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.

1st - 10th April 2015. Our last few days in Schagen. Our friends join us in a farewell trip from Schagen harbour along the North Holland Canal..

We have enjoyed a final visit to all of our favourite walks around Schagen. Shannon still goes into the water at every opportunity, no matter how cold it is.

The local Texel lambs are growing up.

Some of our good friends from Schagen have joined us on The Puzzler for the first part of our long trip south into France. Frank and Fedde are sharing the steering with Andy on this part of the trip.

This windmill, with a thatched cap, is very much traditional for this part of North Holland.

The party continues inside for a splendid meal, which was provided by our guests.

The other side of the table is not so formal, with food and cameras the priority. Hanni is very hungry. She has been celebrating her success against us at Bridge yesterday!

Our friends having left us, we carried on, leaving the North Holland Canal to go towards the sea, on the smaller Hondsbosshe canal. Leaving the boat, we walked the last mile or so, but when we reached the sea wall, we could not get to the beach, because of the new sand dunes which are being created artificially, further out. This is the old sea wall, with the new dunes to our right.

We continued on to the end of Haargervaart, and managed to turn on this narrow canal, near the village of Hargen. The woods can be seen beyond The Puzzler.

There are so many different tracks to choose from in these wooded sand dunes.

The scenery throughout this area is quite different to anywhere else we have seen in Holland.

We cycled to the North Sea at Camperduin, where Shannon tried to bury Andy!

22nd - 31st March. More painting. Easter Cattle show in Schagen.

Peeling the tape off makes the recently painted red and green paint look really sharp.

The next job was painting the side decking, with rubberised non-slip paint. This paint includes chopped up rubber tyres!

It is time for the annual Easter cattle show in Schagen, known as Schagen Paasvee Tentoonstelling. The most important feature of these special cattle is their rump steak.

This beast has done well in the show ring. He certainly looks the part, with a back end like that!

The whole town centre, in front of the church, was taken over by the cattle. It was a very wet morning, hence the coats.

Nearby is the display of vintage tractors.

Meanwhile, in the other direction, can be found the modern farm machines. This show is like a British county show, but in the centre of Schagen.

Outside the Albert Hein supermarket, the trees have been trimmed very neatly. No branches are allowed here!

Early in the morning, at the end of March, the view across the harbour from The Puzzler was really calm.

However,four days later, the waves are rolling in, as Andy takes Shannon for her morning walk.

14th February - 21st March 2015. Winter nearly over. Change of mooring. Painting The Puzzler.

Shannon is making progress in her friendship with the cat. They co-exist happily. The last month has passed quickly, with games of bridge and plenty of walking with Shannon.
We have been storing our wood on the jetty beside The Puzzler, under our blue tarpaulin.

However, the boaters who used to be in our spot have come back from Spain, after four months away. Apparently it was organised that we would be moved by today, but no-one had told us! I said that we must put the wood on to The Puzzler before moving the boat, but the bossy "lady", from the other boat, said that we could move the wood on our bicycles! We said that we would be ready to move by the following morning. I then spent an extremely busy day moving wood, while Andy put all our batteries back in their correct place, and rebuilt the engine room. The batteries had been out so that the bilge could be painted, but had to go back to rebalance the boat. We have been living at an angle for a week or so.

Two thirds of the wood is now on the roof, with all of the rest in the cratch.
We have been painting the yellow stripe, which is why it looks rather messy!

We are repainting the whole starboard side of The Puzzler, and move over to the other side of the harbour for this, as the jetty is lower there.

The puzzle picture was tricky to mask, ready for the red paint.

We apply the paint with a roller, before giving it a brush finish. It is now 11 years since this side was painted, so it has lasted well.

It hurts to see the signwriting disappearing, but it will be easy enough to redo it, in due course.

Shannon had to be tied out on the bank all day, while the red and green was painted. She found it very tiring!

Our new mooring is on the end of the long jetty, inside the secure part of the harbour here at Recreatiehaven Schagen. It is a much quieter place, and we like it here.

Here are the first lambs of the year. From the width of the ewe, we think that these are probably Texel sheep.

The Dutch keep their trees trimmed, but this is a really short trim!

1st - 13th February 2015. Ice in the harbour, Bridge party on board and a trim for Shannon.

The first week of February was very cold and the whole harbour was a sheet of ice. Two geese live by the harbour, near to The Puzzler, so I pass them each morning when out with Shannon. Today she went quite close to one goose, so he flew off into the water, not realising that it was frozen! He stood on the ice, looking really surprised. However, it did not take long to melt and then he was happy again.

We had a bridge party with six friends from Schagen, and managed to get all eight of us round the table for supper

Shannon still has no fear of swans, even though they hiss at her. This is a risky game!

There are many good walks in and around Schagen. Work has now been started on this property which lies about a mile from the harbour. Before the building work began it looked completely derelict. I will give updates on its progress.

Shannon has been growing her coat for the winter, but it was just too long. Here she is, halfway through her trim. I had never realised how fast the coat of a Shih Tzu grows! This time I am giving her a longer trim than she would have in the summer. This is more difficult, but I do not want her to be too cold!

Now fully trimmed, Shannon would like to talk to that cat which is sitting on our woodpile. He lives in the campervan near to the boat, but has a strong right paw, so Shannon is right to be cautious!