Down time.....Sunday to Wednesday

Sunday

I decided to try one of the bikes .....after all I'm in the Netherlands....land of bikes, bikes,bikes and wonderful bike paths.  There are 3 ladies bikes here.....one I tried before has a back pedal brake and I'm not comfortable with it.  The best one has a child's seat on the front and the back and the front kids seat feels strange hitting my chest, and I found the key to get it off but can't seem to budge it, so that one is out.  The last one is the one I took out on Sunday....I drove about 2 km and found a couple of caches......but then on my way back disaster hit.....I lost my balance and either my shorts or my backpack got caught in the seat which is really too high for my and I had a tumble.....not to bad, no broken bones just more of my pride.  I know I can adjust the seat but I can't seem to find the right wrench in the garage.  Anyway I walked the bike about 3 kms back!  Oh well......it will be my feet to take me places......probably better for keeping me fit.

Oh and I sent about an hour and a half skyping with Curtis....instant messaging because my webcam is not being recognized.  He and Natasha are doing well and looking forward to coming to Vancouver in November 

 Monday

Woke up this morning to another skype by messaging with Marg, my Australian friend who will be leaving for Los Angeles  next week and the arriving in Vancouver August 12 to pick up her van (Canadian Joy which has been in my driveway since her visit last year) to continue her exploration of North America for a few months

I decided to hop the train and go and explore Leewarden on Monday.   it is a bigger town than Sneek and is the place where you change trains to get to Amsterdam, about 20 minutes by train from Sneek.  It also has a tourist information office, that was first on my list because I wanted to find out how to get to one of the islands north of here that I would like to go to next week.  After getting the information I needed and a ferry pass that I can use when I take the trip, I followed my GPS to explore the city.  A very busy town....lots of shops and people.  I met some other cachers who helped me with a cache close to the edge of one of the canals.   

I wandered up and down the streets and in and out of shops for a few hours enjoying the weather and the town.

I have been spending time in the evening watching the Commonwealth games on BBC.....there is not a lot of coverage of Canadian  athletes though.

Tuesday

Finally got the webcam working with my skype  and chatted with Carol for  while.

I explored a different area of Sneek today using the GPS and the caches to guide me.  I found one and didn't find another, met some Dutch cachers and helped them find a cache that I previously found.  I think I walked about 6 km today.....I need to check the gps to keep track of how far I have gone.  

Sneek is getting ready for Sneek Week which starts on Thursday.  More on that later.

The town is getting ready for Sneek Week!

Wednesday

I put another few kilometers on my feet today.  Last night I figured out that there were some challenge caches in another area that I  qualify for.  So I walked out into the farmlands and into one of the little towns and then back into Sneek.  Finding caches in another country, in another language can be confusing and hard work.  Google translate is helpful but some of the terms and expressions used cannot be translated very well!!!!  The cache owners have been helpful with some of my calculations and translations on the harder caches.    

Caching in the countryside

Paved bike paths everywhere!

Another windmills....there's a cache there.....

But how do I get to it??????

Another few caches and another few kilometers for my runners!



 

I'm back!.....in Sneek!

Saturday July 26, 2014

On the way to a cached called Giant's Jardine (sadly the park wasn't open yet)

Giant flowers in the plaza

There they are again

Three Copper faced buildings

Before I caught the train this morning I took another little walk around the hotel area in Lille....and found 2 caches.  The train left on time 10:06....it is the Thalys line....the one that goes very very fast.  And took me straight to Schiphol airport (Amsterdam airport) and in less than 10 minutes I was on a regional train that took me straight to Leewarden.

Very smooth day....but interestingly  when we stopped in Brussels a young man rushed in at the last minute and his seat was next to mine (you have to reserve seats on this one).  He was muttering that he couldn't believe that he made it.  Hearing that he spoke English I asked him where he was from....Vancouver...so was I, he asked where I lived, Ladner I said and was just about to add my "over the bridge and through the tunnel" saying when he said Tsawassen!!  He is a little only 26 so he didn't know Cassidy or her brothers....but he knew about geocaching because his older brother was a cacher!  Anyway he was traveling by himself around Europe for a total of about 4 months.

So I'm back in Sneek...and will  figure out what I'm going to do for the next couple of weeks before I leave August 10. 

Right now I'm watching BBC and the Commonwealth Games....I don't see many Canadians participating!!?

Familiar canals by the roads

Hmmm....not so organized day

Friday July 25, 2014

Friday was bright and sunny I had a good sleep in my pink room, had my nice English breakfast at 8 and was out the door at 8:30......a short walk to the ferry terminal hoping to walk on the 9:30 ferry.....then I figured out my connections and I could make it back to Sneek by 5 or 6 (new time, I loose an hour).....well it was not to be.....foot passenger quote for the 9:30 and the 10:15 were all filled up......I left on the 11:10...making a mess of my plans. On top of that there was no wifi in the terminal or on the ferry to figure out new connections...(what did we ever do before internet!!??)

The pink formal dining room at the hotel

Mural on the Dover terminal wall

The 11:10 ferry!!

When I landed in Calais it was now 1:00 and they can't book tickets into Netherlands....so ticket to Lille.....by the time I get to Lille it is now 4:00 and I am in Gare Lille-Flanders station that also doesn't make tickets for places other than regional destinations. I now have to go to Gare Lille- Europe.....about a 400m walk. The nice young ticket person figured out that by now (5:00) I would not be able to make any possible configuration of connections to get me to Sneek tonight........so I booked a hotel.....which he could too right there.....I was so frustrated by this time I was happy to have a bed for the night.

When I got to my room the TV was on and there was a message for me!

Gare Lille-Europe

A piano that anyone can play anytime!

Looking back, at the way the last couple of days were going....if I had gone with plan A (the trip to Poole for a ferry to Jersey) I probably wouldn't have gotten on that ferry either!

I had a bit of a look around the area of the station (caches leading me around)....it does see to be a pretty town and a very busy hub for travel 

Central Plaza

A plaza that is over the freeway!

The only thing that disturbed me was the armed men in army fatigues at the Lille Flanders station and then later when I was walking in the giant fashion mall.....teams of 3 men just wander....with rifles across their chests, held at ready.  But then I remember seeing them at Gare Paris Nord  2 years ago....

Going into the mall....

There they are again....can you see them?

A  Taste of Britain

Thursday July 24, 2014

Had my breakfast delivered to my door this morning because they don't have a dining room....saved me time. Then off I set for the ferry terminal (looking for the cache at the lighthouse with no success)! It was already hot and humid and the walk to the terminal which looked close was still a kind of zig zaggy 1 km walk. When you get to the terminal you are still about a kilometer away from the ferry....they bus you out there. Of course you have to go through customs so I got another stamp on my passport....it is filling up quickly! The terminal by the way is huge.

Ok...now the price....a walk on foot passenger from Calais to Dover......1 1/2 hrs....through a boring channel......is 40 Euro.....which is $58 Canadian dollars!!!!!!! What do we pay for foot passenger through one of most scenic parts of BC.......$..... I don't want to hear any whining about ferry fare again!!! When I got on I asked at the information booth how much it was for a car and passenge....he told me that if you ask 50 people in a room, everyone would have a different price....depending on day of the week, time of the day, season, specials (ie car with 4 people,,...) crazy!

Bus from terminal to ferry.....up 4 flights of ramps in a plastic tube to get to the walk way. On to the ferry which looks like a cruise ship.....duty free shop, casino, money exchange, about 5 eating facilities and a play director for the kids to keep them busy!!!!! no wonder it costs so much.

"Kids Club"

There are a lot of ferries that run but only one line that takes foot passengers and that's P & O...a monopoly!

The ferry ride was uneventful....wifi not working so I couldn't check how the rest of my trip might work out. I caught the 10:30 ferry.....I've been up since about 7 but walking, paper work and waiting take up time........for a 10:30 they start boarding you 45 minutes before it leave...security, customs, bus, ramps......sigh! 

This seagull "floated" beside the ferry for a good 10 minutes....

without flapping his wings just floating on the air currents!!!!

The white cliffs, look amazing as you are coming in.......

The little hotel I booked for Dover is very close to the ferry terminal

Back gate of the hotel

Sign on the front door!

Back street

Back garden

View from the back stoop

I found it quite quickly but arrived about 12:30 (gained an hour) but the sign on the porch said reception didn't open til 2:30!!! Great.....so as I was deciding what to do.....hide my backpack in the bushes outside the hotel ...in a gated yard or what?....a woman came out....the owner....let me in and my room was ready....so I was off, map in hand.

up up up

I walked up (yes up it's cliffs....hills and forests not like the flat lands of the Netherlands) to the visitor's centre for the White Cliffs....about a km away, then back along the road to the castle.....around the castle ( I didn't go into it) then down in to the town of Dover and around the town, to the beach...I wish had my swim suite with me! During my walk and a talk with the nice people at the information center I have decided that between the heat, humidity, the unsuccessful attempts at making connections with trains and ferries.....I'm heading back to Sneek tomorrow. I will do Great Britain the next time I'm here....maybe a home exchange?! 

I had dinner at a recommended pub/grill on the waterfront (English fish and chips, what else!)...and then headed back to the hotel by about 7 for a much needed shower. I sat on their back stoop doing the blog, answering emails and sending a couple of photos of my view of the white cliff as I was sitting there (answers back from Val and Cam in record time!). Then enjoyed the view of the channel in the front. When it finally got too cool (yeah!) I transferred myself into their lounge....a large cozy front room with a fire place 2 love seats and various chairs, a TV, a piano and a library.....where I chatted to one of the guests who was travelling with her father back to Berlin after 3 years of uni in Leeds. He had come to pick up stuff she had accumulated and attend her graduation.....but she had a present for him......from Berlin to Leeds and back to Berlin she had arranged a Magical Mystery Tour for him...every day they went somewhere new and she had arranged accommodation for them at different places....sometimes it was a special tour...a ride on a steam train sometimes a stop at a relatives!

Anyway I will be travelling back to Calais and then on to Sneek tomorrow morning after my English breakfast that I ordered.

On the bathroom door on the ferry!