A Long Overdue Update from the Netherlands

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We just realized that those of you that are on Facebook at least know what country we are in, while those of you that are following our blog may be wondering where we are since our last entry from August in Sweden.



We haven’t forgotten you, but we have been doing a great deal of traveling since then and taking lots (Bob said “unbelievable amount”) of photos which means lots of work sorting through them and then of course writing up the details of what we have been seeing. We will eventually fill in the gaps from our travels through Finland, the Aland Islands, Sweden, Denmark, Germany and now into the northern part of the Netherlands.



It was a very full schedule this summer with our start from the UK, over to the Netherlands, through the Kiel Canal and to most of the countries bordering the Baltic Sea – we only missed Lithuania and Norway. With so many places to see and our fixed schedule for entry and exit of Russia, it at times seemed like a “push” but all in all it was well worth it as we saw some fabulous places, met many wonderful people and even got in some great sailing!



With the hectic schedule we had this season we were ready to slow down the pace and decided the best way to do that would be to see northern Holland via the extensive canal system. Fortunately some of the canals in Holland are set up so that we can travel through them with our mast up (numerous opening bridges making this possible).



On September 5^th we entered the Netherlands at Delfzil and since then have been going very slowly through this mainly agricultural area of the Netherlands. It has been enjoyable to be able to move a few hours and find yourself in another town to explore. Each town has excellent facilities right in the center with easy access to the town center, most of them having showers, electricity and water.



We will give more details of our explorations of these towns in another blog entry, but have included a few photos here to give you a flavor of what we have been up to for the last month and a half. September was a beautiful month weather-wise and gave us a chance to do some biking and plenty of walking. Now that we are into October the rain and winds have picked up so some of our stops have been longer due to the weather – why move if you don’t have to in the pouring rain or strong winds! We are getting to the point where we will be making our last move for this season and get Tsamaya ready to pull for the winter before heading back to the US to visit family and friends.



Our apologizes for our delay this year in getting our blog entries up timely, but we have been thoroughly enjoying our travels and once we end our season we will update the entries here to complete the journal of our travels through the Baltic.

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Photos

We Always Love a Festival
This one we enjoyed in Delfzil

One of the Many Bridges That Had to Open
for us to pass through while on the Stand Mast Canal Route

Always Learning More History
wherever we go

Had A Chance to Hear this Organ Played
while in Groningen

Another Festival - this one in Groningen
complete with a boat parade through the canals

With the 2nd Story Addition to the House Boat
Guess this one isn' t planning on moving anywhere else with the height of that permanent bridge!

Visiting The Maritime Museum in Groningen
was another great way to spend a day

Going through the Canals in Groningen
become even narrower with the numerous houseboats moored here

This is Definitely Farm Country
with plenty of fields of cows too

Windmills, Dutch Sailing Barges & Opening Bridges
We saw plenty of all of them as we traveled through the canals of the Netherlands

Interesting for an Ocean Sailing Boat
to be now passing so close to scenes such as these!

Canals Are Everywhere You Look
large enough for boats like ours and small ones like these going through the villages

Many of the Canals Are Shallow
but still enough water for us to travel through