Wadden Sea & IJesselmeer
Medemblick - Texel
The wind picked up substantially when we started to sail from Medemblik to the Island of Texel. Luckily, the Leafde fan Fryslan is a big boat, meaning it can easily handle it, but they could only put up one sail - it was way too windy to put up any more.
When we approached the lock through the ‘Afsluitdijk’, that one sail had to come down again, but something had got stuck on top of it! It did NOT want to come down! This had never happened before, Jossie told me later. Our captain, Joris, cruised to deeper waters to throw out the anchor, then hoisted himself all the way to the top of the mast and fixed it. Down came the sail and we sailed through the lock in no time, since there’s very little difference in the water levels of the North Sea and the IJesselmeer. We are now in Texel where we will spend the next two nights. Tomorrow we are biking on the island all day, then hopefully sailing to Terschelling on Wednesday unless it is as windy as today. We’ll see.
Texel’s Oudeschild Loop
We hopped on our bikes at around 9am for our loop around the Island of Texel. It drizzled for the first hour and there was a stiff headwind, but luckily the weather cleared. We visited the seal sanctuary which also takes care of injured birds. These injured animals often find a home here for the rest of their lives!
We biked onwards to the lighthouse at the very end of the island. From here, you could even see the next island of Vlieland.
After the morning headwinds, it was a relief to cruise all the way back to the ship with the wind at our backs! Tomorrow we’ll enjoy a day of cruising to the Island of Terschelling.
Texel - Terschelling
We started to cruise at around 8am this morning, needing to be at Terschelling by 4pm to be sure of a spot in the harbor. We made a stop in Harlingen and had lunch on board before exploring the town, which was a lot of fun for everyone.
Tonight we had a delicious meal of fresh fish after a sunny day. Tomorrow we should have good sunny weather again.
Island of Terschelling Loop
We left Harlingen for the cruise to the Island of Terschelling and biked a beautiful island loop. Such pure nature! We enjoyed a short ride along the dike and began touring through the dunes. At the top of the island, the dunes are about two miles wide and the bike paths wind through them beautifully.
We had lunch on the other side of the island after some good exercise thanks to the strong headwinds, but this just meant that on the way back we were flying! We stopped at a cranberry farm for a coffee. The first cranberry seeds came from the US.
We saw many sheep grazing when we left the dunes in the center part of the island, unsurprisingly because the Wadden Islands are known for having many sheep! Then, after a good 25 miles, we were back in the harbor ready to sail to Franeker.
Harlingen - Makkum
A gorgeous day without a cloud in the sky! It was a bit warmer and without so much wind. Today’s ride was from Harlingen to Makkum via Franeker, but before we reached Franeker we stopped at a shipyard to see how Walter van Berkum is building his next ‘Magnifique’ - Magnique X. He builds it by taking an old cargo ship, stripping it, saving what can be re-used, then cutting it to size to make the hull for the new ship - it’s one big empty steel boat, so to speak. Two huge tanks were already welded together. Next, it will be towed to another shipyard and then, 2.5 million Euros later, another ‘Magnifique’ will be born!
After that very interesting visit, we continued on bike paths through the countryside of Northern Friesland, passing many large herds of cattle. Friesian/Holstein cattle originate from here and the province houses many large farms. I’ve never seen as many windmills as I saw today!
After our arrival in Franeker, we visited the Eise Elsinga Planetarium. It is the only planetarium on the UNESCO list and was built by Eise Elsinga between 1774-1781. Very interesting.
At around 4:30pm we arrived in Makkum and found the ship waiting for us. Tomorrow will be warmer again and we’ll bike from Makkum via Hindelopen to Stavoren, where the ship will bring us back to Enkhuizen, rounding up our awesome week.
Makkum - Enkhuizen
This week just flew by. Just when you get to know each other, the week is over!
Today was the warmest day and we rode 30 miles through windmill country. Sometimes, the route took a very narrow concrete bike path along the water and through the fields. The highlight for me was a visit to the ice skating museum in Hindelopen. The museum had everything about the 11 tour winners from Hindelopen, including Reinier Paping, who won in 1963. I remember it as if it was yesterday!
We arrived in Stavoren where we boarded the ship and sailed back to Enkuizen for the end of our tour. Altogether, it was awesome!
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