Latest Adventures
North Netherlands cruise Part 9 – Urk to Kampen
Old time sail trainer on the Ketelmeer To see part 8 click here To go to part 1 of the trip click here The next stage took us from Urk, out onto the Ijsselmeer for a short while, under Ketelbrug and into the Ketelmeer, along Keteldiep and the Ijssel River...
North Netherlands cruise Part 8 – Lemmer to Urk via Emmeloord
Boats waiting at Friesesluis To go to previous part click here or to go back to the beginning of the trip click here The weather was still not particularly great. Frequent heavy rain showers, and gusty winds. Karen had been hoping to go out onto the...
North Netherlands cruise Part 7 – Sneek to Lemmer
Busy canal in Sneek To go to previous part click here or to go back to the beginning of the trip click here After 5 days in Sneek, we were glad to get moving again. When we first arrived in Sneek, we grabbed the first mooring available, which was to the...
North Netherlands Cruise Part 6 – Friesland – Our stay in Sneek
Shangri-La in Sneek To go to the previous Part 5 click here or to go back to the biginning of the trip click here I have finally got round to writing about this part of the trip. My blog content tends to be very much about the truly boating aspects of...
North Netherlands Cruise Part 5 – Leeuwarden to Sneek via Pikmeer and Sneekermeer
Slauerhoffbrug in Friesland - Netherlands To go to previous part click here or to go back to the beginning of the trip click here This leg of the trip took 2 days, with another of our favourite stops in the wild, on the Pikmeer. A total of 42...
North Netherlands Cruise Part 4 – Friesland – Dokkum to Leeuwarden
Shangri La at Leeuwarden To see Part 3 click here or to go to the beginning of the trip click here The trip from Dokkum to Leeuwarden was relatively short - 22 kilometres with only 6 bridges and no locks. We got going about 10.00, and were tied up in...
North Netherlands Cruise Part 3 – Rietdiep, sleeping wild and Dokkum
Rietdiep - Netherlands To read Part 2 click here or to go to the beginning of the trip click here As mentioned in the previous post, we had decided to take the scenic route, via Rietdiep towards Dokkum, rather than the more commercial Prinses Margriet...
North Netherlands cruise Part 2 – Groningen, Eeemskanaal and Appingedam
On the Eemskanaal To go to Part 1 click here The main reason for calling in at Groningen was to pop into IKEA and buy equipment for Shangri La. IKEA was about 15 mins walk from where we were berthed. 4 trips later, and several Euro lighter, we had bought most of...
North Holland waterway cruise Part 1 – Meppel to Groningen
Shangri La moored in Groningen at the Oosterhaven This part of the trip would be the first real test of Shangri La. We wanted to go to Groningen primarily to visit the IKEA shop. It took 3 days with the 2 overnight stops in open berths or moorings with no facilities....
Finding direction – Zwartsluis to Meppel
Exodus from Zwolle The trip back from Zwolle to Zwartsluis was pretty uneventful, except for the fact we left on a Sunday, and the bridge operator must have overslept, as us, and the 16 or so other boats trying to leave Zwolle had to hang about for nearly half an hour...















My love of boats goes back to my early years when I went on holiday with my parents to Knysna in the Cape.
We stayed at a hotel on stilts, and I played in rowing boats and little motor boats on the lagoon.