The last leg

From Edam we headed further south stopping at another pretty town called Monnikendam (everything here is to be called something....dam, guess why!!) Somewhat confusingly a dyke is both a dam and a ditch but a dam is a dam! Ashore, we stumbled across the back entrance to a smoke house and wandered in!.

 These are smoked Mackerel, there were also sardines and of course the famous Dutch eels.

The eels are fresh water eels from the lake we are sailing on (the Zuider Zee as was); with a simple break of the head and a pull back they are gutted, all by hand!

Melanie was due to come out on Friday afternoon so we got into Amsterdam in good time on Thursday, and I met Melanie at the station on Friday afternoon. We had a lovely evening wandering the canals then on Saturday the weather arrived. 50 mph winds, rain, more wind and more rain to be precise!

Melanie and I gave up trying to see Amsterdam after lunch as it reached its peak and hunkered down in the boat whilst everywhere took a beating. The weather had passed by Sunday morning but it had left its mark; there were trees down all over the place. This silver VW won't be going anywhere anytime soon!

Everywhere in Holland does bikes on a big scale – here’s the station bike rack!

Bikes are one thing Amsterdam does on a big scale, the other is the evil weed, Marijuana. Now you would be perfectly entitled to think that this photo is of a coffee shop, it even says on the shop front and indeed you would be, well, part right.

The clue is in the coded name - coffee shop as opposed to café. Coffee shop is code for a place to get your weed, in pretty well any shape or form you could want it. Smoke it, eat it in several pleasant forms, chocolate brownie or cookies being the most common, or drink it as tea and perhaps you can actually get coffee too, with or without Marijuana!
Marijuana is legal in Holland and it is everywhere. I don’t actually think the Dutch are a bunch of dope heads, I think it is mostly tourist that come here for the wine , the women and the weed! You smell the coffee shops long before you see them. Melanie and I reckoned you get you first whiff at 30 yards and there is only one door. I think you’d be pretty high just sitting inside one watching the world go by!
Melanie went home on Sunday and my cousin Rob arrived to sail the last homeward leg.

Unfortunately the weather was to dog us for the next 3 days. We did manage to get out of Amsterdam and motor down the North Sea Canal to a marina on the North Sea but there we stayed. The wind was forecast to drop and veer to the North West, perfect for our run home but it was a long time coming as it obstinately sat at a south-westerly force 6 to 7  - beating into that is a step too far on the comfort scale!
The wind did finally do its stuff and on Thursday morning after 3 frustrating days waiting we were off down the North Sea bound for Dover where I was going to leave the boat for a few weeks. 

On route we heard from Robs wife Helen that there was big trouble at Dover with the migrant problem and the roads were very bad so, after an overnight stop in Newhaven after 36 hours at sea we pushed on to Chichester. It was a delightful run along the south coast with great views of the South Downs as we coasted past the old Victorian seaside towns of Hastings, Eastbourne and Brighton. We even did a spot of fishing with some success I might add!

We had  a lovely last evening in Chichester harbour where Helen and my Mum came to join us for dinner on the boat and that brought my sailing adventure to an end for this year.



Next year I hope to sail down to Cornwall and out to the Scilly Isles, across to the Channel islands and then on to Brittany and down the coast of France. After 4 years sailing in chilly northern latitudes I am looking forward to some warmth!

Thanks for reading and before you go, could I please ask for your help? I have had a staggering number of hits on my blog, over 7000 to date. I am intrigued to see who is reading it. Just below here you will see a box inviting you to comment. Please put you name in here (even if I know that you follow the blog) and click publish. Thus, when I look at the comments in a months time I can see who is reading it. If I don't know you, please tell me a bit about yourself and what you like about the blog! Many thanks.
If you are interested, Yachting Monthly are publishing an article I wrote about the Swedish leg of our trip, coming out I think in October and they have asked me to write about Poland from this years trip.
Bye for now
Jeff