&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.

29th June to 6th July 2014 from Akkrum along The Turfroute.

Debbie and Matt left us by train from Akkrum, where there is a large rail swing bridge. Here it is opening, with the side pieces lifting up too.

When open the boats can go on both sides of the bridge. This bridge opens three times every hour, so is quite a contrast to the Dublin rail bridge on The Royal Canal, which opens once a month for passage of boats!

The classic farm design is seen here, with the house being built on the end of the barn. This must make care of stock in the winter much easier for the farmer.

We are now on the Turfroute, coming into Aldboarn. There are three swing bridges through the centre of the village, and the Bridge watcher cycles on with us. We had to wait at the second one, while he called all his friends out to see this strange boat in their village!

Everywhere there are orange flags and bunting, showing support for the Dutch team in the football World Cup in Brazil. They are doing very well, so we are now supporting them, instead of England.

We stayed in Aldboarn for two days, playing bridge at the local pub. It was a good turn out for summer bridge, with 11 tables. We did not win, but were given two sausages, as a consolation prize!

On to Gorredijk next, which is a larger place.

We paid at the sluis in Gorredijk, for our passage of the Turfroute. The locks are worked for boats, but have no balance beams. so the lockkeepers have to push or pull them open and shut, using an extremely long pole.

We have seen quite a few houses of this shape, here in The Netherlands. We are told that it dates back to the time of sailing boats, and the shape represents the sails of a boat.

On the Turfroute there are several swing bridges, which you work for yourself. However in practice, you don't, as the children of each village open them for you, for a fee of 50c. This young girl has the classic clog on a fishing line to collect her fee, though Granny did all the work!

Parts of the waterway here are very like being on an English canal.

The wide open fields are much bigger than in England though, stretching away into the distance.

As the name, Turfroute, suggests, the water here is very brown from the peat in the ground. The lock coming up to Appelscha village was the deepest on this waterway.

In Appelscha we managed to fit half of The Puzzler on to the end of the jetty, with the boat in front moving up for us. People were very friendly here.

A bike ride away from the canal was the Friesian - Drenthe wood, which is a large area of mixed woodland. There are proper hills here, and Shannon loved the freedom!

Deep in the wood was this splendid open air theatre, with seats for 450 people. Access to the theatre was on foot or by bike only.

The waterway on the way back across the turf route was not as interesting, mainly being a long straight canal, with few villages to see.

25th - 28th June. On into Friesland to see Sloten, Woudsend, Heeg, Langweer and Joure.

Moving on west into Friesland, we crossed the Tjeukermeer. Friesland is the real Lake District of The Netherlands.

Sloten is one of the Eleven Friesland towns, although it is not very big. The tree lined canal runs through the centre of town.

Time for another windmill, complete with its own cannon.

We could not discover how old these stocks were, but they still work!

From Sloten a training sailing ship was just setting off into the lake, Slotermeer.

Her sails are now up and she is starting to move with the wind. It is surprising how little wind is needed to fill these big sails.

Our next Friesian town was Woodsend, where we were allowed to go up this working windmill. It was a dark climb up three steep flour-coated stepladders to reach the top, with a rope hanging down by the last one, which did add a touch of safety!

Another lake, Heegermeer, led us on to Heeg, where there were many more yachts in the marina there, ready for the summer.

From Heeg we turned back eastwards, and our route took us briefly on to the Prinses Margriet Kanaal, which is a commercial waterway. This barge, Galactica, overtook us. At 2200 tons it was the largest barge we have seen so far in Holland.

A smaller lake, Langweerder Wieden, took us to Langweer, which is known for its avenue of lime trees, with many cafes lining the street.

Joure next, which is a larger town. Unfortunately the Douw Egbert Coffee Museum was closed when we were there.

This view of the church tower must be good!

Makkerite moorings in Friesland are free. This was an unusual one for us, with The Puzzler stretched between the main jetty and a barge mooring post.

An unusual craft to see here, but are the paddles just for show?

We saw a bird just near to the boat, which Matt identified as a blacktailed Godwit.

19th - 24th June. Debbie and Matt came to visit us in Holland. We went to Guithoorn, Blokzijl and Kuinre.

Having met Debbie and Matt in Steenwijk, we went along Steinwijker Diep and back to Giethoornse Meeer. This time we took a left turn, halfway down the lake, to follow a small canal across to Kanaal Beulakerwijde -Steenwijk. By taking the route we did, we had avoided a long stretch of this commercial waterway.

In Giethoorn we hired a fluister (whisper) boat, with a silent electric engine, to cruise through the narrow one-way canal system.

The route goes out into Boven Wijde, which was quite calm. A few moments after this, a boy in a small dinghy nearly managed to ram into us. Well, he WAS looking the other way, as he showed off to his friend just how fast his boat could go!

We returned to the narrow canals, bridges, and pretty waterside gardens, through Giethoorn. Andy found this little boat much harder to steer on sharp corners than The Puzzler.

Several other people seemed to have trouble with their steering too!

From Giethoorn we sailed south to the town of Zwartesluis, seeing several working barges on the way. Our route went out on to Zwarte Water, but then soon back through this little lock on to smaller waterways again. On entering the sluis, behind this small cruiser, I told the lockkeeper how long The Puzzler was, asking her if we would both fit into the lock. She just shrugged her shoulders! We sorted it out with the other boat, but it was certainly a tight fit for the two of us.

From Zwartesluis we went north, following the same route across the lake, Beulaker Wijde, as we did last week. Going on across Giethoornse Diep, we spent the night at this pleasant mooring, having failed to find a suitable place earlier.

Andy made a swim ladder for Shannon out of our plank, and she eventually got the hang of it, after several attempts. She loves swimming, but prefers to go in at a beach, rather than being lowered in from the front of the boat!

Our next stop was the town of Blokzijl, which was once a fishing village on the Zuider Zee. However, since the Noord Oost Polder was created by land reclamation, it is now far inland. The town museum had a very informative film about the fishing here, in English, which was most interesting.

The town cannon, beside the harbour, used to be fired to warn the townfolk of impending flooding. It seems to be pointing straight at The Puzzler. Should we be worried?

It was very exciting to see storks nesting as we passed through the hamlet of Nederland.

The whole herd of shetlands are out today. Dad is the appaloosa on the right.

Kuinre, shown here on the chart, also used to be a fishing village on the Zuider Zee, and the waterway does a U turn to go back up the other side of the original dyke.

Here we are in the lock at Kuinre, which is a very unusual shape, near the turn.

On this waterway after Kuinre there are not so many moorings, but we found a campsite, where the short grass was perfect for boules.