Good news!!!!

First things first, Chuck's lump does not seem to be malignant!!!!! Yipeeee!!!! Chuck has grown a big lump on his ribs, it's probably 7cm x 5cm x 2 or 3 cm.  It's bony hard and adhered to his ribs.  It doesn't bother him, he never scratches it or licks it and is totally unmoved when I poke it.  But it's big and it came up in 4 - 5 weeks.  We took him to a vet to get it biopsied and no malignant cells were found, only blood.  Which is good.  She did say that if it continues to grow, we should test it again.  So that's that, and it's good. We'll be keeping an eye on it.

Currently we're in a little wee town called Winkle, which is a fun name all on its own, but even more amusing when you know that a winkle in Dutch is a store!!!! So we're spending the evening in Store.

Today was a little more packed than usual.  Chuck and I went off for our morning walk and as we came back we could see from a fair way off that there were a couple of boats waiting for the railway bridge just ahead of where we were moored, and which we had to get to open so we could continue on.  As we got closer, the boats were still there.  Closer still, bridge hadn't opened.  I got back to the boat and as I'm loading Chuck aboard, I'm calling out to the man to get the key and maybe we can go through with them, and we did!!!!! All the laundry still flapping in the breeze, I think we got the cover off the tiller, X didn't have a coat on, but we made the bridge.  The next few minutes were spent getting organized, you know, coiling, finding the chart, getting dressed.... We went a few km and stopped again cause there was a public mooring spot close to an Aldi and a Welkoop and we needed groceries and dog food.  The crappy god food they sell in the grocery stores is not ideal, but Welkoop is a great store!!!! It's kind of a Canadian Tire, but for farmers.  So there was a chicken and a rooster for sale, lots of different animal feed, great practical nice clothes at fair prices, fire wood coke as in charcoal for trains, neat tools.... It's not serious farm equipment, you can't get parts for your tractor or seed by the ton, but a really cool store.  We got food for his nibs, which he actually seems to approve of (the Eukanuba is gross it seems) and groceries next door at Aldi.

We'd brought the bike cause we needed enough stuff and it was probably half a kilometre away.  Gosh it was nice to get on the bike again, but off roading on wet bumpy grass with slick tires and a wildly overloaded bike was exciting!!!! We had to go over a really steep super narrow bridge, just wide enough for the saddle bags, and then up a steep grassy dike to head back.  My feet just slid right out till I was on my knees.  Wet grass is slippery as all get out, but also makes for a soft landing.  X gave a push at the back and we got up the hill. 

Back to the boat and a fast but much needed lunch and we were off again!!!!! We're getting better luck with the correspondence between what's on the chart and the public moorings on land, which is a relief. We motored through some very pretty wetlands, this is a lovely stretch, plus it's spring so there's lambs and baby grebes and coots and geese and ducks everywhere. 

Oh, and tulips!!!!

Finally tied up at around 3.30, time for tea and a coffee, it was a little cold today.  No worries till I poured the milk into X's coffee and it was solidish.  Smelled fine, but, not a good texture.  He drank most of it, but I set off to the grocery store for more milk and the few groceries we didn't get at the Aldi.  Great, back to the boat.  X goes for a walk to the Jumbo grocery store to look for stove alcohol, readily and cheaply available in the grocery stores and I set out to make paneer and tea.  Separately,  not good together.  I get my tea ready, pour in the milk, which looks strangely thick for skim milk and take that first delicious sip.

GAH. What is wrong with this milk????? It tastes horrid.  Frantic whatsapps to X to get him to buy more milk, and some more intense work with the translator.  Buttermilk.  Damn.  2 liters of the stuff.

We had buttermilk vinegrette on the salad and a buttermilk curry on rice with the paneer I made from the milk which had separated.  Chuck however managed to tip up the pot of whey I was saving to cook the rice in, spilling a good cup of it, requiring a long and cranky tidy up because it also leaked down through all the hatches.  He has to stand on the counter to get out of the boat and for some reason he had to go out right then and could not be dissuaded. Still no tea.  But the man turned up with more milk and all is good.  Had a short nap too before setting out to walk the dog. 

Buttermilk pancakes for breakfast!!!!!

In the end, we went precisely nowhere

So, yesterday we thought we'd move to a different spot.  Where we are seemed a little weird, and on the chart there's a spot on a island on a lake that looked good.  Before that though Chuck and I went for a walk, and got a better impression of the place than we previously had. We walked through the little town and out the other side and there was so little traffic (early Sunday morning after Koningsdag - kings day, a big party) that he was easily offleash on the road.

In the coutry side they make a lot of roads that are barely two lanes wide and they have dotted lines down each side marking bike lanes, but if two cars meet there's space for them to pass each other carefully.  Brilliant design.

Any, way, we were trundling along when a guy on a quad with a trailer shows up, a farmer, goes down off the road and opens a gate before buzzing back the way he came.  We got further down the road and there we saw a heard of sheep being ushered to a new pasture.  Put Chuck on leash.  He wouldn't do anything, but still.  There was a man out the front with a bucket of sheep treats and a trail of sheep behind him. A few willingly, many not. A woman was driving a car along the road to prevent strays from getting up there, the man was on the quad and another woman and two girls were herding at the back.  The sheep were reluctant to move along, great flapping of jackets and clapping.  They eventually moved past us and on we went.

Found a fort we'd seen on the map but Chuck wasn't allowed in the field to see it so we looked from the distance.

Anyway, we got back to the boat in the end, and off we went, maybe 2k to this next anchorage.  A euro a foot and the dog had to be onleash all the time.  We came right back where we started.  The forecast was for heavy rain most of the day so going on wasn't appealing.

We're ok where we are and we're moving on today.

Someone thought we should get going faster in the morning, not wait for the rain shower to pass.  Deafness... Can't tell it's raining till it lands on him.

A rainy drive to (almost) nowhere

We've come into Nord Holland, and the dutch will say that every province has its own character, something we found a little hard to believe given how very small the country is, but Noord Holland certainly has one characteristic all its own.  Apparently it doesn't allow the surveyors for the chart makers in and it removes most signs for where you can moor a boat. 

This morning, we almost left Nord Holland altogether to head back to a land of information and I have to say that if today had gone badly, we'd have left.... But.... We found a spot.

It is weird.  There is a 600(!!!) page book of rukes and regulations for cruusing the canals in the Netherlands .  Only in Dutch, which is kind if a blessing cause goidness, that's ridiculous, but it does leave us wondering.  Can we tie up on the side of canals anywhere? Can we use some of the multitude if docks that appear to be public but have no signs to say yes or no and aren't marked on the chart? What's with the ones marked on the chart but not there in real life?

Honestly frustrating.

Anyway, we decided to leave Edam this morning despite the mediocre forecast, and the weather was mediocre.  And in true fashion managed to rain hardest while going under bridges and while tying up the boat.  Lashings of rain and a great deal of wind all day.  And we're tied to a dock in a weird little place with a gated community as seen in Florida, creepy, and

two teeny tiny cramped towns with nothibg to them but the church.

Onwards and upwards unless the weather is hellish today.

Walking on the dike near Edam.

Enjoying the Dutch weather

Tulips!!!!!

Edam, the secons cheese town

So this morning we headed out down a lovely quiet rural canal to Edam. We stopped in the first spot we saw after the first of 10 bridges.  The outskirts of small towns are best, to our minds.  Quieter and more private than right in the center, we've got better access to places to go walking and it's still just moments to get into the town. 

Got here and I headed straight to the library, what fabulous instutions these are, to get a chunk of work done.

Another thought I had today is that there are many things I love about our lives right now, but part of it is that I really enjoy being in motion.  The act of travelling from one place to the next.  Well, air tavel has become horrific, and there are buses that I don't love - Midland bus I'm looking at you - but being under way, is wonderful.  Just that urge to see what's round the corner. Probably part if why I like walking so much, and dislike loooong straight roads, and trains, and road trips with the right people.  (Commuting is anathema to this idea, except on a bike, and even then.....)

Just neat to see what will show up next!!!!

Whew a long day and it sounded like a stroke

Well, today was a little more eventful than we'd bargained for.  The plan had been to hang out in our quiet hideaway under the runways at Amsterdam airport cause the weather forecast was abysmal.... But it improved overnight and we decided to go for it.  It was going to be a biggish day, going through umpteen bridges and locks in Amsterdam, crossing the Noordzeekanal, which if you've been to Amsterdam is the crazy big busy one behind the train station, then heading further north.

Off we went, fairly uneventfully on the whole at first.  Though the man's attempts at pronouncing the names of the bridges on the vhf provided a certain degree of astonishment and levity.  The first bridge he called started speaking to us in English spontaneously.  X clarified that we didn't speak Dutch, and they went on from there.  After that bridge I lovingly pointed out that the lockmaster had already started speaking in English, likely recognizing that we weren't Dutch from the butchery of the bridges name....

On into Amsterdam, but not before tanking up on some diesel from a marina who maintained that he didn't have any water.  (!!!?!?!?????!?!) We were very low on water and didn't really need the diesel, but whatever.  He told us of another marina that had water but no diesel.  Ok.  Off we go.  Just before the lock we have to go into we see a hose at the end of a dock at a marina/club/not sure.  We stopped, I wander off in search of someone to consult re the water.... Not a soul.  So we stole it.  I'm sorry, but it was there, we needed it.  You usually get charged 50cents for 100 litres, and there was no one to ask or pay.

We cut and ran into the lock.  And on into Amsterdam proper.  Out air height is 2m35cm.  The lowest bridge was nominally 2.44, but we had found in our travels that water levels are not fixed (duh) so some 2.5 bridges were rather less. There were a lot of very very close bridges in Amsterdam, something like 15 of them, and for each and every one X had to go on deck and determine if we could get under it without ripping the mast off the deck.  The closest one we cleared by 4cm.  As an added joy we had a good stiff tail wind so stopping if he thought we couldn't make it would have been fun. We were relieved to be out unscathed at the end.

The Noordzeekanal was super busy and kind of rough, but fine. We've been through New Yrok City and Miami,, and the Kiel canal, well, we've done busy before but it was still a relief to get into the NordHolland Kanal which was much quieter.  Except, the place marked on this years chart as a place to stop? Yeah, it wasn't.  On we went to the next town.  It had 7 official places to stop, the first had no signs and was a little decrepit.  The next 2 didn't exist.  The third was one boat length long, in front of a restaurant and beside a busy road.  The fourth was filled with barges who shouldn't have been there.  Through the lock and under some only just tall enough bridges (not in that order). The fifth was a paid slip, the sixth didn't exist and we're in the seventh which has some weird signs we cannot understand but no one's kicked us off and it feels like the town has removed all the listed free spots so you stay in one of their many paid slips. That feels like a scam and I don't like that feeling.

We're going on tomorrow.  We'd thought we'd stay, but not on those terms.  A Bronx cheer to you Pumerend.

Oh, but the best.  As we're coming up to that last lock here in town, X has to radio for them to open the lock and he made the most awesome hash of the name.  I swear to god, it sounded like he was having a stroke.   Shloootshloos, shlootshloos, shootshloos, this is.... Etc.  I'm sure the lock keeper could hear me laughing while he was on the radio.  Maybe you had to be there, but we were staggering around laughing about it while we went through the very slow lock.

Two days in one

Yesterday we motored all of about 3 k to the town of Oude Wetering cause Chuck had to go to the vet.  He's grown a large hard lump on his side and we wanted it looked at.  His apt was for 7.30 pm so we haf all day in town.  It eas nicer than the place the day before, Liemuiden, but still hardly a tourist destination.  The library opened at 7pm, unfortunate as my computer is almost out of juice. I did a bunch of work, and we got sorted on wjere we're going next.

We went off to the vet who said that it is a growth, it's not a clump of fat which he'd had before and took 4 samples for biopsy.  They'll email us the results.  He was a trooper throughout.

Off today a little early and we're tied upnat a municipal dock under the runway for Schilpol airport.  On one side there's a wee bayou with masses of bird song and action, on the other. The airport and a road.

Going through Amsterdam tomorrow!!!!!

This town's a dump

We moved on today, about 20 k, we knock ourselves out!!!!! The first place we wanted to stop didn't have any of the signs that say you can stay overnight, nor did it have bollards, we'd have to hammer in pegs, so though it was lovely, we kept going.  Not fun being told to move at 7pm for example.  We had a couple of bridges where we had to wait 15 min or so, but it was otherwise quite uneventful.  We made it down to Leimuiden, tied up with other boats in a bit of a park.  A power boat came in and tied off immediately ahead of us, stern to stern.  Not much privacy there, though they didn't have a lot of choice at the time.  I was hoping they'd leave as it is the last day of a long weekend.  Nope.  So when Chuck and I came back from our walk around this fairly dismal town we turned the boat so our bow was off their stern. They kinda should have moved first as the were last one in, but whatever.

Walking around town, there was even a guy missing some teeth wearing a confederate flag flat back style cap with 'rebel' written on it.  The fact that he was riding a Dutch sit up and beg bike detracted a bit from the image, but still.

On another note, we're currently quite the erudite boat!!!! The man is reading Herodotus and I'm digging into the Russians!!!! So far so good.

We'll move on tomorrow.

Head in the bilge, or spring cleaning

On Friday we moved a couple of kilometres up to a quieter spot.  We can still access the amazing park, but the highway has been replaced with some woods.  Much more pleasant.  As an added bonus, there's a rowing club so we get all manner of entertainment, one single even dumped.  The water is damn cold, he got it righted and got back in pretty quickly. 

Anyway, we're having several days of beautiful hot sunny weather, so it's time to clean.  Mattresses on deck, scrub brushes, water and soap to the for, along with small amounts of bleach.  How I hate mildew. 

Yesterday, the v-berth where we sleep.

Of course, all the stuff stowed in there has to find somewhere else to go while we clean, so the boat looked like this....

 

It was nice to get it all put back together again, and cleaner. 

Today, the hanging locker and the head!!!!! Life in paradise!!!!!

An eventful day

Yesterday started off going to see the cheese market in Gouda.  It was mostly just a market like they have in our village every week.  Which was fine but a little disappointing.  The cheese market is put on for the tourists, so there's a couple or rows of cheese and a couple of guys dressed up and a lot of folks taking photos.  It was OK,  but a little weird.

 

Anywa, I'm glad we went, but we certainly didn't need to stay long.  Back to the boat and we were off.  We had a bridge to go through, then an immediate right to a bridge and a lock.  But.... The bridgemaster at the first bridge told us that the lock had broken down and we'd have to go south, the way we came in.  Ok. 

Off we went, checking the chart and there is a slightly longer loop but we would come out at the same place further down the canal.  No problem, back to the lock into the Holland Ijssel (?) river, and as the door opens, out swims a duck and her ducklings, they'd all just locked through.  In we go, down go the doors, this is a guillotine style lock, and we wait, and wait.  Broken down!!!! Ok.  The lock keeper had been super friendly and he lived on his boat near where we had moored.  He offered us tea and coffee, we thanked him, but we're at home.  Time for lunch and a bit of r&r. 

The lock guys turned up and we were off!!!! Great!!!! 

We turned right to head down the river and at the first corner, what do we see? The back end of a big cruise ship coming upstream, around the corner, backwards.  Instead of trying to deal with him at the corner, we turned around, got way over on one side so he could pass us on the straight away, but he was edging closer and closer to us.  Eventually we gave a big old angry-ish arm wave for him to move over and he did, but we had a meter to the riprap on one side and a meter to him on the other...It was all fine in the end, but still!!!  By law, we have to give way to all commercial traffic, always, however they aren't supposed to smear us against the shore when they can avoid it!!!! 

We had a tight squeeze with another barge fuether on, but that was just a narrow channel and a big boat.  Our air draf is 2.35m.we went under two bridges advertised as 2.5m.  One was.  One was about 2.4.  Ho hum. Then, the place we'd planned to tie up had disappeared, so on and on.  We ended up tied up in a gorgeous park in Alphen aan de Rijn, but there's a highway across the canl and it was pretty loud.  Fine, but not brilliant.  Great dog walking though!!!! 

Fries, ice-cream and cheese

Dutch cuisine is not inspiring as far as I can see and the grocery stores, unlike in Sweden, Denmark and Germany do not really carry anything all that different from a Canadian store except a pretty awesome display of mayonaise varients.  But, in other ways, I am all about Dutch eating habits.  First, ice cream.  Everyone eats icecream all year round.  Adults, kids, men and women.  Even very small towns have one icecream store.  In fact I can't think of a place that only has one and we've been in some smaaaaalllllll towns.  They like soft cones too... So equal opportunity ice cream lovers.  I'm with you. Weirdly downtown Amsterdam has almost none.  Evidence that the rest of the world, and their citizens visiting the city, are not wise enough to keep a good icecrem place going.

Second, fries.  I love Catalunya and I love Catalans, but *man* they cannot make a decent french fry.  Limp, oily and luke warm.  The Dutch? They have stores that make nothing but fries.  That's it.  Fries.  You get a cone of them and eat them on your way.  You get topping too. Usually mayo (what a surprise!!!) Indeed, there is mayo style specifically for fries. One store had 30 different topping choices.  I LOVE this. They double cook them too so they're nice and fluffy inside and super crisp on the outside.  Mmmmmmmm. The only thing I'm not so keen on is the sometimes downright creepy gigantic french fry cone with eyes amd arms you sometimes see outside of stores.  No picture, I'll take one one day and post it.

Then there's cheese.  Now, this isn't France, which definitely raises the bar higher but we're in Gouda and we're going to do the tourist thing and go to the cheese market. Edam is around the corner too.  I love cheese. In our family there's a question that gets asked.  For the rest of your life, you can eat anything you want except you have to choose either meat or cheese. Cheese.  No hesitation.  Though I'd miss meat, cheese every time. Mmmmmmmm