26th - 29th August. Rural circuit south to the Prinses Margriet Kanaal, then north to the edge of Friesland.

We are moored just outside Dokkum, on the Dokkumer Grutdiep canal. The Friesland motif is used on the mooring posts. It represents a water lily leaf.

We are sailing south to join The Prinses Margriet Kanaal on Burgumer Diep. As we approach this large commercial canal, a barge can be seen, crossing ahead of us.

Further on we met this barge, Blacklock, but the canal was quiet today, with very few barges about.

How about this for a verge trimmer! The grass is collected through a tube, leading to the trailer.

Turning off on to the Stroboser Trekvaart, we find a small waterway, with small craft on it. It is more like an English canal.

This field of horses by the canal were not all Friesians, but were still quality animals.

At every mooring it is interesting to see all sorts of different craft, unlike on the English canals, where it would be a line of narrowboats.

Steinfek Bridge was out of order for about an hour, as a car had run into the barrier there. Ten boats were waiting beyond the bridge, as we all eventually sailed through.

We joined Dokkumer Diep again to get to the Willem Loresluis. This is our first lock for two weeks, and our 61st in Holland since we arrived in April. As we came into the lock we were greeted by the lockkeeper, or sluiswacher, over his loudspeaker. "A big welcome to our lock for the famous English narrowboat which has been on Friesian television!" We were able to leave the lock, going underneath the lift bridge, while a small sailing boat had to wait for it to be lifted.

Soon after the lock, we saw this sign which we think says "Goodbye" in the Fries language. We are learning Dutch, but Fries is a local dialect/language.

11th - 14th August. On along the Middelsee Route.

The weather has been very windy, but eventually we could move on along the Middelsee route to moor near to the village of Wjelsryp. Dutch pronunciation is difficult, but we could not even try this one!

The Middelsee route winds its way through the old salt marsh area of the former Middelsee. There are a great many Friesian cattle in this part of Friesland.

This part of the route was only opened up in 2005, by raising or replacing bridges, such as this one.

Often it is difficult to see which way the canal goes, as we approach a corner.

This bridge on the corner was one to be taken very slowly indeed!

We followed the Middelsee route to Scharnegoutum, near Sneek, finding new friends there, in this sheltered harbour.

Butterflies are still about!

9th - 10th August. Our location in Holland. Horse driving competition. On to Franeker, to visit the Planetarium.

The orange dot shows where we are now in the north west of Friesland, the Lakeland of Holland. 

This horse driving competition took place on Saturday, just near to our mooring. Each team had to complete seven different timed obstacles. The black Friesian horses are our favourites, and are aptly described in Friesland as Black Gold.

The teams come in all shapes and sizes.

Driving today there were singles, tandems, pairs and also the teams of four, which really show the power of the horse.

On Sunday we moved on to Franeker. This was an important University town from 1585 until 1811, when it closed due to a shortage of students.

The Planetarium in Franeker attracts 44,000 visitors each year. It was made by Eise Eisinga on the ceiling of his living room, showing the movement of the sun, the moon, the stars, and the seven planets which were known at that time, 1774 - 1781.

The workings of this planetarium can be seen in the room above, all driven by a mechanism made of wooden hoops and discs, with more than 10,000 handmade nails serving as gear teeth.

Once out of town we turned on to Franekervaart, and moored in a field just before the first low railway bridge.

This sailing boat arrived with their mast up, but are now lowering it, for the 2.4 metre bridges on this waterway.

Shannon decided to practise her meerkat impression, as she watched sails passing by on a nearby canal.

5th - 8th August. On winding Dutch waterways to Bolsward, then on to Harlingen.

We carried on through threatening weather, which eventually did turn into a glorious day, along rural winding waterways.

We skirted Bolsward a week ago, but are now coming into town. We are trying to take in as much of Friesland as we can, and are doing various circuits in order to do so.

The first stone of the new Bolsward Town Hall was laid in 1614, with improvements and renovation going on ever since, most recently in 1955, which was the year of the 500 years Town Charter commemoration.

Upstairs in the Council Chambers, this wooden door frame was carved by Japick Gysberts, and the four tin town jugs above, date from 1550.

The Broerekerk is the oldest church in Bolsward, having originally been built about 1260. It had a chequered history through the ages, but the interior was completely burnt in 1980.

In 2005 the church was restored again, as the walls were crumbling, and the glass roof was then added, to create this splendid exhibition hall.

The old and the new windmills are side by side here. As in other parts of the world, there is some resistance to the new wind turbines, but it looks as though they are here to stay.

Cruising through Witmarsum was reminiscent of the narrower parts of the Llangollen canal in Wales, with sharp corners and no passing places!

As the waterway opened out again, we moored near to the village of Arum, a few kilometres south of Harlingen.

Shannon is enjoying having a shorter trim for the hot weather, and is being a figurehead, on the top of the cratch!

There is a choice of routes through Harlingen. In this part it is mainly moorings for smaller yachts.

The Zuiderhaven 2 building, with two beautiful stepped gables, overlooks the Industrial Harbour.

We walked down to the beach and Shannon had a wonderful time in the sea.

Harlingen is the largest home port for these sailing ships, known as the "Bruine Vloot". This fleet is made up of dozens of historic ships of various types, which take guests on sailing trips on the Wadden Sea.

The Stadhuis (City Hall) was built in 1730. The statue of St Michael, the patron saint of Harlingen, can be seen at the top of the building.

Moving just out of town, we are moored on a jetty, which is owned by the maker of this splendid glass cabined launch. This boat would be at home on The Thames!

25th - 27th July. On to Woudsend, across Slotermeer to Balk, then down the Luts canal to Wyldemerk Dragonfly reserve.

We are still in Friesland. We sailed on to Woudsend again, then went to the south west across Slotermeer. We have been lucky not to have too much wind on these lake crossings.

We liked Balk village very much. It was similar to Sloten, with the central canal, and traditional houses. However, we can cruise along the canal here and there are also two lift bridges.

The pretty canal to the south of Balk reminds us of the narrow English canals. We moored along this stretch and enjoyed a walk in the woods.

This is the only typical canal bridge that we have found in The Netherlands.

At the end of this canal lies a lovely lake, surrounded by woodland and the Wyldemerk Dragonfly reserve. Apparently sand was sucked from the bottom of this lake to create the major new road through this area, and the lake is now 60 metres deep.

In the dragonfly reserve we saw several frogs on the water lilies, but not many dragonflies!

We found really good walking in the woods here.

There were no streams in the woods so Shannon was delighted to be back at the lake.