11th - 18th April 2015. Debbie joins us at the Bergen Bos. We move south in Holland to Zaanse Schans, Aalsmeer, Keukenhof and Avifauna.

Debbie joined us by bus at our mooring near the Bergen Bos, and we hired her a smart bike for an expedition through the wooded dunes.

With Debbie at the helm, Shannon took over the map-reading.

At Zaanse Schans, we moored in among these windmills. There is only room for one boat here. so we were lucky to find it free.

We looked round De Zoeker windmill, which is still used to crush peanuts to make oil.

We were delayed for two hours in Wormerveer by the police, because of this boat, which was threatening to sink. We heard later that foul play was suspected, and explosives were involved. The man had been killed and his partner was injured too. The body tent can be seen near to the bows of the boat, behind the police launch.

From Zaandam we went along the North Sea Canal, then turned south to skirt Amsterdam. A big barge is over on the other side, well away from us.

We came to one lift bridge which was closed for the two hours of rush hour, but we managed to squeeze under the slightly higher fixed span to its left. 1.88 metres is now our record low bridge!

An early start to get to Aalsmeer Flower auction soon after 7am. We came here on 19th May last year.

On to one of our favourite moorings on an island on the Kager Plassen lake, and an impressive sunset.

On Thursday we went on to visit Keukenhof, where Van Gogh was created out of hyacinths.

The bulb fields behind Keukenhof were the best ones we have seen this year. The tulips seem to be later than last year.

Dogs are allowed at Keukenhof, but not in the pavilions, such as the orchid display area. No-one official noticed Shannon, hiding in the rucksack!

Tulips come with all sorts of frilly petals.

Hyacinths and daffodils created lovely displays.

Most of the tulips in the outside beds are the smaller varieties this year.

The narcissi and tulips go well together.

From the Kager plassen, we bypassed Leiden, going through Leiderdorp, then left on to the Does waterway to moor at Hoogemade. This waterway only opened for the season yesterday. The skating sculpture is on the bridge there.

Vogelpark Avifauna, at Alphen a/d Rijn, is as impressive as ever. We were last here, at this bird park, about a year ago. This time we saw the pelicans being fed. There was great competition to see who caught each fish.

It felt strange to have a lori sitting on my head!

Debbie's lori was really greedy, not letting any others share.

Andy's lori thought his ear tasted good!

This parrot was one of a flock, which circled the arena to start the main display. He is enjoying the treat, which was the reward for his part in the display.

The free flying eagle was quite a contrast to the smaller birds.

The orange egret lookalikes flew in for the finale, while a crested crane joined in too.

20th - 22nd April. From Rottemeren to Gouda via Zevenhuisen and the tidal Ijssel. On to Gouwluis and the Bird Park at Alphen a/d Rijn.

We left Rottemeren (lake) and continued on to Zevenhuisen, where the lift bridge opened at 11.30am, according to our chart. However, at this extremely narrow section, the bridge did not open for another two hours, so we just left The Puzzler blocking the canal, and went off for a walk. When the bridgekeeper arrived, he carried on with us for the next ten low bridges. At one point on a sharp bend, the canal was so shallow that Andy lost all steering, and we took the scenic route, nearly through someone's garden wall! The canal did get a bit wider as we carried on towards Nieuwekerk.

At this major lock in Nieuwekerk, there was no sign of a lockkeeper, so Sally pressed the red button near the lock entrance. After a few minutes the light went green, and we entered the lock. The whole operation was carried out by remote control, with cctv/Big Brother keeping an eye on us!

It was straight out of the lock on to the tidal River Ijssel. We turned left, to find ourselves going upstream against the tide on this big river. However, we made it to Gouda safely, and locked down into Gouda basin.

We carried on through another bridge to find MV Inevitable moored there. We last met Carole and David at the IWA National Rally at Wolverhampton in 2008, when they still had narrowboat Lost The Plot.

In the centre of Gouda, the Town Hall stands proudly over the market square. While there, we topped up on Gouda cheese.

Shannon is very taken with our new flags.

This liftbridge caters for even the tallest masts.

On reaching this railway bridge, on Easter Monday afternoon, we saw little hope of getting through, so tied up for the night. Ten minutes, and two trains, later, the green light came on and, as if by magic, the bridge swung open for us so we thought we had better carry on. We have no idea who opened it!

This is a typical riverside visitor mooring for Sport boats. We are categorized as Sport as we are under 20 metres long.

Setting off just after this full gravel barge, meant that we did not have to wait at the next two lift bridges, as working barges have priority, and never have to stop.

At the town of Alphen a/d Rijn, we stopped to go and visit the Vogelpark Avifauna, which best be translated as "Bird Park". It has been here since 1950. Some of the birds are in smaller cages, but there are bigger aviaries, and a tropical forest section too. The birds come from all over the world. This peacock was really putting on a show for his mate.

You could buy syrup for the lorikeets.

It was extremely popular!

The highlight of this visit was the display given by various birds. The show opened with a flock of parrots circling above us, until their trainer arrived. They all flew down to her to get their treats, before flying away again. This kookaburra and his three friends were next, followed by two hornbills in turn, and then an eagle. As the birds flew in from various directions, there was a real buzz in the crowd, seeing what was coming next.

We had seen all these birds in their respective pens earlier, but they each must have been called out to do their turn. The whirl of colour when these set off was worth seeing!

The Humboldt penguins really enjoyed feeding time later on.