Walking the centre of the village was, again, at least nice. However, there’s just one picture on offer, being this one. Our initial plan was to cruise this canal, but there’s one fixed bridge included in its course, forcing us to break down the wheelhouse. Apart from an unpleasant job it’s just too cold and wet at present, so we decided to only have a look, take a picture and to choose an alternative itinerary.

We entered the Koevordermeer/De Kûfurd around 1:00PM and, to put it mildly, it was rather windy. With the sunlight in front of us it looks like the water is pure liquid silver.

Not far before the southern end of the Koevordermeer/De Kûfurd there’s a side-canal called De Welle – with a mooring-space at the beginning. We decided to be tossed around sufficiently for that day and switched the engine off at 1:55PM. It was ever so easy to end up at the intended space on our starboard side as the wind was severely blowing from the port side. See the waves and the bent reed.

Back to the lake the next morning, Tuesday 12 September at 8:20AM, to cruise the last part. We planned to cross the Tjeukemeer/Tsjûkemar, and beyond, but when on the Follegeasleat we decided to turn around and visit Sloten/Sleat first. This is a picture of Sloten/Sleat when approaching. Magic! And there’s a mill at the end of the rainbow, too.

A view at our ship from the other side of the bridge in front of us. Note the pillory in the foreground. Although one sometimes thinks that using a pillory every now and then might be a good idea, the pillory is a thing of the past since the mid-nineteenth-century. In The Netherlands, that is. We are not sure about the entire globe – torturing is still applied, even by so called ‘civilised’ nations.

When seeing this picture we do not have to convince anyone, we think, about the sheer prettiness of Sloten/Sleat. This is, by the way, one of the eleven cities of Friesland/Fryslân – the tiniest. Inhabitants: less than 800. See https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sloten,_Friesland, a lot better, of course, the same page in Dutch.

Admittedly the same houses, this time as seen from the top of the bridge.

Just a bit of movement to the left – and there’s another fabulous picture. Note the ominous sky.

Thursday-morning, the 14th of September, back to ‘normal’. Well, not as summery as September last year but good enough to restart cruising. Wonderful Sloten/Sleat was, almost reluctantly, left at 9:14AM. On the way towards is we spotted several great egrets – nowadays brooding in western Europe (The Netherlands, Belgium, Germany – and more) too. Initially we were unable to take a picture of one -there were really many of them- but here’s the result of a successful attempt. It’s not easy, because of a moving ship, the distance and using the zoom-lens. We are pretty sure we did see great egrets – not little ones. Compare its size to the ditch in front of him/her.

When travelling from Sloten/Sleat towards the Tjeukemeer/Tsjûkemar (yes, second attempt) the lake Brandemeer/Brandemar must be crossed. Sometimes it happens that a beautiful/interesting ship passes across. We waited respectfully and crossed behind her.

The lake was tackled, as was the largest community on its edge, being Delfstrahuizen/Dolsterhuzen-Echtenerbrug/Ychtenbrêge. No free moorings, you know. We moored at 11:45AM at Zevenbuurt/Sânbuert, not far east of D/D-E/Y, at a free Marrekrite-spot. The weather was not all that pleasant, to be frank.

Saturday the 16th of September seems to be a record-breaking day exactly a year ago. Mind you, record-breaking because of the high temperature. This year we are in a record-breaking period again – only now it is rainy, windy and cold. Sometimes even uncomfortable to be honest. Nevertheless we left Ossenzijl this morning at 9:40AM, in spite of the drizzle. Again we are in the astonishing national park ‘De Weerribben’, part of the larg(er) Nationaal Park Weerribben-Wieden (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/De_Weerribben-Wieden_National_Park). This picture shows how wet it has been lately. All the same we’ve seen reed-workers in full action. Wellies needed!

At long last the sun surprised us this morning, on Sunday the 17th of September 2017. We decided to travel to nearby Blokzijl. We left ‘Mosquito-bite’ at 9:57AM and switched off the engine at 10:47AM. A new record! Blokzijl was our destination because we needed to do some shopping and the local Coop opens its doors on Sunday. Is that special? Yes, it certainly is in these region – (close to) the Dutch bible-belt. Eventually we postponed the shopping till tomorrow and had a few glasses of wine next to the lock instead. We could moor at the north quay – as visible on the second-to-last picture of Week 22. Time flies! That was it for this eventful week.