Exploring Sneek and Ameland

Monday Aug 4 and Tues Aug 5

Monday started off with rain and so scratched the plans for the day. As it cleared up I hopped on the bike again and off I went exploring the west part of Sneek .....with a fitness circuit....of course it to do with geocaching......Doing a bit of math and projections I came up with the prized geocache of the day...a “letter box” I'm really getting good at translating google translate!!!! Every cache can be a real puzzle when you are in another country and have to translate descriptions, hints and others messages. And google translate can sometimes make things even more confusing.

When I got back “home” a couple of hours later the internet was not working.....not just the wifi which my netbook and my itouch hooks up to but the internet that is going to the main desktop. Don't know what the problem is...... real mystery......

I have been sending emails at the local MickyDs.....the go to place when travelling for internet access. Luckily I had done my geocaching lists and maps the day before. And also lucky after a skyping call with Sheryl I had decided I would leave Sneek on Thursday and go to Amsterdam spend the last 3 days of my vacation. I already had made a hotel reservation for Saturday night but I have added 2 more nights and a little tour....all done the night before when the internet was working.

Tuesday I had decided to go to one of the islands north of here....Ameland. I caught the the train in Sneek to Leewarden and then caught the bus to the ferry.....a 45 minute ride. Luckily I had bought a ferry ticket from the information centre last week because when I got there the line up to get a walk on ferry ticket had at least 75 people! I had been talking to a young lady on the bus who spoke English and helped me with the ferry signage and chatted to me during the 45 minute ferry trip. 

The tide was out when we left and it is facinating to watch the ferry negotiate the obliviously shallow waters. When I got off the boat I headed towards the town of Nes looking for a bike rental place. Ameland is a popular place for day trips and summer vacations. The first place I came to had a line up of about 200 people wanted to rent bikes!!!!! so I continued on looking for another shop. I evenutally found one a 1 speed back, pedal brake bike for 5.80 Euro (about $8.50) for the day. No deposit, no signing anything just pay and check out.......These places have hundreds of bikes....men's, women's, kid's, tandum.....anything you can think of.

And off I went....I figured by the time I finished I had done about 20km. Through farmlands, forest, along the coast line among the dunes.......all on wonderful biking trails with lots of others. I walk on the beach too. This area, the Wadden Sea and the islands are also a UNESCO site because of it's geographically significantce of dune, tides and a sandhook that causes the beach to become full of vegetation and the some years later become beach again....(I didn't explain that very well sorry)

Bike pumps along the way chained to signposts

I got back to Nes about 3, had a majito ice cream cone, looked around a bit  and I caught the 4:30 ferry back. The ferry leaves every 2 hours and the last ferry was at 6:30; The tide was now in so the ride back was back looked different. The bus was waiting and then a quick stop at the Leewarden station to see if I could get train tickets ahead of time for Thursday....I couldn't and then onto the train to Sneek....I was in the house before 6:30.

Went for a walk after dinner to see what was going on with Sneek Week.....they are still partying and there must be about 15 bands or musicians playing at different pubs and restaurants.....and the midway is still really busy.

Still partying in Sneek!

Tomorrow cleaning and packing.