Randomeer eiland to Ganzendiep, Kampen

For no reason Skip decided to take a look what was on  TV last night and as he switched to a local channel a wonderful Liberation Day concert was about to start. An annual event marking the liberation of the Netherlands in WWII, the concert takes place on floats on the Amstel river in the heart of Amsterdam. The king and queen arrive and leave by boat, and people throng the river sides and bridges. There was a wonderful mix of classical, jazz, pop and big band music acts, fronted last night by a vertically challenged pop singer, VanVelzen, who might have been short of stature but BIG on personality and talent. We watched til the end when they traditionally sing Vera Lynn's "We'll meet again". And by the by, has anyone noticed how much like Donald Trump the dutch King Willem looks. A younger version to be sure. Now, I'm not trying to insult the Dutch king who by all accounts is a lovely chap but, just sayin'.

 Waiting for the lock. A bit tardy this one. We pressed the call button, called up on Vhf 86 AND phoned the telephone number until eventually it opened.

When we did get in, the drop down to the polder was 5m.

This morning started blustery so we decided to head into the polder and take the canal route north instead of carrying on up the relatively unprotected Randomeer. It certainly was calmer, but, oh so boring. A ruler straight canal through open farmlands without the lovely woods and national park that you get on the south side of the polder. At one point we did find ourselves in a couple of kms of forest and noticed enticing trails through the trees. We stopped at the first opportunity, put the bikes ashore and took a lovely hour ride.

The only bend in today's canal through the noord Flevoland Polder.

Tulip fields were a colourful break in the monotonous canal.

Back on board we consulted maps and decided to push on through to the Ijssel and take a left at Kampen into the Ganzendiep where we found a nice mooring after a few kms of houseboats. It was quite a long day for us, 50km in all, and tomorrow morning we will reward ourselves with a bike ride back down to Kampen, which, according to Wiki has one of the best preserved medieval town centers in the country. It will be sunday and the shops will be closed but there should be almost no traffic.

There are few things cuter than Cootie babies.

This lovely old lady sailed past on on the Ijssel.