May 13, we are now away and cruising down to Grou, we heard that yesterday was the coldest May 12 in the Netherlands since records were kept.
We got a mooring on the town quay. Behind the houses opposite is the church square which has a tuneful set of bells which played day and night.
In the evening we walked bout 20 metres across the road and had a very nice meal in the Italian restaurant with some very nice Italian Red which kept us warm all night.
From Grou we cruised down across the Sneekermeer then turned off to Joure to visit our friends Max and Geertsje. We had a lovely couple of days there then off again through the Tjeukemeer and out of Friesland and into the Province Overijssel. At the lock on the Linde the lockkeeper gave us an Overijssel flag for the front of the boat.
Two years ago we came down the same way and passed under a small bridge into the main canal at Ossenzijl with plenty of clearance. This time we thought the bridge looked a bit low but decided to give it a try, our measuring stick out front scraped and we had a few centimetres above the bimini. Obviously the water was higher than the last time.
South of Kalenberg we passed through the thatch growing and milling area. All the houses were thatched and along the canal we saw thatch in its various stages.
Our next stop was Ommen on the Overijssel vecht north of Zwolle. The weather is getting warmer and we are having some sunny days. We moored on the town moorings right opposite the Hotel Zon which had the sun bathing chairs we had seen on the German Island of Borkum out on the canal side waiting for Summer.
Ommen has the interesting National Tin Figurine Museum.
The brochure said a Diorama of the Battle of Waterloo was on display using 10 000 figurines. We went into the museum thinking of little lead soldiers from our childhood so were very surprised when we saw the dioramas with figurines which are 2cm high moulded from tin 2mm thick. The detail and painting of each figurine is very realistic.
This is a diorama of Roman Gladiators in the Colosseum. The gladiators and the first two rows are tiny 2 cm figurines with wonderful detail. If you can enlarge it you will see the audience with their thumbs pointed down.
This next photo are figurines by a Grand Master of Tin Figurines, an Englishman called Mike Taylor. The detail is fantastic.
The next diorama is from a 1226 battle between the farmers of Ommen and the Bishop’s men as he wanted more taxes. The Farmers met in a boggy area as they knew the horses would get stuck in the bog.
Look at the detail in the picture after as when we looked closely some of the farmers were giving the brown eye to the Bishop’s Men. I guess a modern interpretation.
Shopping in the Netherlands is very civilised. While searching the shelves and trying to read labels in the Ommen supermarket we took a welcome rest with a coffee from the free machine and sat down to drink it along with the free fruit buns. Shopping would not be such a chore at home if one could sit down to a free morning tea. The internet café was also offering free coffee.
From Ommen we travelled down to the Ijssel River and into the harbour in Kammpen. It is always interesting travelling on the rivers after the canals as the current was flowing about 3 kmh and the old harbour had a very small entrance. As always my trusty Captain Kev got us into a good mooring and off we went to check out the old city and spend some time soaking up the sun and having coffee and appleflappen.
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