Walton Backwaters to Holland

The wind was no good for going to Holland but looked a little more promising in a few days. We decided to go to Lowestoft as this shortened the distance across and it was somewhere we had not been.

It was sad to see this once great port in such decline, but the yacht club were very welcoming and we stayed for a couple of nights.

Leaving early inn the morning Ti Gitu had light winds all day but made around four knots until about 10pm when the wind just died and the fog came down.

We motored the rest of the way thanking our new AIS receiver which showed all the big ships around us and gave some peace of mind.

In the morning the fog lifted and we made our way to Den Helder where we anchored just around the corner as we didn’t fancy a noisy town.

The next morning we moved on to Harlingen through the ‘Riddle of the Sands’ area, which was alive with yachts and old large sailing craft. It was almost like stepping back in time.

Into Harlingen we aimed for the HWSV yacht haven. We were told off (very politely) by the lock keeper for not calling them for permission to enter the lock and the entry to the yacht club was incredibly interesting. We had to pass through an entrance 4.8 metres wide when Ti Gitu with her fenders down is 4.5 meters wide. (new batteries for the pacemaker required).

Dutch and other Europeans must have a big shock when they arrive in our South coast marinas where the costs are more than double what it costs in Holland.
The town and people are lovely and we could spend a lot longer here but the wind was forecast to be favourable for us to make our way further East over the next few days so we left after a couple of days to start heading for the Kiel canal.

We anchored behind one of the Friesian islands and headed off first thing the next morning.

But the wind was more Easterly than forecast and after beating out for 7 miles we decided that life is for enjoying and not thrashing to windward with a foul tide so we turned round and came back.

The wind now is set to be Easterly for a while so we are probably going to go into the Dutch canal system and head East that way.