Huckleberry Friend: Four Days on a Boat in Friesland

September 11 is the day we arrived . . . Pat, Barbara, Laura, and me. Our first day/night in Netherlands was in Sneek (pronounced Snake), an old city in Friesland, whose "Waterpoort" is pictured above. Like thousands of old European cities, there is a very compact center built around an old church, and the city center was nearly ringed by a canal. In this city we were introduced to mustard soup (actually a thin soup with bacon and green onions flavored lightly with mustard). We spent the night here because Woudsend, where we were to pick up the boat, has no hotel. We taxied to Woudsend and found that our vessel, rented from LeBoat, was not ready. So we wandered through Woudsend for a little while. And we saw a working windmill, between houses on a quiet street. It didn't appear to be milling anything - perhaps it was used to generate electricity?

Is that a windmilll in the middle of the town?

That windmill's blades were slowly turning, even without canvas sails unfurled.

LeBoat rentals are found all over western Europe, and this marina was new, large, and spic-and-span. Maybe the boat was not ready because it was the end of the season - we never found out why we had to wait several hours. When we finally went aboard for an introduction to operating the boat, the wind had developed to such an extent that it was very difficult to control the boat.

Patrick was our patient instructor, especially patient with my steering ability (or lack).

We decided to stay in the marina overnight and leave on Tuesday. I was determined to master the art of steering so I took the boat out of the marina and down the canal . . . hadn't gone far when a very loud horn sounded - - a great green dredging barge was advancing on my rear. So I spun the wheel to the right, ended up making a U-turn into the reeds, but avoided being run down.

The flat green countryside supported farms as far as the horizon. Reeds like these saved us from being overrun by the barge.

And eventually we cruised away from the town and into the very flat and very green countryside. The wind continued to be troublesome, but we made it to our destination, Sneek. Not so sure where to tie up, we did so at the first bollards we saw. Quais in these towns are marked with "no parking" signs. The best place to tie up is between the big red "P" where there are also electrical outlets. We didn't know that, so we parked legally but spent the night using our battery.

Our little boat was called "Tamaris", moored here in Sneek.

In the morning, the assistant harbourmaster came along to collect "rent" (based on the boat's length) and pointed out that just a short way down the quai we'd have electricity.

The assistant harbormaster gave Pat a receipt for the "rent" and showed us where to moor with electricity..

That day was very rainy and still windy so we elected to stay in the town and be sightseers. Sneek has a great maritime museum; it's well organized, very new, and spreads into 5 or 6 buildings.

A very small fishing boat, typical, I'm told.

A child's sled/sleigh for winter's icy canals.

And also a miniature train museum in the former train station with very helpful volunteers. Wonderful constructions of towns, farms, crossings, freight yards, complete with inch-tall figures. One great construction had mountains - which Netherlands definitely lacks. The volunteer guide said it was based on "those mountains in Switzerland" . . . "Alps?" we asked?

The boat had two cabins, a galley, a lounge, two heads, and could be driven from inside or out. Outside was easier - because you have better sight lines. Our meals were generally breakfast and lunch on the boat, dinner in town. We'd stocked up on essential items (coffee, butter, cheese, bread, raisin buns, cereal, wine, beer, etc) while stuck in Woudsend. Also wine and pastries for my birthday celebration.

birthday dessert.

Those weather-related delays meant that we had one last day for cruising, so off we went down through the town, under the lift-bridges, into a very wide channel with large dredging barges and some heavily laden barges, sailboats large and small, green & red channel markers, islands perfect for temporary mooring, and back to Woudsend. Below are several photographs from that final day.

Waiting for the bridge tender to lift the bridge.

Passing through a fairly crowded town.

This sculpture marks the entrance to the newest aqueduct.

I wondered about the paddle-like things on the side of the boat - the boat's flatbottomed, so on windy days, they are lowered to provide leverage to the keel-less boat.