It has been a busy and memorable week. We did our barge training and exams on Tuesday and Wednesday and we both passed with flying colours. Then on Thursday we flew to the Netherlands and arrived at our barge at Oude Wetering with Henk and Rikki there to welcome us. We have been so lucky to find this barge and be able to purchase it from some lovely people who have really looked after her and us. Henk and Rikki showed us around the barge and explained all the systems to us. This was a bit of a challenge as Henk speaks little English and Rikki's English is OK but not really up to explaining all the technical details and of course our Dutch is non-existent. But we think we understood everything and Howard took lots of notes - so hopefully we'll be OK. We then said goodbye and they headed off with the little Koala and the flowers we gave them. So now we are feel like the owners of the boat. We have a hire car and are spending a few days getting ourselves sorted out and buying a few things that we need. Henk and Rikki have left us with all of their furniture except for the outside table and chairs - although we do have 2 deck chairs and a fold up table. They have also left sufficient crockery, cutlery and kitchen equipment for us to be getting on with. But there are still additional things that we need, so we have visited the local homewares shop, Ikea, and the hardware store to purchase a few things. Yesterday (Saturday 19th September) there was a flower parade in the local village which we went to watch. I had some problems with my new Fujifilm camera so most of the photos were taken on my iphone. There was much to see with Marching Bands and floats from every age group. Every float had flowers and we stood in the crowd next to a tulip grower and his partner. Some of the floats were topical with a couple commenting on the Greece situation, and one referring to a dentist that likes shooting lions. Here are a couple of photos. After the parade my friend Mike visited the barge for lunch. And today Howard has gone with his friend Ruud to watch him fish in a competition. Tomorrow Howard is going to sort out the Forepeak (Man Cave) so that he will be ready when his fishing gear arrives on Tuesday (hopefully). Then we plan to start our cruise probably on Wednesday or Thursday.
1 Comment
Ian
27/9/2015 01:42:09 am
Ah, now I can see the full set of photos. It's one of the best features of barging, unexpectedly coming across some festival, feeling that you are discovering something entirely new.
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