June 30

Well the adventures continue on a new page. I spent 5 days (including the weekend) in Meppel, getting engine serviced and new water filter units installed. I toured the town extensively on the bike trails, and dealt with a few other boat issues. All good, and nothing critical- just part of getting this complex machine to continue to work well.

Then, down the Zwarte Water to the Ketelmeer, where I turned southeast to skirt the new province of Flevoland. This is the most recently reclaimed province of the Netherlands- reclaimed from the sea. I spent the first night in Elburg, which was once a coastal defense fortress, now really an inland center. Very touristy; I was moored alongside a row of camper vans, but it was certainly not boring! I then cruised along, in ever increasing winds directly at me (with concurrent waves!), past the city of Harderwijk to a little inlet near Zeewolde, where I moored in a delightful, quiet, sheltered rural mooring. It was good to get out of the wind!

Today, I made my way further along the water that separates Flevoland from the rest of the Netherlands, in dense mist, rain and continuing winds. At the Gooimeer,  I turned south to moor in the very posh marina at Naarden, so that I could meet a former student from St. George’s, who has been living in Amsterdam. Dave Munroe and I had a wonderful afternoon getting caught up on our diverse experiences of the last years. He is getting married, and will be moving back to Vancouver for new job experiences. All exciting life events. I’ll hopefully have some sun to take a few photos of Naarden and area for tomorrow.