27th - 30th June Lauwersoog This was to be a short blog just for colour but the wind and seas dropped making it possible to move on in leaps and bounds - but first the intended short colour bit. The high wind continues to keep us in Lauwersoog's comfortable and entertaining marina - with good wifi too. As trailed in the last episode we caught the 163 bus to Groningen with our two Dutch chums Crus and Corry who have seen all the old BBC TV comedy series so ple...

24th - 26th June Dokkum and Lauwersoog There is a balance to be made when unfavourable weather persists, to push on and spend days at a less interesting location possibly or to stay put and become immune to the attractions while others are going on to the unknown. We felt this in Leeuwarden which had been full of attractions but we had beem told that Dokkum, our next stop, was well up in the prettiness stakes. The passage wound through canals which were becomi...

21st - 23rd June Still at Leeuwarden If I have given the impression that it does not rain in Holland then I was wrong; it does and it is and in addition a promise of high winds for the weekend keeps us from moving on to Lauwersoog where we will be sluiced back out into the North Sea. In spite of that there was a great open market in town this morning with such a choice of goods on offer from any garment imaginable in orange, to the revelation of all the things...

17th - 20th June Wadenzee to Leeuwarden First of all, there is something wrong about the photo album associated with this entry, so go to Photos and select the album from there and not from the panel below. Going North again after pausing in Amsterdam for 10 days We came up from Enkhuizen today to the top of the Ijsselmeer (I can now spell that with confidence ) on water not unlike a glass topped coffee table and Force 2 on the nose. Then out into the Wadenzee ...

8th - 17th June Marseille and Enkhuizen Although this last week in the South of France was an interlude to attend a wedding, I could not let it go without including a flavour of how it was. We left Sixhaven marina in Amsterdam where shortly before we had arrived, the harbour master had fallen and knocked his head on a metal fitting while helping a boat to moor and had been rushed to hospital. In France, the wedding ( of two Canadian citizens! ) was near Montpe...