Awoke to another grey, windy drizzle. Oh the joys of boating! We were tied up at the mouth of a lake and had a couple of choppy miles to cross first thing in the morning. Had to batten down hatches for the spray on deck, but reminded ourselves it's fresh water. Still a novelty after decades of sea spray. Again we congratulated ourselves on money well spent having the "tent" made.

I spent awhile with the chart, on the internet and on the phone picking our next overnight mooring as a visit to a laundry was now essential - no more knickers. As the weather made travelling in the lakes particularly unpleasant, I charted us a route to Sneek mostly through the canals. Longer than the direct route, but ultimately far more interesting and the sun did eventually come out.

Not much room to manoeuvre.

We kept to the smaller canals where possible to
avoid these scary big boys.

This gorgeous road-hog took up over half the canal

We saw every possible kind of watercraft today, with the exception of a supertanker! Of course, it is Saturday so there were hundreds of weekenders out "enjoying" a day on the water. The number of sailboats was unexpected. Nope, can't see the fun of short tacking upwind along a narrow canal, but each to their own.

After 30km we reached the very picturesque town of Sneek (pronounced "snake", apparently). There were plenty of town moorings available, but the dire knicker situation meant we had to pass through town to an OK-ish marina, with a launderette, the other side of town. A most grumpy harbourmaster charged us our highest morning fee to date - 18 euros - but it does include electricity so I'm breaking out the electric kettle again. I decided I would also make gratin potatoes in our electric oven, which can only be used on shore power, and which I have never yet used, but I realised I don't have a single oven dish. There is free WiFi and if I hold my tablet up in the air over my head I can get enough signal to send this. :-)

 There were dozens of these lovely 

traditional boats in the Sneek binnehaven.

Waiting for a bridge in the Sneek binnehaven.

Tomorrow morning we will move the boat back into the old town centre and stay at least until Monday. Weather due to improve, so feel a bike ride coming on after some grocery shopping in the morning.