Drachten to Dokkum, Friesland
(Please note that this primarily for family - Ken's kids and Grandkids - but I'm happy to share it with other close friends jsut so long as you take it for what it is).
Just Janny and Ken, as Ben can't yet see himself as the Cool Dude on Board. Hopefully, he will join us in Dokkum. The weather started out ok in Wijnjewoude and Drachten, but there was a storm looming.
We had a late start, trying to get Ben to come and still finalising a bit of plumbing. Speaking of which, our own plumbing was not yet 100%, but we were keen to get away, if only for a few days!.
We needed a new chart - one that showed our "new to us" route, a little bit of food and we were on our way. All the other preparations had been done before our mystery illness had struck. Still no leaks on board, so we are very happy that the leak had been the toilet outlet; we had that work done, even though we weren't 100% sure that it was the cause. It was almost a case of "what else could it be"?
We left De Drait (Buitenste Verlaat) at 1050hrs, heading for Opiende. We'd been through here heaps of times in a car and always wondered if we could get through the bridges. It would have been close in our last boat but we could do it easily this time. The three bridges are all 3.270 metres and we only need 2.400m.
As is quite often the case, Opiende from the water turned out to be a "hidden gem". Totally unexpected when compared with what we had seen from the road.
Opiende lies on the Piender Kanaal from Drachten to a body of water called De Leien, which has a navigation channel marked by buoys to the north side where a canal called "De Lits" takes us through Eastermar to the Burgummermeer.
The Burgummermeer has the Prinses Margrietkanaal going through it, so we have to watch for heavy shipping as we head north to more familier territory - the route to Westergeest, where our last boat (Refuge Cove) was built. Bridges along here were really low for Refuge Cove but cleared quite easily by Australia - the lowest being 2.950m at Zwaagwesteinde. Of all the bridges on this trip, only the one at Eastermar had to be opened for us - until we got to Dokkum.
We arrived at Dokkum after only 4hours and 10 minutes travelling. The last bridge opened before we had to stop and so within a few minutes we were moored quite literally under one of the windmills!
There was a huge (25 metres) boat moored opposite. Carrying a Swiss flag and a very competent couple - it looked like they were heading off in the evening, which would be a strange thing to do - but they were just filling the water tanks. Later, we saw them coming back to their original spot..... but a small yacht had moored there in the meantime and there was not enough room to squeeze back in.... or so I thought! The skipper just came in very slowly and with Bow thruster AND Stern thruster, moved the boat in SIDEWAYS! It was truly worth a round of applause! (Note for Andrew & Terry).
The Google map (above) was generated using my mobile phone to record the route using a GPS program. Just mucking around to see what would work, but it was handy to know our speed at any given time. The distance covered was 32 kms at approx. 7.7kms/hr.
Some girls brought around brochures for a new "Dokkum Bathhouse" - a great idea for the "boaties". We gave it a try the next day and whilst it is nothing special, it was certainly better than the public toilets/showers.
We ate out for 3 nights in a row! The weather was very ordinary - no summer at all this year. They had the best weather when we were in Australia. We also had a pleasant sunday afternoon with one of Janny's sisters. Ben DID get to us and slept on board for one night and spent a bit of time with one of his cousins.
We went the same way home, so not much to report there! It was cold and windy and it took almost exactly the same amount of time. I did manage to break a tooth - on a licorice allsort - of all things! Given the amount of tooth that came out, I was thinking that I would lose the whole thing - but luckily it was repaired the day after!
Now, it's back to work - if it ever dries out enough for me to do some mowing!
Ken, Janny & Ben August, 2011 Motor Tjalk Australia
