Netherlands Trip - Enkhuizen/Harlingen      13th June:

Farewell Tall Ships

    I was awoken by a cheery, "Good morning Dave. I have sniffed the air and I think we are going."
    Bright sun poured into the cabin to match his sunny smile, the wind had abated somewhat, enough for Rex to think we could make it to Harlingen. Seize the opportunity!
    After a quick freshen up and shower, a hasty coffee and roll plastered with black-currant jam, we readied the boat for sailing, and off we went.
    We headed out past the flotilla of moored tall ships, avoiding two large ballast barges coming down to the locks. Then we were in the Ijsselmeer on a course towards the Kornwerderzand Sluis, with several other craft to keep us company. The vast lake was bouncy, but we were afloat again in glorious sunshine with a fair breeze, happy to be progressing this new adventure. Flocks of cormorants flew across the mere, resembling wispy, dark curtains from afar.

Drommedaris and St Pancraskerk in the Background

    More barges left feathered trails along our course, and yet another tall ship laboriously made its way down to Enkhuizen. Enkhuizen slowly slid below the horizon. Stavoren and Hindeloopen drifted past our starboard side, and Makuum was in our sights.
    And then disaster struck. Perhaps a wrong twist of the body at the wrong time, Rex did his back in. He had no idea how it happened, but he was suddenly brought to his knees by intense stabbing pains. We instantly knew it was severe enough for us to agree on reaching Harlingen and to moor up there and drop all plans to go further for the time being.
    It was now up to me to do all the grunt work. We entered the Waddenzee via the Kornwerderzand Sluis which stood at the eastern end of the Afsluitdijk. It did not pose a serious problem, and our journey up to Harlingen was uneventful, apart from Rex suffering in silence. We had stayed in this pleasant town four years earlier, so we knew exactly where our preferred mooring place would be on the Noordergracht.

Eetcafe Nooitgedagt, Harlingen

    The harbourmaster plonked us at the end of a long row of craft, right next to the pretty Franekerpoortbrug. When I paid him his dues, I was most impressed that all the details of the boat and owner were still on his computer database from all those years ago.
    Rex was extremely disappointed since the way the winds had evolved over the last 24 hours, we had the ideal opportunity to do the 190 mile trip to the Kiel Canal, which would have involved two full nights out at sea. I consoled him by telling him these things happen, and every cloud has a silver lining. I was happy to make the most of it, but the lad was despondent.
    Meanwhile we marshalled all the painkiller drugs we had between us: Paracetamol and Ibuprofen. On advice from a worried Meryl, I yomped into town to buy a packet of frozen peas to put on his back. I had to make do with frozen sweetcorn. He bellowed like a bull when I placed the pack on the small of his back. "You bastard, you're enjoying that!" he screamed.
    "Don't be such a wimp," was my sympathetic response, "and don't you dare move until it has all melted." It sounded as though the cure was worse than the ailment, and I half expected police to arrive at any moment to investigate the screams. I wished I had ropes to hand to tie him down, he was wanting to be up after a couple of minutes. Hmm... if the police had arrived they would have thought some perverted form of bondage was taking place. I had visions of Rex being carted off screaming by men in white coats.
    Later on, after I had dosed the patient up on Ibuprofen and beers, I cooked a meal for us both, and then we sauntered off at Rex's newly acquired snail pace into town, hoping the gentle exercise would stop his back from seizing up. We learned that this week was Harlingen Festival Week, with all sorts of artistic, musical and cultural activities being available in the town. Today all we discovered was a fun fair sprawled down the length of one of the wide streets.
    We homed in on a cafe/bar/restaurant by the ferry terminal, where we were afforded magnificent views across the Waddenzee to the Frisian Islands of Vlieland and Terschelling. A chatty, personable woman served us with beers, and we chewed the fat whilst watching a ferry weave its way through the twisting channels back to Harlingen. It was packed when it pulled in, mostly day trippers to the islands.

De Tobbedanser

    As we paid the waitress, she asked if we were Dutch, she was obviously impressed with Rex's fluency in the language. On informing her we were British, she uttered, "No, the British are always white and covered in clothes when we see them here. How are you so brown?"
    "He spent the winter in Barbados," giggled Rex. At that, she burst into laughter and gave me a hug. Perhaps she thought I was a millionaire with an 80' yacht, and I would make a good toy boy. We bade our farewells, and slowly made our way back to base. It was a gorgeous evening.
    By 22:30, it was still light, and the pretty bridge by the boat was all lit up with fairy lights. Rex settled down to an early night, hoping for a brighter tomorrow.

Pretty Franekerpoortbrug behind Duonita