Leimuiden and our Other Home

Leimuiden    52^o13’40.86”N  4^o41’00.02”E   and back to our other home

I can’t really say whether life is getting more interesting this year, or we’re just more aware of what we’re doing.  A few nights before we were scheduled to leave,  a boat pulled in next to us and, after a few minutes, started making a horrible noise.  OOPS, wasn’t them, it was us!!  Now we had a problem with the water pump.  Not life threatening, or anything that needed to be dealt with immediately.  The next morning, Bill decided to take another look.  After losing a gear under the machinery for about an hour, he tightened the belt and the thing was working again.

MY HERO ! !

 Whoopee!!  Guess we’re getting better at this.  More work for us, but also more self-sufficiency and less cost.  Our worry/to-do list for the winter is much shorter and many orders of magnitude less expensive than last year as well.  WaterVogel is tucked in for the year, and we are back in the States.  Being back in Maryland almost feels strange this time.  We are accustomed to less space, fewer possessions, and knowing pretty much where everything is.  It will be interesting to see how this translates into everyday life here this time.  So, till next year folks . . . . 

Alphen a/d Rijn, Lisse, Haarlem

Alphen a/d Rijn, Lisse, Haarlem  

52^o08’24.74”N  4^o39’44.28”E  ,   52^o14’55.76”N  4^o34’02.98”E   ,

52^o22’38.86”N  4^o38’22/01”E

Not a lot to report.  We’re in Haarlem for about 10 days.  It’s a nice place to end our journey for this year, and it’s also close enough to Kemper’s that we can get back in a day, or two at most.  We like it here, even though we’re not at the mooring we found so lovely last year.  The priority was finding shore power, and that was possible sooner than we expected so we stopped on the south side of the city.  I'd forgotten just how lovely the approach into the city is.  Our mooring is different than last year, but still every bit as nice.  

We’re still on the east side of the Spaarn, so it’s quieter than just the other side of the river, and we’re a bit closer to the necessities you find in the city. 

Bill has been painting, at a rather furious pace it seems to me, and the result is that most of the superstructure of the boat has been re-done.  I’m just amazed at the burst of energy he’s had since we’ve been here!! 

We were extremely lucky to find a mooring in our spot from last year as we were passing through Alphen a/d Rijn.  It’s a bit remote from the city center, but there’s a lovely local billiard and darts pub there and we’ve really enjoyed the restful nature of the mooring.  

Then it was on to another former mooring in Lisse.  We managed to pirate a weak internet signal there, so were able to get a few messages out – though it tended to fade out in the middle of a transmission.  We’re looking forward to some down time here as we start to get the boat ready for the winter and then take it back to the Westeinderplassen.  Hopefully, we’ll have a day to visit with Jeannet before we leave as well.

Bill keeps saying that in the Netherlands, the even the weeds are gorgeous.  Here's proof:

We’ll let you-all know more next week, but for now we’re just taking it easy and preparing for our departure.  Till next week, . . . .

Rhenen and Culemborg (and Marnemoende & Gouda - again)

Rhenen, Culemborg, (& Marnemoende & Gouda - again)

51^o57’21.03”N     5^o33’34.94”E           51^o57’42.07”N   5^o13’08.07”E

(Without electricity for a while, so this will have to be abreviated.)

Life likes to stay interesting.  We were on our way back west again.  We spent an evening, a VERY HOT evening, in Rhenen.  The mooring is just a pier off the fields outside of town, but it’s right up close and only a few minutes walk to whatever you need – in our case, a milkshake to provide internal cooling .  We were only there overnight as a stopping point on our way west, but again Dutch towns are just too cute for words. This time, it included an old church on the edge of town next to the river moorings that serenaded us with an elaborate carillon melody on the hour and half hour.

It was also as close to miserably hot as it gets in this part of the world.  Everyone was under shade, not usual for the sun loving Dutch, and we managed to rig some for ourselves.

Then on to Culemborg.  I really only know this town as a place Jeannet used to teach lace classes. I’ve been using Jeannet’s Oma fiets (granny bike) more this year, and it was really helpful getting to the grocery store some distance on the other side of town. Going for groceries was a very different, and more delightful, experience than it would have been in the States.

 We ended up staying longer than planned again. This time because we seem to have developed leaks in both the engine oil system and the transmission system.  Talk about exciting!!!!!  We couldn’t find a local mechanic, so stabilized the problems long enough to get back to Marnemoende, where we knew there was one.  Bless Peter!  He found the “problems” right away, and they were small things that he said should cause no real trouble or damage, so we were on our way again with his fixes in place.

We’re now in Gouda. Yes, again.  We planned to stay there a couple of days so Bill can telecommute to a meeting with his amateur radio buddies back at Goddard.  August is just jammed with boaters on the water, so we didn't get electricity and couldn't use the computer after all.  (I'm using the cafe in the library to post this, otherwise no electricity till Lisse, hopefully the middle of next week.) Then on to Haarlem.  We’re hoping our favorite mooring is available, and plan to deal with one of the last two pesky issues we need to resolve to be able to head south some day.  If that goes as well as everything else has this summer, we will be very pleased with life indeed!  Besides, Haarlem has one of our favorite restaurants and we’re ready for a good meal out.  The weather has cooled off a bit the last day or two. Still, compared to last year it’s downright balmy.  The Netherlands is the most densely populated country in Europe, but they’ve managed to keep a very rural feel to much of the country as well.  Much of the landscape we travel through is pastoral with only an occasional small built up area. Every time I’ve been here, I’ve been reminded how closely the Dutch live with their domestic animals.

Fields with horses, sheep, cows, you name it, are only minutes outside of major cities.

Need to post this so we can get on with the fun stuff in life.  Tot later, y-all.