Leek

Harlingen
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Dick’s Dotterings again.

Thursday 31 July

Went to a new campsite on the outskirts of Leek, near Groningen, in Holland.

Yet another country, that’s 15 now!

Cyclist on the Dyke
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Our timing was a bit off as Leek Week is still 2 weeks away. We made up for it though and the girls made a great leek sauce on pork for tea.

The campsite does not measure up to the brochure but the facilities are good. We are camped about 2 feet above sea (or canal) level. The road to the site is abut 4km long from the last turn-off and is narrow cobble stone and bumpy. It sort of feels like being in a swamp and this is typical of a lot of Holland but it is still nice.

Sue has had a bad foot. We don’t know exactly what it was but it was swollen like a bee sting and sore to walk on. Yet another of our team to visit the doctor (and get x-rays). After some professional medical advice a local home grown poultice of sugar and soap was administered and she is very much on the mend.

Harlingen
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In the evening we sometimes play cards (500) or Rummy Kub. It sounds like we are becoming old and dottery but let me assure you we do not go to bed until it gets dark! Up here, at around 56º north, it does not get dark enough to stop playing till 9.30 – 10.00 pm. Clearly you can see we are mentally razor sharp till we drop into bed each night and that our stamina is not waning.

Friday 1 August

Drove to Harlingen to see the North Sea and putzed along some local roads. Harlingen was a surprise being a sort of small Amsterdam with canals and houses and shops with water frontages and roads on both sides of the canal.

Harlingen
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With nothing but a few off-shore islands between Harlingen and the North Sea there is a large wide and high dyke running along the coast. We walked along the top of the dyke and watched cyclists following the flat bicycle path that ran for kms on the seaward side and wind surfers making the most of a good stiff North Sea ‘breeze’. There were a couple of people walking the mud flats at the bottom of the dyke, apparently this is a popular Dutch pastime and they venture out at low tide, sometimes sinking up to the thigh. A dog with some cyclists rolled and ran in the mud, much to the displeasure of its owner. This mud stuff is all a bit crazy to me.

The Doctor?
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Harlingen has an extensive fleet of fishing boats on the ocean side of the dyke and nearly all of them were large sailing vessels.

Rob bought computer in Harlingen, as you naturally would, and a cap each for himself and Sue with suitable motifs. You will have to wait till we get home as I am not going to divulge the content of the embroidery.

The computer was a good deal and the sales man was interesting to talk to while the computer was changed to the English version of Vista. He had been to Australia, his brother lives at Nelsons Bay would you believe it! We spoke about many things and the most poignant comment was the way he said that they (the Dutch) had been conquered in WWII and were not very proud of it. They are a very proud people and they way he said it really emphasised the differences we were talking about between Holland and Australia and how privileged we Aussies really are.

The Patient (suitably anesthetised)
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We all are enjoying Holland very much. It is progressive, it is neat and clean and the locals are polite on the road. If there was a tidy country competition Holland would win hands down.

Saturday 2 August

Did another putz today after visiting the local Jumbo super market. The towns of Hoogeveen, Emmen and all those little villages in between on the route taken. Again the Kate (our GPS) picked a route to avoid motorways and we followed small and big canals and passed through fields of all sorts of crops, cows and horses. The villages were a mixture of old and new and all were different and well kept with great gardens of many coloured flowers.

The 'Swamp' Camp Site
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We shouted ourselves dinner out at a very nice restaurant on the side of the road in the country. The food was great, we sat outside in the northern twilight and soaked up the ambiance.