Ask any sailor who has struggled to find his way back to the boat in a strange port, and he will tell you the golden rule -”It’s always down the hill to the water”. Well, today, we walked uphill from the town to the quay in Zierigzee, where parts of the town are a couple of metres below high tide.
But this is Holland, where motor cyclists can choose whether to wear crash helmets, where every adult we have spoken to speaks perfect English, where they don’t actually wear clogs any more, and where whole families go out for the day on their bicycles (sometimes an adult and 2 children on one bike)
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| Keeping in touch by internet when possible |
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| A tourist attraction in Middelburg |
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| A "tombstoning" sea-scout |
The harbour is constantly changing. Huge mussel boats are berthed, and every inch is gleaming with fresh paint, giving a pleasant anaesthetic aroma to the quayside. Summer is in full swing, and several dozen young sea-scouts (15-18 yr olds) have arrived on three tiny 18-ft dinghys .(How they sleep is hard to imagine). Anyway, they are full of high spirits and home cooked meals which they prepare on the pontoon in between filling up the shower booths and diving from the nearby bridge. In the town, the “tourist market” is set up in the square, and youngsters are performing high acrobatics on bungee-ropes attached to large trampolines (without protective gear or warning notices). There’s too much to see!
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| Awaiting a lock |
A disturbing little incident happened overnight. Our new bikes were targetted by vandals, who were presumably caught in the act, thankfully. They had removed one of the saddles, maybe trying to find a way to extricate the bikes from their locks. Luckily, most of the bits were left strewn around, and after straightening out a bent screw, and using a few washers to replace a missing spacer, they were as good as new. The lesson is learned, however, and from now on the bicycles sleep on the boat!
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