We spent a week back in London, caught up with friends and took Tayo to Exeter to start University. Very proud parents packed her belongings into her room in halls at Exeter and said our goodbyes. The plan to bring the dog back for the Mast-Up Route was foiled by the fact that 21 days have to go by after the rabies injection before you can travel to mainland Europe. So Themba is now on holiday in Oxford and, by day, doing a short course in antiques, whilst peering out from the floor of Michael Ford's shop in Burford.

We left Richmond in London at 05h00 to make a 06h50 check-in for the Euro tunnel shuttle. We arrived in Strijensas in the Rhine delta, near Rotterdam at about noon. I had corresponded with several marinas looking for quotes and options for winter storage. I landed this one and from what I have seen so far, it looks like a good choice. We then started the trek across Holland on 2 buses, one Metro and a 3-hour intercity express (ICE) and a local train. This got us back to Delfzjil and the boat at 6pm. All was fine on the boat and we had a frozen fish pie (with no pastry of course) in the oven by 18h30 and we were in bed by 20h30.

The next day we settled our electricity bill, €9 for the week and headed for Groningen. We sidled up to a bank in a Marina close to the centre of town and went walk-about. It is a beautiful town, home of Holland's oldest university. It has a vibe; it has interesting architecture and some wonderful pieces of art that integrate well and leave a lasting impression. We just happened to be there on the day the local football team played Marseilles. Before the match town was mayhem. I have not seen so many riot police since the purple rain incident during the apartheid era in Cape Town. I steered clear and went back to the boat, had a snooze and then Veronica and I headed out for a T.O.P (tour of the place). Popped into a few interesting little "holes" for a "doppie" but we stayed out of the Koffie Shops, of which there were many. Veronica had never heard of the Dutch coffee shops before but started to get the picture as we walked past a few. We retired back to the boat for a late supper before the soccer finished and listened to the melody of police sirens from our little cocoon at water level until the soccer fans went to bed.

The next morning we had about 10 opening bridges to negotiate before we could escape the grips of suburbia. It was a fascinating plod through town, with the same bridge meister cycling from bridge to bridge to let us through. I think one bridge meister did about 5 bridges and then some of the others were camera and remote controlled. We bumbled out into the flatlands and farmlands of rural Holland and the weather was glorious. We had a mission on this day, Veronica's mom, who was born in Aruba in the Caribbean, returned to Holland after the second world war and lived in a place called Westinge until the early 1950s when they went to South Africa. We discovered that this place is just kilometres off the Staande Mast Route. We got to Garnwerd-aan-Zee, there is something remarkable just in the name, as this place is now at least 15-20 km from the nearest sea and when you travel through the farmlands toward the lock into the sea it is very hard to imagine that it was ever "aan-Zee". At Garnweld we discovered this marina that reminded me of a movie I watched years ago on an oil rig (I must have been bored to tears). It was about someone that built a baseball stadium in a cornfield in the mid-west of America. Just build it and they will come, was the strap line of the movie. It was a magnificent marina with this amazing restaurant and bar and an artificial beach (tastefully done) and a huge deck out onto the canal. It was snuggly set under this ancient windmill but with very little else for miles around but fields, cows, canals and sheep. The interior was simple and clean with impressive modern architecture boasting lots of glass and a huge central fireplace with a huge suspended chimney. We were happy to pay €0.20 per metre more per night than we paid in central Groningen.

We assembled the bicycles and set off across bicycle tracks between the fields. Dodging drainage ditches and embracing the aromatic cow dung atmosphere that was punctuated with the occasional dribble of rain. We headed for Westinge armed with some vague instructions about a windmill, a church and a double story house. This could be a long story but it is one about the helpfulness of people and joining the dots in the old fashioned way, without the aid of Facebook. Veronica went out of her comfort zone and asked some people sitting in their garden, one thing led to another and we went to the church. We thought there was a serious church meeting going on but actually it had been converted into a restaurant and an art gallery. Inside we met Hannes who pointed us to a book that had been written about the 3 nearby villages. In there, there was a photo from 1948 of the school class, which had 3 of Veronica's aunts in it. Hannes insisted we meet one of the authors of the book, so we cycled to the next village and knocked on doors. In the old fashioned way, we were warmly received in the "voorkamer" and had a long and engaging discussion with the author and her husband. It was so engaging that in the end we struggled to escape but we did. Later there was a flood of e-mails containing articles that they had found in the archives about Veronica's Oupa. He was a minister born in 1886 and in 1922 wrote a book in Dutch entitled Christ or Buddha. There was a lot of other interesting stuff but not really content for a sailing blog. The piece about Buddha and Christ and that it was written in 1922, is a big clue.

Back at the Marina, there was a wedding happening in the restaurant. It provided evening entertainment whist we sipped a few glasses of wine, quite replete with our achievements for the day. There is plenty for Veronica to share with her family, which are scattered all over the world. In the role of emissary for the family, this felt like success.

This morning we left at about 9 with 2 other boats. We chased a British boat most of the way until we decided to start sailing as we went across the lake that opens up toward Lauwersoog and the lock out to the sea. We gave Lauwersoog a miss, we had been there on the outward bound trip (from the sea side), we hung a left and had fun sailing head to head with a traditional Dutch side keeler, he had both sails out, we sailed on the foresail only. It was a game of pinching around corners and trying not to back sails. They won by a boat length. There were long stretches of farmland and many bridges; we probably covered 40km today and ended up in Dokkum. This town is totally undersold in the pilot book. Two beautiful and imposing windmills many traditional lifting bridges and neat streets with traditional Dutch houses that date back centauries. We are now nestled below a windmill; check out the gallery for the pictures.

As an aside, in 10 days time we shall have to go to sea again as the very last section of the Staande Mastroute is closed due to this https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8_nTLIuk6Hk, I am not sure how long the link will survive but it this has to go down in the list of engineering "oh shit" moments. That is a challenge for 10 days away; tomorrow we are off to Leeuwarden. I can never get over what an impression lions made on the Northern European culture. As they migrated north, I don't think lions made it past Turkey but just think about how many ancient historical names have the word lion in them. They sure made an impression, despite the name of our destination tomorrow; I am not expecting to see any lions tomorrow.