15th - 18th August. Two locks to work ourselves!! Contrasting waterways in Holland.

On Friday we skirted the north side of Sneek, then through this comparatively new lock, on to another recently opened waterway. This is the first lock that we have had to physically work ourselves, since arriving in Holland four months ago. The big wheel rolled the gate open, while the gate paddles needed 6oo turns in total!

This leads on to another delightful rural winding waterway.

A cycle track goes over the lock gates at the far end of the small waterway. Two locks to work in one day is too much for us!

The next part of our route today is a real contrast, with barge traffic along the Prinses Margriet Kanaal.

A barge is coming past us. They go much faster than we do, but he gave us plenty of room.

It turned out to be a tug pushing a dumb barge, which we have not seen before.

From the Prinses Margriet canal we turned off to the right just after Grou, into lakes again. This is the third time we have been at this mooring, to the north of Akkrum. When we were here in July, there was hardly room to squeeze another boat on to the mooring, but look at it now! Two more boats did arrive later, but the lake is really quiet, and feels quite autumnal.

Moving on on Saturday, we passed near to Drachten, which is an industrial town. On the outskirts of Drachten there is a large open area of water, which is 15 metres deep, due to the sand extraction carried out here. This vessel sucks the sand out through a tube, adding it to a large pile by the edge of the water, ready for transportation elsewhere in The Netherlands.

As we crossed Bergumer Meer, we were treated to an impressive cloud display, just before the weather broke.

We saw some barges as we crossed the Prinses Margriet kanaal, but were glad to find a sheltered harbour, off the lake, for mooring, just as the wind was getting up. It has blown on and off, with torrential intermittent rain showers, for two days now. We hope to move on tomorrow.

1st - 2nd August. Through Sneek and on up De Swette to Mantgum.

Another train swing bridge. We had to wait for two trains to pass before we could go through, along with seven other boats.

We are making our way to the north of Friesland, so it is past the Watergate in Sneek again.

We must be through Sneek by 4pm today as the town closes then to through traffic. The final skutje race takes place today on Sneekermeer, then everyone comes into town for the start of Sneek Week, with celebrations all evening followed by a big fireworks display.

Our route out of town was through the newer part of Sneek, where these roofs look like sails, out on the lake.

Following the De Swette waterway to the north of Sneek, we turned off down a side canal, and found horses in practically every field. We saw about 200 in all, with up to 30 in each field, including some mares and foals.

There were sheep too, although we do not yet know the name of this breed.

In Mantgum we visited Willem and Anke, for a very pleasant visit. Here they are in the old part of the village.

Mantgum church dates back to the middle ages. It is built on the terp, which is a raised mound created in a village to protect those buildings on it from potential flooding.

This church is famous for its wooden carvings, which are very impressive.

14th - 20th July 2014. Still in Friesland. From Akkrum to Grou, Sneek, Heeg, Woudsend and Sloten again, then back to Heerenveen.

We sailed back into Akkrum next morning to collect Martin and Jenny from the station, before heading north again. Further up the waterway capsize drill was going on.

Saturday evening brought another lovely sunset, after an unremarkable day.

This stork, standing by the water's edge, was very regal.

At Earnewald we went to find the Skutje museum. It was a short walk out of town but, as always, there was a cycle path along by the road for us to use. Skutjes are the very distinctive historic sailing boats of Friesland.

This modern skutje was built just a few years ago. It is really beautiful.

The builder of the boat insisted we all sat in the stern for a photo opportunity!

We sailed on further into the National Park of Alde Feanen. As the weather was improving, we bought iced lollies from the ice-cream boat!

As the chart shows, there is a great deal of water available for cruising in this park.

There are plenty of idyllic moorings to choose from too.

The Prinses Margriet Kanaal runs along the north west side of the park, and we followed it down to Grou. It is a commercial waterway, so we are in with the big boys here. The barge Meander was the largest one to overtake us.

There was not much space in Grou, as the first Skutje race of the season starts from here this Saturday. We pulled in to the Oostergoo Hotel to moor, and to have a cup of coffee, before looking round the town.

Continuing down the Prinses Margriet for a while, we saw this railway bridge start to swing for a tall yacht which was coming behind us. The height of this bridge is 71.5 metres, and the waterway here is part of the "Mast up" route through Friesland, from Lemmer, on the Ijsselmeer, to Delfzijl, far in the northeast of The Netherlands.

There are so many hydrangeas in this area. The Dutch are real flower gardeners, and it is lovely to see.

We cruised on across several different lakes and eventually reached Sneek. The houses in this part of town are very traditional.

We moored at the first available mooring, in the central part of Sneek. Directly behind us at the mooring is yacht Mintaka, a very different boat to The Puzzler. It was nice to see some fellow Brits, and we stayed out late to chat. It was a lovely warm evening, after a glorious day.

This lift bridge in Sneek is very decorative.

Shannon is finding the weather almost too hot for comfort. It is good that she was trimmed last week.

The cruiser to our left, behind us as we come in front of the Watergate Bridge, was in a real hurry, and overtook us as soon as he could. However, most people on the water have plenty of time to enjoy themselves.

In the village of Ijlst, we took a detour through a small waterway, which was interesting, especially when we met other boats in the narrows!

This old sailing barge is a museum piece, in the centre of Heeg. Our flag is down, and the front flowerpot moved to the side, as we have just been through a low bridge.

On Heegermeer there were a great many sailing dinghies to be seen.

We climbed up inside the 't Lamb windmill in Woudsend, to look out over the town. Sadly there was not enough wind to move the sails today.

Following another cruiser through the lift bridge, we hoped that the brugwachter would let us through, before turning the lights red, to stop any more boats.  He was kind to us and we did get through on this lift!

We moored on the long stretch, leading up to Sloten. There were at least forty boats of different types here.

It was a good place for a game of boules.

This was our best head so far, with all eight boules round the jack. On this length of grass we use a tennis ball for the jack, which does make it much easier to see.

This is our favourite view down the centre of Sloten, from the end bridge.

We cross the Prinses Margriet again, so once more it is "barge ahead!"

Crossing Tjeukermeer, we pass the island mooring. To the right of the island all these cruisers are at anchor, but we can see swimmers standing up amongst them, so it must be really shallow. We are on our way to Heerenveen, for Martin and Jenny to catch their train.

&th - 13th July 2014. In Friesland.

Mary joined us in Heerenveen, where World Cup Fever is clearly in place.

While Mary and I had a quick look at the town, Andy backed The Puzzler, ready to go through the same bridge as before. The bridge down the canal to the right here, going out of town, is out of order.

We were treated to a glorious sunset that evening. It brought back good memories of Irish sunsets.

In Joure again, we visited the Douwe Egberts Museum. We learned all about coffee, tea, and tobacco there. It was fascinating.

By Thursday the weather was improving, so we had a long day, sailing along waterways and lakes to Ijlst, another pretty Friesian village.

Next it was back through Sneek, where we saw the famous Watergate. Our route is through the lift bridge, seen to the right here.

There are sailing schools all over Friesland, and these sailing dinghies are rafting up for some tuition.

As we crossed the Prinses Margriet Kanaal, this barge was bearing down on us. Andy was the only one not to be nervous about this!

Both Mary and I thought it was a little close for comfort!

We moored on an island on Sneekermeer, moving on to visit Terherne in the morning. This pretty village is said to be the centre of the Friesian lakes, and is built on an island.

Moving on to the North East, we came to Akkrum again, but had a long delay at the lift bridge, due to a problem with the bridge. The weather has been so hot today that the metal bridge has expanded and jammed! Eventually it was opened and we all got through safely.

Coming out into the Wijde of Peanster Ee, we spotted a likely mooring on the far side of the lake. The little sloop boat moved up to make room for The Puzzler. What a peaceful mooring, we thought.

There are all sorts of boats on the lakes. The skutjes look marvellous in full sail. These are the racing boats of Friesland.

However, at 8.30 pm our peace was destroyed on the mooring, when seven small sailing sloops arrived, with over sixty children and a few adults too. They went to the other end of the mooring and through into the field for tug-of-war and other games, going home when it started to get dark, at about 10.30pm. It was good to see them all enjoying themselves so much.

Some of the waterways between the lakes are quite narrow. These are very pretty, but can create traffic jams!

On Mary's last evening, we moored opposite this windmill on Jansloot, just off the main lake, having had another extremely hot day. The man on the next boat told us that it had been the hottest day ever in Friesland, and we could well believe this.

Sunday was cooler, and Mary took the tiller, on our run down to Akkrum for her train.

Later on, before we left Akkrum, the railway bridge had a problem with opening. Over twenty boats were queueing, by the time it eventually opened. We moved out of town to a country mooring.