We got away in good time for the half-day run into Leeuwarden. It was comforting to have a signpost confirm our navigation. The paper chart is quite confusing and it took some nerve to believe in the GPS-based computer one, which did, in fact, take us to the right place, albeit in a fairly roundabout way.
In contrast to yesterday, it was a bright and sunny morning, although there was still quite a wind blowing.
As we approached Leeuwarden, Diana was delighted to spy a compatriot on the water:
Birthplace of Mata Hari, Leeuwarden is altogether a cheerful town, and somebody thought to decorate the underside of this lifting bridge:
At lunchtime we found a really pleasant mooring on a grassy bank, with electricity to hand and water not far away. It took a bit of a walk to find a kiosk where we paid our mooring fee and got a card to activate the electricity. Lots of boats going to and fro, and several moored up like us.
After lunch we took a stroll into this lively Dutch town, where plenty of other people were out enjoying the sunshine. This alleyway had an unusual roof, based on the skeleton of a whale. It was an original reinterpretation of the galleries in Paris and looked rather good:
This elderly lady was enjoying the ice cream van – and why not?
There was a handsome former weigh house, now a popular cafe:
And a rather forbidding former prison that has been converted to accommodate start-up businesses and artisans:
Here is the interior of one of the wings, where cells are evidently rented out to budding entrepreneurs:
After some necessary shopping, we headed back to the boat, and got this excellent view of the famous (?) leaning tower of Leeuwarden. Apparently they intended to build it at least twice its current height, but after a while it started to lean in an alarming way – dodgy foundations – so they prudently stopped.
Oh, and by the way, we were promised a cow, and a cow we found. Not 50 metres from where we are moored. She stands in the middle of a small roundabout, looking suitably pensive:
We'll start heading south tomorrow – not sure where we'll end up. Need to study the chart. The canals are numerous and complicated in Friesland.
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