View from our coffee stop on the De Moarre Lake

Cruise to Stavoren then cycle in Southwest Friesland

An early start for the boat crew as we were cruising by 6 am. Interesting to wake up to the movement of the ship and moments later see we were in a concrete lock between the North Sea and the IJseel Sea (we slept with the curtains open to improve airflow and keep the room cool). We were moving through the Afsluitdijk which was constructed between 1927 and 1932 to dam the Zuiderzee (previously a shallow inlet of the North Sea) creating a freshwater lake renamed IJsselmeer.  The project was undertaken to mitigate the impact of very high tides along the Dutch coast as the North Sea funneled towards the Channel during northwesterly storms.   The rivers draining into the inlet flushed out the sea water creating a freshwater lake that is only on average 15 ft deep. Amazing engineering feat.

There was no rush this morning, so a nice relaxed start to the day.

Our route started following the coast eastwards, past the monument to a significant victory (Battle of Warns) of the Frieslanders over the Dutch in 1435. The memorial is inscribed in Friesian ‘better to be dead than be a slave’. Essentially the small local farming population repelled a Dutch invasion force of over 20,000 and drove them into a swampy area where they were slaughtered. We quickly moved on and made a slight detour to a café overlooking the sea. Beautiful spot and the sight of swans reinforced this was now a freshwater lake.

All too soon it was time to head inland in a northerly direction and with that face the wind, especially when we got to the De Moarre lake which we cycled around. Clever how they have run the road under the canal at the head of the lake so boats can pass through. Beautiful waterway and nice to see so many pleasure boats out sailing whilst we tucked into our morning sarnies. It was definitely a bit of a slog to get up to Workum before we could turn south again. See below for a slideshow of our photos.

Highlights of the remainder of our ride

• The playful lion fountains (symbols of the towns crest) in the park where we had our lunch. As they were spraying water out of their paws, I insisted Mike ran through it for a picture – we needed a 3 takes, as he was not getting wet enough! Time for his revenge on me.
• Loads of birds and birdsong as we moved through the wetlands, including cranes and herons fishing for their lunch
• Passing tulip fields, mainly past their best, used here to grow bulbs for the gardening industry
• The canals and locks as we moved out of Workum
• Exploring the back streets of Hindeloopen. Nice that they had picture displays showing how the streets used to look and how they have renovated them to look similar despite the damage created during the war
• We were looking for a place for coffee but did not fancy any of the cafes on the harbour as they felt too touristy. Instead we found a fantastic bar where they made their own distilled ‘schnapps’. Opportunity to taste some different varieties, then we had to have a chaser with our coffees. Bought a small bottle of local whiskey for the boat. Fun
• Lovely Royal Warrant for the bar in Hindeloopen we visited (see slideshow)
• Cycling the final stretch back to the boat where sheep were freely roaming on the dyke and road. Our guide had emphasised that it gets very slippery there in the wet! Fortunately for us it was sunny and dry. Mike caught me singing Bah Bah Black Sheep
• This is what it felt like to have a supported bike tour where we could stop off and do things as we wanted, the schedule not too pressured and a very good route laid out for us but with the opportunity for our own detours. Then get back to our ‘home’ for the week with no chores to do except wash out our cycle kit for the next day.

It was a hard day cycling, especially into the wind where we timed our stints in the front to between 3 and 5 minutes. The bikes are really not ideal for these rides. I have no idea how I would cope on them in more rolling countryside. Although we really liked the operation I would seriously consider taking our own bikes on holiday in future. What we did do when we got back was contact Boat Bike to reserve e-bikes for our holiday in Albania  in September!

See below for a video of our ride. Note to see the full controls click on the < control on the progress bar. This will allow you to watch the video full screen

See below for a video of our day