document, and inside it there was the unmistakable word, "asbest". The guys had been dismantling an asbestos roof. There goes ten years off my life.
    On reaching Duonita, I found Rex in earnest conversation over the phone with an estate agent back in England. He had been trying to sell his mother's flat since January, and an offer had just come in. Over the next few hours, his phone rang incessantly as he and the potential buyer homed in on an agreed price. It was a bitter/sweet position to find himself in, joy at finding a buyer, but sadness at selling his mam's house.
    We left Sneek shortly after 10am, and spent several wonderful hours passing through busy canals, and even busier lakes. There were more commercial bulk carrier barges on the move today too.

One of the Many Aqueducts

    The lakes were a boaters paradise, being criss-crossed all the time by sailing craft and motorboats. Many sailing boats were following our route under wind power alone, but the progress they were making was painfully slow.
    Many villages were situated just off the canals, and often had small service canals running parallel between the village and the main canal. The houses would front out onto the service canal, with water "driveways" where the owners kept their boats. Drives for the cars were behind the houses. What bliss if you love being out on the water!
    A few aqueducts were passed today, the road builders considering it an easier option to tunnel under the canal rather than build a movable bridge over it.
    The sun was kind to us today, and kept us company for most of the journey. Everybody afloat seemed to appreciate it, and waved to each other more vigorously than usual on passing. The couple on one particular German boat waved exceedingly enthusiastically as we crossed paths; we'll never know why.

Downtown Stavoren, Burgemeester Albertsstraat

    And then we passed through the final bridge and locks, and we were on the Ijsselmeer at Stavoren, where we tied up in a box marina for the night. Rex had spectacularly manoeuvred Duonita into the narrow space, a considerable feat considering the cross wind that had whipped up during our trip. The marina was enormous and the distance between pontoons double what we had been used to. There were ample toilet/shower facilities and a chandler, but the rest wasn't quite ready. Large and impersonal is probably the best way of describing it.
    Other craft continuously entered the marina all evening, obviously a popular stop off.
    We ambled to downtown Stavoren. Today it is little more than a ferry landing, a brief stop in the journey north. It is the oldest of the eleven Friesland cities. Today you'd never guess this was once one of the great port cities of Europe. Yet so it was, many centuries ago. And so it might be still, if not for the choice made by a lady.
    The fine harbour at Stavoren welcomed the ships of many countries, and many countries were visited by the ships of Stavoren. So rich and proud became the city's merchants, they fitted their doors with handles and hinges of gold.
    Among these merchants was a young widow, richest of the rich and proudest of the proud. They called her the Lady of Stavoren.
    The Lady would stop at nothing to show herself better than her fellow merchants. She filled her palace with the most costly goods from wherever her ships made port. But her rivals always found the means to copy her.
    "I must show them once and for all that I am their better," she said to herself. "Somehow, I must get hold of the most precious thing in the world."

Watery Stavoren Back Lanes

    One evening, the Lady attended a grand ball at the palace of another merchant. There she met a rich and handsome sea captain who had just sailed into Stavoren. He asked her for every dance.
    At the end of the evening, the Captain kissed her hand. "My Lady, I was told you were the wealthiest woman in Stavoren. But no one warned me you were also the most charming."
    From then on, the Lady and the Captain were seen everywhere, her arm in his. And everywhere they went, people talked about what might come of it.

Voorstraat

    "She'll marry him," said one.
    "She'll send him away," said another.
    "She'll keep him dangling," said still another.
    It was not long before the Captain knelt before her. "My Lady, will you honour me by becoming my wife?"
    "Gladly, dear Captain," said the Lady. "But there is one condition. As a wedding gift, you must bring me the most precious thing in the world."
    "The most precious thing? What is that? And where do I find it?"
    "If I knew," said the Lady gently, "I would have purchased it myself. I ask you to discover it and bring it to me."
    "I will do so, dear Lady!" declared the Captain. "Until I return, please wear this ruby ring as a token of my love."
    The next day, the Captain sailed from Stavoren in search of the most precious thing in the world.
    Months passed. Everyone in Stavoren knew of the Captain's quest. Wherever the Lady went, she heard people guessing what the most precious thing would be.

Stavoren Lighthouse

    "A magnificent gown," said one.
    "A marvellous statue," said another.
    "A pearl as big as an egg," said still another.
    The Lady was delighted to be causing such a stir. "And how they will envy me," she said to herself, "when my Captain returns with his gift!"
    At long last, the Captain's ship was sighted entering the harbour. The people of Stavoren streamed to the dock. When the Lady arrived, dressed in her finest, they made way.
    The Captain's ship was just docking. "My Lady," he called, "I have brought what you desired! The most precious thing in the world!"
    "What is it, my Captain?" called back the Lady, barely able to hold in her excitement.

Lady of Stavoren

    "I visited many ports in many lands," the Captain said. "I saw many wonderful things. None could I say was the most precious of all. But at last, in the city of Danzig, I came across it. Then I laughed at myself! I should have known it from the first!"
    "But what is it?" said the Lady impatiently.
    "Wheat!" cried the Captain. "My ship is filled with wheat!"
    "Wheat?" said the Lady. Her face grew white. Behind her, she heard murmurs from the crowd, and laughing. "Did you say wheat?"
    "Yes, dear Lady!" said the Captain joyously. "What could be more precious, more valuable, than wheat? Without our daily bread, what good are all the treasures of the world?"
    The Lady was silent for a moment, listening to the whispers and snickers of the crowd. "And this wheat belongs to me, to do with as I like?"
    "Yes, my love! It is my wedding gift to you!"
    "Then," said the Lady, "pour it into the harbour."
    "What?" Now the Captain's own face was white.
    "Pour it into the harbour! Every grain of it!"
    Murmurs of horror and approval both rose behind her.
    "My Lady," said the Captain, "please consider what you say. There is wheat enough here to feed a city! If you have no use for it, then give it to the poor and hungry. After all, you too may someday be in need."
    "I?" shrieked the Lady. "In need?"
    She plucked from her finger the ruby ring the Captain had given her and held it high. "This ring will return to my hand before I am ever in need."
    With all her might, she flung it far into the harbour.
    The Captain watched as the ring hit the water and sank. Then he looked at the Lady on the dock, her face red with rage.
    He spoke not another word to her, but turned to his men.
    "Cast off!"
    When the ship reached the harbour mouth, the Captain had his men pour all the wheat overboard. Then he sailed from the harbour, never to return.

Stavoren Tall Ship

    The next day, the Lady held a grand feast for all the richest merchants of Stavoren. She spared no expense, to show that she still had every cause for pride.
    A huge roast fish was set before her for carving. As she was about to cut into it, the Lady saw something glinting in the fish's mouth. She pulled out the object and held it up.
    The diners gasped. The Lady turned pale.
    It was the ruby ring.
    A few weeks later, fishermen found that a sand bar was building beneath the water at the harbour's mouth. The discarded wheat had sprouted and grown, and was catching the sand that before had drifted freely.
    Soon, the tall ships could not enter. The harbour was ruined, and with it went the fortunes of the city. Many of the merchants lost everything.
    Among them was the Lady of Stavoren.
    In the tiny town of Stavoren today, the sand bar is still called "Lady's Sand"-a reminder how the Lady of Stavoren scorned the most precious thing in the world.
    The small town of Stavoren was a small, pretty little place, full of bunting indicating a summer fete had just happened, or was about to happen. A few tall ships were moored in the old harbour, and one or two along the town quay where many yachts had managed to find space. Presumably these elegant vessels were on their way to the Den Helder Tall Ships Festival that would start in a few days time. And there fittingly at the head of the old harbour stood the Lady of Stavoren looking out to sea.