Through to West Friesland

To our great surprise, when we woke up this morning it wasn’t raining! It had been during the night, and we suffered a few drips in bed, but actually these were, I think, more down to condensation on the windows than the rain getting in.

But enough of the weather – which anyway improved this afternoon. After breakfast we headed into town to check out the museum: a not entirely successful excursion. We found the sail-through auction house ...

... and were intrigued and wanted to get in. But it turned out you couldn’t do that: the only option was a 16 euro ticket, including an hour-long boat trip – starting in an hour – round the lagoon of islands where the vegetables are grown, then a fashion show, then a mock auction. The whole thing taking up most of the day. So sadly, we declined and decided to get going.

Around the first bend, we had another dredging incident …

… this time complicated by the barge unloading dirt to reinforce the dyke. Two other cruisers arrived shortly after us, and eventually we all got through. We stopped for lunch, and then dropped down a surprisingly deep lock …

… into the West Friesland polder. About five metres below where we were, and, as we discovered, even more below sea level. Most of the bridges on this canal were high enough for us, fortunately because they are fixed, not lifting. One was a tight squeeze, and the masthead light – already suffering from a previous encounter – touched again. However the barbecue survived, which is the most important item.

To get into Medemblik, which is a former fishing port, now a big yachting centre, meant two more locks, which were time-consuming, but eventually we found an excellent spot on the outer end of a pontoon. Twice the price of last night, but never mind. On with the central heating once again to warm up after a chilly day, and no need for ice in the whisky.

Medemblik also boasts a castle, which we will try to explore tomorrow.