15 August
Leiden

Another glorious day. Clear blue skies and warm sun - at last our solar panels can charge as expected.

Bye Bye, Haarlem.

We had about 25 km today (dunno exactly 'cos I have'nt studied the map and skip is busy) down river to Leiden. The canal was a LOT busier than up near Amsterdam. Actually it was lovely to see all the small boats out and about and, once the canal opened up into a small lake, lots of small sailboats, which one had to dodge around.

Laundry day - knickers on the line.

The canal was, for the most part, very urban and we enjoyed being nosy and looking into the back gardens and living rooms. 

Ummmm ...

Tied up outside a huge garden center.

      It's no wonder the Dutch have such gorgeous gardens with            garden centers like this.

We had long waits at the few low bridges before Leiden. At the one bridge, we were third in line. We hung around, hung around, going slowly sideways in the canal trying to avoid the boats waiting behind and wondering why it was taking so long. All of a sudden, the woman on the first boat jumped ashore onto the small pontoon in front of the bridge and pushed the button calling for bridge service. She looked a bit shame-faced and we realised they had forgotten to press the button. Grrrr.

Moored up in Leiden

Once through the last bridge into the city centre, we grabbed the last good spot under the trees :), and banged in some stakes. We think these are free moorings, as the town haven is a bit further along and has power, facilities etc. and bow-to mooring slots. Much nicer where we are. Behind us are 15 gorgeous old girls - 1920's-ish motor boats which were probably steam once upon a time. Highly polished!

                                                            Small canals ...

                                     ... bigger canals ...

... lovely old buildings ...

... and LOTS of students - that's Leiden.

Bikes ashore, natch, and off for a cycle around town. Leiden centre is very quaint with lots of lovely old buildings lining the many canals. It is a University town and has the oldest university in the Netherlands, twinned with Oxford. Despite it being summer holidays, the town was thronged with students and bikes. Busy, busy, busy, but in a lovely laid-back manner. 

Back to the boat for a beer on the aft deck, and yet again we are blessed to be on the town dog walkies route ....

I'm not even gonna tell you what's for dinner, except to say that Skip is cooking, again.