Before leaving Heerenveen/It Hearrefean for the umptiest time we must tell you that we try to walk our dog extensively on an daily basis. (Or he trots next to our bike.) He needs to get rid of his energy – the walker/biker needs the exercise. One of the possibilities in Heerenveen/It Hearrefean is called (by us) ‘the three bridges walk’. It is from the centre following the entire Herenwal en returning back via the Fok. The dog sniffs everything that interests him along the way (and that's a lot!) and 'follows the call of nature'. Of course we always take enough reward candies and poop bags with us. Back to the walk again now. When we cross the third bridge there’s a small area where nature can run its course undisturbed. This is the result. Beautiful, don't you think?

We left Heerenveen/It Hearrefean at long last on Wednesday the 15th of June at 12:23PM. Our first destination was a recommended painting company, being Kooistra Jachtschildersbedrijf in Akkrum – not to reach using the ‘normal’ route into Akkrum, but taking a waterway earlier (on the starboard side) because the ‘problem’ is a (too) low immovable bridge. We arrived there around 2:23PM. This business inspected our little ship and will let us know whether it (around 33 tonnes) can be lifted out of the water and, most important, what it’ll cost us. We left for Akkrum centre at 2:50PM and moored just in front of the railway(bridge) around an hour later. For more about this bridge -and its operation- see https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CCifnlXlzx0 (highly recommended).

The next morning, Thursday the 16th, we left the 'trainspot' early (10:00AM) because 1. we were planning to return to Kooistra Jachtschildersbedrijf where a (recommended to us by the painter) carpenter, named Hofstra, should arrive to look at a damaged dog-box and give us a quote for repairing it, 2. the spot is rather noisy at times (train!) and 3. it was not an ideal starting point to walk/bike with our dog. The railway track is constructed at an angle, making the impression that the train can end up inside the boat at any moment! This is where we still are, after just half an hour of cruising. (It’s busy. Don’t spurn an ideal spot!) The carpenter was prepared to visit us here – it’s, as the crow flies, not far away from Kooistra Jachtschildersbedrijf. Note our female half enjoying the sun, errrr shadow, as does our dog.

The marina seems to be separated from the holiday home-company. Previously we only knew the name ‘Tusken de Marren’ (Frisian for ‘Between the Lakes’, in Dutch ‘Tussen de Meren’). Now the marina is named ‘Drijfveer’ (‘Incentive’, but by translating the pun is lost) and the holiday-home-company seems to have retained the name ‘Tusken de Marren’. Anyway, this spot is still immensely popular with boats and campervans alike.

And now something completely different. A former, highly regarded, colleague organised a reunion (for me the first after May 2007 – that’s over 15 years back (!!)) on the 17th of June, 2022, in the middle of the country. And I’m in the north… Here’s the confirmation, sent by the sushi restaurant where we were supposed to have dinner together.

A picture, showing the entire party – having a party. (Just for ourselves, from left to right: Magda, Carel, Trudy, Ton, Hakim, Jerry, Leon (met him for the first time), Jeroen, Sander (with the green coloured shirt), Yvo, Tunette, Esther, Marlous, Alex and Simone.) The 16th is the one behind the camera, well smartphone. Ton picked up Simon in Friesland. Kudos!! Hakim came from South Limburg. Kudos again!! Sylvia, also South Limburg, not only a former colleague but Hakim's wife for about 8 years, was unfortunately unable to attend. Yes, COVID-19...

Here the prodigious Hakim explain something to an amused Simon. We all heard different stories, some interesting, some funny and some (very) sad. Of course there were both new and grown up children in the meantime. There’s every reason to repeat this event with even more attendees.