6 September. Haarlem to Leiden.

Because we were up with the birds, i.e. 8pm :), we decided to join the morning convoy moving through the city's bridges on the first opening after the morning rush-hour close time. From the previous morning we knew they would be congregating at our bridge about 9:10, so we were ready to join the back of the queue when they arrived. 

This morning's convoy headed out from Haarlem.

This morning we were 7 sailboats and 5 power boats. Great, as on the whole the bridges would all open as the convoy approached, except that the sailboat in the front was puttering along at a snail's pace which meant that the whole lot of us bringing up the rear had to do the same. It is considered most impolite to overtake especially when you know that they will all catch up to you at the next bridge. Much complaining from Skip as we battle to do anything under 7kph. 
"Now I know how the F1 drivers feel behind the safety car!" he moaned.

Happily after 10km or so we came to a rail bridge which was high enough for us but shut fast for another couple of hours so the sailboats were all going to be stuck for awhile. Vroom - we roared past. Well, not exactly but we were able to get back to our normal cruising speed of 10kph.

 The old Leiden city gate. Our boat was moored just around the bend...

We found to our delight that the same moorings on the grassy bank just inside Leiden's ring canal were available so we found ourselves a good spot under the trees. The rain that had been spitting down at intervals through the morning cleared and the sun came up so the bikes went ashore and we took a ride through the lovely historic town center before it was beer o'clock and time to put feeties up on the aft deck. Skip bbq'd a gammon joint on the weber. Plenty of leftovers for sandwiches. Yum. 

 We stopped at this cafe for a coffee and beer. Market stalls were set up along the road. 

Giving the special offer cheeses a suspicious sniff. Some were getting a bit past it but I did find a couple of good deals on french cheeses. Nice for a change from the usual array of Dutch Goudas.