Wednesday the 3rd we had an unexpected visitor on board: a pigeon! The bird had been taken out of the water by some German youngsters and placed on the bank. At some point the animal had boarded our little ship - apparently to dry safely. Later on, he/she was gone. And lives happily ever after, we hope.

Despite previous comments, we have to admit that we did not lower our flag when we left Dokkum on 25 July. So when we passed the Schreiersbrug/Schreiersbrêge (3.2 meters high, enough for us if we lower the mast and flag temporarily) the flag ended up in the water - as well as the broken flagpole. We only noticed it when we wanted to raise the flag again after arriving in Driesum/Driezum. Our male half didn't feel like the brightest! It’s his responsibility. We were able to buy a new flag + flagpole via the Internet and had it delivered to a restaurant/hotel nearby. Very kind, this willingness! Here you can see the new flag (+ flagpole) waving proudly while we take water in before departing Dokkum on Thursday the 4th of August. After refuelling during 2 hours (for free, because the previous water-taker, unknown to us, had failed to sign out – AanUIt System) we finally left at 12:16PM and entered the Dokkumer Ee/Ie.

A typical Frisian ‘Head-Neck-Body farmhouse’ as seen on the way after we left Dokkum. This one isn’t even one of the prettiest, but one has to have the camera at hand and the (sun)light should be all right. We already told the story about the muted swans with the curved necks etc. last week.

We planned to possibly stay in Dokkum - but all berths turned out to be occupied. So we just left and cruised away. See you next time, pretty Dokkum! At 2:04PM we passed Birdaard/Burdaard and decided to stay there for one night.

The next morning, Friday the 5th of August 2022, we left Birdaard/Burdaard already at 9:03AM. Not much later, at 9:34 to be precise, we past the bicycle-foot bridge that is world-famous, at least in The Netherlands (Elfstedentocht/Alvestêdetocht, see https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elfstedentocht, of course a lot more informative in Dutch or Frisian. Also https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bartlehiem. And, of course, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reinier_Paping).

Just a random picture of a cornfield, surrounded by a row of sunflowers. We wondered: why the sunflowers? – because they were observable planted on the outside end on more than one side of the field.

Lucky us! We passed pretty Wijns/Wyns and noticed a sign informing us allowance to moor there. Just large enough for our little ship and next to a large grassy area and an eatery. There was/is a ferry too! So we stopped at 10:03AM after a full hour of sailing and are still there today, Sunday the 7th. The ferry (you can see it in action) gave us the opportunity to take a photo from the other side of the Dokkumer Ee/Ie.

When using the ferry it is impossible to miss a large inlay stone, on the 'Wijns/Wyns side, with the text:
'A look at Wijns
'For something so nice
‘Can you have a party
'O Wijns, beautiful Wijns
'I'm smiling and grinning
'Now that I can see you
'There is no curse and no excise duty
'On your charms
'The cherishing of the sunshine
'Satisfied me completely
'In short, I'm doing well
'Now that I'm here in Wijns'
(This text is accompanied by a photo of the inlay stone, so that those who speak Dutch (and there are many of you) can see the rhyme that is lost in translation.)
At the bottom it is shown that this poem was written in 1992 by Drs P. (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Drs._P - much more extensive in Dutch) who was world famous and popular in the Netherlands. The stone was laid in May 2019, on the occasion of the (almost) 100th birthday of Drs. P.

Interior of the small church. The church has a 17th century pulpit with a baptism railing. The organ (one manual) was built in 1889 by organ builders Bakker and Timmenga.

The Dokkumer Ee/Ie on Friday the 5th of Augus 2022, shortly after 10:00PM. This really looks like paradise, doesn’t it?