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 Montpellier where we rented a gite on the edge of a village miles from anywhere - it was lovely and I am lost for superlatives to describe the wedding setting, down a mile of tortuous rock roads plummeting out of sight at the end such that Jane got out of the hire car to confirm it was not a cliff edge. An elegant and unique house isolated in the steeply wooded hills which folded one on the other into the far distance. A fabulous location lit in the evening with scores of glowing Chinese lanterns hung from trees transforming the bright heat of the day into a magical land as a warm darkness fell and one became aware of the natural fragrance in the air. During the week we toured the Camargue to see horses, bulls and flamingos and also the Roman (19BC) aqueduct at Pont du Garde - colossal, humbling and an illustration of the power of Rome at that time.

We should have realised why our aircraft was tossed so on its landing run into Schiphol airport but discovered back at the marina that a full gale was lashing in from the South and boats were bouncing - Talisman had been double warped by friendly Dutch neighbours Crus and Corry to stop it hitting the pontoon, so kind of them and we also sadly learnt that the harbour master had died from his accident - a tragedy for everyone and shocking to understand how easily such a thing can happen.

With the wind still high it was sensible to stay yet another day which we spent walking the last bit of the City we had not visited i.e. the edge of the red light district which is pretty central and architecturally interesting, not to mention the extremely unusual shops, services and products on sale - a far remover from Henley on Thames, or so I have always thought. I could not help thinking that the retail demand, let that be the delicate way to describe it, is mainly directed at the thousands of tourists who come to be entertained and who throng these lovely, aged and quaintly historic streets.

Finally off to the Ijsselmeer en route for Enkhuizen. A bright start and sailing most of the way into a head wind with reduced genoa - how odd it is that within a very short of time one gets used to having 2.5 to 4 metres of water to sail in, when at home we would hurriedly tack into deeper water - well there isn't any. It seemed a long hop tacking back and forth dodging barges on the way covering 44 miles with high cloud veiling the sun and removing colour from the scenery - we were glad to get through the impressive oranjesluice wich removes an old bottleneck with two locks built over the motorway which has been pushed down a tunnel.

Enkhuizen is a statement of how wealthy and successful the Netherlands was in the 16th to 18th c. Lovely brick roads alongside a canal system linking to several beautiful harbours. Trees provide shade everywhere and the buildings are pure idealistic Dutch baroque in every imaginable form stacked cheek by jowl. A typically continental carillon punctuates the daylight hours with complex yet familiar tunes and overall the sun flashes on the towering spire of the grand Protestant church. Any artist would love to spend a week here - or more.

Our next leg planned for tomorrow is out of the Ijsselmeer into the Wadenzee lying between the Fresian Islands and the North Sea, then back in to Harlingen where we can join the canal system going further North.