On Thursday morning the wind had abated enough for us to finally set off to Workum. The plan was to cruise for about 3 and a half hours on Thursday, and moor wild. Then have a simple one hour trip into Workum on Friday morning. We passed by Sloten - a different view from the water. Unfortunately I had a problem with my camera and lost all my photos from Sloten until dinner time. Thanks Andrea Thomas who shared her photos with us. The trip took us though a couple of different lakes where the wind made the water very choppy. We also went through canals and through a couple of mobile bridges. Going through Woudsend we were followed in by a large majestic old sailing Tjalk. After Woudsend was a windy canal, with 6 right hand bends close together. That would have been challenging enough, but we came across a fleet of small sailing dingy's - about 12 - who seemed to be racing up the canal. The first few were fine, but the later ones were clearly not as expert sailors. Our next challenge was after crossing Hegemer Mar, we went into a canal, where we came across a sail boat heading right for us, with boom out. We had no-where to go as there were boats moored on our starboard. We just had to hope he knew what he was doing. He missed us, but Andrea on the back deck ducked to avoid the boom. And the lady in the moored boat gave us a very surprised look as we only missed her by about half a metre. Howard had a very challenging day at the helm but did a great job and we were all pleased to moor. We had selected a mooring in a channel between the Gaastmar and the Sanmar. We had a late lunch and then went for a walk around the mooring area, however I got really bad hay fever and had to turn back. Howard, of course had a fish. In the evening the wind died right down as often happens and we were able to have dinner on the back deck. Even out here there were rowing teams in training. Then mother nature put on a show for us. The sunset was 10pm, but there was still lot's of colour in the sky when we went to bed at 10:40. And in the other direction a full moon. Stunning! This morning (Friday) was low wind but it was raining quite hard. It was only 30 minutes to Workum, but then took a further 30 minutes to negotiate the 2 mobile bridges. We moored on a grassy bank just on the outskirts of town next to a road. By this time our crew, Andrew and Ieuan, were soaking wet. There was no power at the mooring, so we put the generator on. After a cup of tea, Howard donned his waterproofs and cycled into town to check to see if there was a better mooring. Just before he returned, the wheelhouse started to fill with smoke so I turned off the generator. We decided to stay where we are to avoid the tricky narrow canal through town. Howard consulted with our mechanic who thinks it is likely that the generator hasn't gotten up to temperature for a long time and is just burning extra oil from the casing. We'll test it again tomorrow.
So we are now settling into life in Workum. Andrea and Ieuan set off for Rotterdam this afternoon, so we will stay here until either my arm is strong enough to drive the boat, or our next crew arrives (22nd).
1 Comment
Hazel
9/6/2017 10:41:42 pm
Great adventures...lovely photos!
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