Somewhere near Mantgum

We spent a few somewhat productive days in Sneek. Lyn did some work, we did some boat-cleaning and took advantage of the good shopping opportunities to get all sorts of things, from prop-shaft grease to a new corkscrew in order to tackle a recalcitrant bottle!
We also had a rare 'meal ashore', at 'the Chinese'. A 'Chinese' restaurant in the Netherlands is actually usually a 'Chinese - Indonesian' restaurant, sort of linked to the period before 1948 when Indonesia was a Dutch colony (Dutch East India). These restaurants therefore serve typical Chinese- as well as Indonesian dishes. Every respectable Dutch town (or even village) boasts a 'Chinees'. There also is the 'afhaalchinees', which is "take away's" only. Anyway, we went to the chinees and had rijsttafel, an Indonesian rice dish. It was nice, although not nearly as good as the one we had two years ago in Leiden with my cousin and his partner.

Today, we started the trip to Leeuwarden, via the 'Middelseeroute', an old way to link the two cities. It has a head clearance of only 2.50m, so with mast, radar and searchlight down we can just make it! We tied up on the side of the canal, 'in the wild' after having to chase a colony of ducks who had taken possession of the jetty.

This is the view behind us:





And this was just before sunset:





Pretty rural and quiet, isn't it?

Tomorrow it is only an hour or so to Leeuwarden. We'll probably stay there for two days before the last stretch to Franeker where Onbekommerd will spend the winter.