Five weeks. It is hard to imagine, but I’ve had crew (visitors) for five glorious weeks of touring in the Netherlands. First Nick and Chris from Devizes in Britain, who helped sort a number of the teething problems, and got me from Leiden to Haarlem. PAt and Kerry joined me there, and we had shared time to Allsmeer. Chris and Nick returned to England, and off Pat, Kerry and I went, to Amsterdam, Arnhem, then north to Groningen, and around Friesland to Sneek, and back to the meeting point at Meppel, where Pat and Kerry left me this morning.
the journey with friends in the Netherlands
I’ve had an awesome time sharing company, playing games in the social times, and meeting new people. I’ve seen a fair amount of this amazing country, whose people work constantly to master water- in every way: for transport, agriculture, domestic use, and probably most significantly, to reclaim land from the sea. We saw specific evidence of that as we were on the northern coast of the Netherlands, and the massive, long dikes that keep the sea away. Canada is proud of the dams for hydroelectric projects: James Bay, the dams in BC, and all, but they are 100’s of meters long. Dikes here are 10’s of kilometers long, and are in constant use, repair, and extension. The engineering is amazing. The whole country I’ve seen, uses, depends on, and masters drainage and water flow.
Now, a few boat details to attend to, and then on to meet the next visitors. I wonder where that journey will take me? Hang in there and find out.
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