Monday, the 23rd of April we left the little river Boorne/Boarn at 9:29AM and, after crossing the Prinses Margrietkanaal, re-entered the Kromme Knilles – part of the same Boorne/Boarn. Akkrum was reached again at 10:14AM and used to do some additional shopping, next to posting a letter. According to our logbook that took us almost three hours(!); we resumed our cruise at 1:03PM. Traversing Akkrum was a joy because of the view, created by the composition of waterways, boats and houses. Not long after that we approached the railway-track between Heerenveen/It Hearrenfean and Leeuwarden/Ljouwert again. The combined information from our map (3,5 meters/11,5 feet headroom) and the bridge itself (3,3 meters/11 feet) made our decision, to continue, an easy one. With both mast and flag down we need 3 meters/10 feet headroom – and perhaps not even that, as proven by this picture.

Not long after having negotiated the railway-bridge there’s another one, spanning the A32 between the already mentioned towns – and beyond. This time the traffic is not on top of us but underneath, an awkward idea. The combined infrastructure of waterways, motorways and the way the water -in general and especially in Friesland/Fryslân- is managed never fails to impress.

Here’s an idea of the names of the waterways we cruised on that day: Boarn, Prinses Margrietkanaal, Kromme Knilles, Nesker Sylroede, Bokkumer Mar, Burstumer Rak, Douwe Tseards Rak, Greft, Peanster Ie and Janssloot. We moored at 2:22PM close to Goëngahuizen/Goaiïngahuzen where the name of the water might have been changed into Modderige Bol – named after one of the three ‘Spinnenkop’-model water-mills in this area – named Modderige Bol, Jansmolen and Heechhiem. For the Modderige Bol (Muddy ??? – too much alternatives in English) see https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/De_Modderige_Bol,_Goëngahuizen.

The north/northeast during sunset – Monday the 23rd of April, 8:22PM. Utterly peaceful. Would you believe we’re living in one of the densest populated countries in the world?

When we entered the waterway between the Painster Ie and the Grietmansrak there’s a stop-lock that’s permanently opened during the summer (unless a calamity occurs, of course). That stoplock is only 4,50 meters/15 feet wide – and our little ship is 3,75 meters/12,5 feet wide, fenders excluded. Fenders included is would be around 4,25 meters/over 14 feet wide. So there’s not that much margin. Well, to be honest it was, what someone in the UK once called, a ‘bad performance’, aggravated by the fact that the entrance was not situated straight within the course of the waterway. We leave the rest to your own imagination. The next morning we left at 11:22AM and approached the stop-lock at the end of the waterway around noon. The same width, being 4,25 meters/15 feet. This time we did not touch anything – of course helped, we must admit, by its straight position (and the required concentration on the tiller-man's side).

That day we tackled the Modderige Bol, Goaiïngahúster Sleat, Grytmansrak, Headamsleat, Fokkesleat and Sydsdjip, to end up in Eernewoude’s/Earnewâld’s Lange Sleatten. We moored at 1:45PM like shown here, with the Sânemar (mar – lake) in the centre-distance.

As an irresistible prove of our presence in the well known water sports centre Eernewoude/Earnewâld here’s a picture of the quite famous (for ice-speed-skaters anyway) statue of three skaters inside the Earnewâldster Wiid, next to the town’s harbour. The statue was stolen in December 2013, but obviously retrieved.

Eernewoude/Earnewâld is situated at the edge of the Nationaal Park De Oude Venen (De Alde Feanen). For more, see https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/De_Alde_Feanen_National_Park - or, if mastering the Dutch language, https://nl.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nationaal_Park_De_Oude_Venen. We honoured King’s Day partly by unfolding our bikes and sightseeing a part of this magnificent National Park. Here’s just a random picture of what is there to be seen. If anyone would observe ‘it’s extremely flat’ we absolutely agree!

Friesian horses, we love them. There are foals in front of the two adult mares on the left. They are accompanied by two seemingly one-year olds - yearlings, ‘enters’ in Dutch. They all show us their behinds – but that’s only coincidentally, Friesian horses are the most affable horses we know of. (Yes, we of course noticed there’s one non-Friesian foal/yearling. Lovely all the same.) There's a duck, too!

Sheep! A mum and her two kids. Isn’t that a 100% disarming view? One of the kids looks the other way, as if to show her annoying ear-marks to us.

Stork-breeding, or, creating the possibilities for storks to breed is one of the circumstances, optimized in this park. Next to it the thatching industry is a still existing profession in the region. Both are combined on this picture. You are able to find the second stork, are you?

An example of a breeding stork. We’ve seen dozens of them.

Eventually we left our ‘residence’ at 10:14AM on Saturday the 28th, first in the opposite direction, to refill a few jerrycans with diesel and to take in some 400 litres of water in Eernewoude’s/Earnewâld’s harbour. After arriving there at 10:35 it took us less than half an hour to finish our tasks. We finally left at 11:00AM, cruised the Sydsdjip and Lange Sleatten again, crossed the wide Prinses Margrietkanaal/Krúswetters, entered the Rochsleat, passed Warten(a) and the Wartenster Wiid – and perhaps entered the Langdeel, one cannot always determine exactly when a name changes. Already at 12:00 noon we stopped at a free Marrekrite-spot (https://marrekrite.bwhontwerpers.nl/wp-content/uploads/2016/10/1578059MarrekriteinternetfolderUK-A5-2014.pdf), in this case PR03. In case of an emergency the emergency services know where exactly you are after dialling 112 and and telling the caregiver this code. The picture was taken from the inside of our little ship, as the outside view is not all that exciting. Besides, the weather is horrible today (Sunday the 29th of April 2018). Bye for now.