27 August. Groet to Den Helder.

Today's 32 km route up the Noordhollandkanaal was hot and BORING. Dead straight canal with nowt of interest on either side. There were a couple of roll bridges and and a few low ones which needed the awnings down but that was about it.  And boy was it hot with the bimini down. 

We had a couple of potential mooring spots in mind in Den Helder, but the one that appealed the most, in theory, proved to be beyond a lift bridge that opened but only once in awhile so we travelled back down the canal a km or so to the WV den Heldt. As it turned out  it was a good choice. 

Den Heldt Yacht Club, Den Helder.

The yacht club has seen better days and some of the docks are a in a "discondition" as they would say in the Caribbean, but we found a good spot in front of a nice garden belonging to a attractive home with a power point so we were happy. There was no-one in the harbourmaster's office, nor on the docks, except for a couple of 9-yr-oldish  kids playing with buckets and water who luckily knew the code for the gate - 1785 - which meant we could get out of the club with the bikes.

We took a 20 minute ride into the town through the backstreets because we got lost, but eventually ended up in the centre. Wow, what a great place! We had already figured out that Den Helder is the Netherland's main naval and helicopter base so all the warships, submarines etc were no surprise. It is also a base for the support vessels of the North Sea oil industry, the north sea fishing fleet  and multiple off-shore wind farms. 

So a busy, busy, harbour. But it also houses the old harbour with the naval and rescue museums around. Once we had found our way into the center we discovered that it was "Historic Weekend" and the center was full of old  cars, lorries, buses, trucks, caravans, tanks, and every other motorised form of transport imbetween. Even a '57 Chevy (!!!!!! Les, take note). This was sunday afternoon and they had been at it for two days already, so things were winding down, but we still got a good idea of what everyone had been up to all weekend.

There were many WWII motorised vehicles of different sorts, including this tank. Most USA, but also RAF etc.

And then, when you thought you had seen it all, there was this .....

 We wandered around for awhile taking in the scene when the sound of blues drew us to a quay side watering hole where the 'St Louis Slim" blues band were playing. They are BRILLIANT. "No way I can keep my feet still." I warned Skip as we went in, and we danced to the blues for the next couple of hours. I did wish that Allan and Fay had been with us because it called for some line dancing :)

Our feet were already tappin' when someone at the neibouring table offered to take this picture. The band playing inside were fantastic.

28 August. Den Helder. Texel.

Years ago I read a murder myster set on the Dutch out-island of Texel and ever since I have had a hankering to go there. And as Texel is only a short ferry ride from Den Helder here was my chance. The ferries leave every half hour so we made an early, for us, start and caught the 9.30 ferry. The ride is only 20 minutes so it was not long before we were cycling along in the dune reservation of Texel. The island is very popular with the Dutch - nature, wildlife especially birdwatching, and somewhere that scouts etc spend their summers. Not the most exciting place, it has to be said, but that's not why one would come to Texel.

 Considering the crossing is only 15 minutes, the ferries are quite fancy with buffet, bar etc.

The market was setting up in Den Berg when we got there.

So, there are a lot of sheep on Texel, and every other shop sells sheep related whatever. This was only one of MANY!

Bacon and Egg sandwich with chocolate milk. Happy Skip.

My trusty cycle route atlas plotted  us a route to the main town of Den Berg, where happily we discovered that Monday morning is market day and the cute town centre was filled with stalls selling all sorts of lovely goodies and the bars, cafés and restaurants were doing great business. We eventually found a good table in the shade (hot, hot, hot) and had a tasty lunch of "uitsmuiter mit spek & kaas" for Skip and salad for me.

By 2pm our bike batteries were starting to complain so we headed back to the ferry and Den Helder and after filling up the water tanks we were on our way again by 3pm.

We were working our way back down to Alkmaar but wanted to take a different route, so we went down the Balgzand canal and then south to the Waardkanaal. We had no plan as to where to spend the night, just to get as far down as we felt like and see what came up. And what came up was  the Nieuwesluis Yacht Club which is wonderful. Small and friendly. Just how we like it. Within 10 minutes of tying up we were ashore with a sixpack sharing beers with the locals. Snacks, BBq, fishing for tiddlers, and maps out discussing potential cruising routes. Perfect….

 Nieuvesluis yacht club. Very friendly.

Skip cooking AGAIN. :)