Last week we ended up at a free mooring spot ‘in the middle of nowhere’, close to a little village, named Warstiens – part of the town of Leeuwarden/Ljouwert. When we left on Monday the 30th of April at 10:16AM we were able to make a picture of the Warstiens-hamlet. This is what it looks like. Charming, or what??

Later that morning we had a short stop, close to Warga/Wergea to do some basic shopping. Rainy weather and no company – apart from a flock of sheep, as this picture proves. Since this stop is not for free after 5:00PM, we left after 3½ hours, looking for a free space to stay overnight.

Another one, taken the 30th of April at 9:01PM. Too beautiful, or maybe ‘too Dutch’, to skip it.

The already indicated weather-conditions offer all kinds of views. This is the sunset on the 1st of May, 9:19PM.

Leeuwarden/Ljouwert was entered not long after 11:15AM. After paying € 7,00 for operating all the city's bridges one’s allowed to moor anywhere in Leeuwarden’s/Ljouwert’s Wester- or Noorderstadsgracht (Westerly or Northerly City-moat). We ended up exactly in the bend where the name changes and stopped the engine at 12:16PM. This is what it looked like. Summery, although the wind was still a bit chilly.

Though Pisa has by far the most famous leaning tower, Leeuwarden/Ljouwert has one, too. The tower’s name is Oldehove, situated close to where we lived during 3 nights. More about this interesting building via the link https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oldehove_(tower).

This sign, seen in Leeuwarden/Ljouwert, tells us ‘selling-off, entire shop, half-price or more’. Or more??? They certainly must have meant ‘or less’, wouldn’t you think? Or could it be an ultimate attempt to make a few extra euro’s?

To our delight, when being in Leeuwarden/Ljouwert we were visited by our daughter and her youngest son. That was why we stayed an extra night/day. They left us at the 4th, followed by us on the 5th, in the direction of Harlingen/Harns, where our little ship will be lifted out of the water for maintenance. We left at 11:10AM and entered the Van Harinxmakanaal around noon. The village of Deinum came in sight almost half an hour later. We pictured its striking church-tower, with the Dutch Tricolor proudly waving in its top. The 5th of May is Bevrijdingsdag (Liberation Day) in The Netherlands.

This farmer, somewhere near Dronrijp/Dronryp, obviously does not want to be dependant on outside sources for energy. A wise decision, we’d say. And the type of the farm is called Kop-Hals-Romp. See https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Frisian_farmhouse.

No special remarks here, It’s just 1000% Dutch. Keywords: fence, meadow, grass, trees, green, flat, cows, mill, village, farmhouse, tower. We love it.

Franeker/Frjenstjer appeared to be our present overnight stop, before reaching our destination, being Harlingen. We stopped the engine at 1:54PM and moored in the position as shown by this pictue. The weather: still glorious.