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.

Thursday July 31 to Sunday Aug 3

I have spent the last few days walking, caching, people watching and.....bike riding!

Thursday found me walking through the farm lands and into a small town looking for caches and enjoying countryside and in the evening another walk into town to see how the preparations for Sneek Week are coming.

Friday I set out at about 10am and started walking in a big circle south of Sneek letting the gps and the caches led me....I kept track this time it was about 12km. The canals are filling up with lots of sail boats....coming in for the competitions.

There's a cache up there...

plus a view

Canals are for boats and swimming and in winter skating!

Sneek Netherland is known for largest international inland water sailing regetta And Sneek week is a combination of the regatta, music and a midway with the usual games, food and rides. Friday night was the official opening and at Watersport (the famous bridge....I understand that the picture of this bridge the joker on every deck of cards from the Netherlands).


I got there about 7:30, according to my translations it started at 8 at Watersport and the water in front of it and it involved fireworks ( I love fireworks!) My problem was that I didn't take anything to sit on. I arrived early enough to get a good place at the front but then stood until I got back “home” at 11:30. There was music, speeches in Dutch, an amazing little water show......two people with lights on and I don't know they did it but they were floating!!!! then came the parade....a parade of the different classes of boats that are in the competitions. About every 10^th boat there was a boat full of musicians. Then finally at about 11:00 there was the fireworks!!!

 

Crowds gathering

Bands playing

Darkness coming

How did he get up there!?!

Boat Parade

The Freilands are very patriotic

Fireworks!

Saturday I lazed around recovering from the walk and all the standing.....reading and watching BBC that was giving great coverage of the Commonwealth Games.


Sunday I decided to climb back on the bike and went off exploring a new area....a manor house, Epemaste, with once manicured gardens now used as walking paths, built 1652.....again a geocache took me here.... I am getting more confident on the bike and with the Dutch traffic rules for motorists, pedestrians and bikes.

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!