Day 7: Warkum to Bolswarth

Day 7: Warkum to Bolswarth

            We awoke to 20-25 knots of wind.  It had rained heavily overnight, but the sky cleared early, though the wind did not subside.  We decided to have a leisurely breakfast of eggs and onions ala chef Marty and croissants and pray for lighter winds.   The wind finally abated slightly (10-15kt) and the boat in front of us and across the canal from us (canal width was maybe 2 of our boat lengths, so not much room to turn around) both left giving us a bit more maneuver room.  I took these as good signs and gave the order to head out.  My crew performed perfectly, and we spun the boat around like pros and headed off to Bolswarth. 

            The trip was due north on a narrow canal directly into the wind.  The wind chill factor made it feel like it was about 20 degrees.  We came to a drawbridge and we were so excited about getting through that we didn't see the sign"1 euro".


As we passed the toll bridge keeper, she dangled a wooden shoe from a fishing pole in my face, but by the time I realized that we were meant to deposit the toll in the shoe, we were past her and there was no way I was turning around.  Though I understand no Dutch, I had a pretty good idea of what she was saying (or yelling). We spent the rest of the day looking over our shoulders, expecting the wooden shoe police to chase us down and through us in the slammer.  The next bridge we were ready for.  We still didn't know how much the toll was, so we began depositing 2 euro coins into the shoes.  After about the 3rd bridge like this, we finally realized why the bridge toll keepers were so friendly.  Marty noticed the 1 euro toll signs.

            The trip to Bolswarth, though windy, was pleasant in the sun.  I gave up the bridge to Dave for a while, and he was an admirable helmsman.




On arrival, we found a great docking spot alongside the quay and the crew did a perfect parking job.  We were thrilled to find that we would have shore power tonight, which meant that we could use our heater all night, and not freeze.  The canal dead ended in a very low bridge about 100yds from our docking spot, an narrowed considerably here.  What I hadn't thought about was the fact that our boat's length and the canal's width were nearly identical, making turning your boat around 180 degrees virtually impossible. I guess we'll worry about that tomorrow!

            We rode our bikes into town, a very short distance, and hoped to see their famous town hall.  Unfortunately, it was closed, although there was a wedding party assembled outside, obviously waiting for the bride and groom who showed up shortly after our arrival. The next site we didn't get to see was the smallest brewery in the Netherlands.  They, too, were closed.

         

We did find a beautiful park surrounded by hi-end homes.  We also happened to find a grocery store, so we restocked with all the essentials, pie, cookies, whipped cream, and cheese and crackers. The bike racks were handy for carting all this stuff back.

 We spent the late afternoon eating hors d'ouevres and drinking our excellent 4.5 euro bottle of  grape.  The marina fee collector came by to collect the evening dockage fee and offered us recommendations for dinner.  Either the expensive hotel or less expensive "Baba's".  We had seen Baba's steak house and Baba's Chinese/Indonesian restaurant so decided to check them out for dinner.  We were also told by someone else that the Chinese restaurant was wonderful (we later came to the conclusion that he must have been the owner).  After checking them both out, we chose the Asian restaurant.  There was not a single other diner in the place which we rationalized away since Americans eat early (though it was 7:30ish), and the only other person other than the Chinese waitress who spoke no English (couldn't tell if she was speaking Dutch with a Chinese accent, or Chinese with a Dutch accent-either way we could not converse satisfactorily) was a sleazy looking bearded guy who sat the whole time we were there playing pinball (why two pinball machines were in a Chinese restaurant we'll never know).

 Our big surprise and I do mean big were our egg rolls (pictured not enhanced).  The waitress came back to our table twice to make sure we really wanted 6 egg rolls.  They were the biggest, greasiest  egg rolls we'd ever seen.  They were like a giant Chinese chimichanga.  The rest of the meal was marginal at best and very expensive for what we had.  Not our finest choice.

          


We came back to the boat for scrabble, hot chocolate and apple pie.  Unbekownst to us, Dave had never played scrabble, so we had to give him some pointers.  He and Molly put in a good showing, but it was the Kurtz's against the Cohen's.  Jeri and I prevailed, though Marty claims that it doesn't count because there was a third couple involved.

The wind died down and the sky was clear-  actually saw stars.  Hopefully this will continue tomorrow.