The Town Harbour in Goes

Delicious ice-cold, fruity, blond beer, steaming pots of fresh mussels cooked in white wine with onions and celery, perfectly fried chips dipped in garlicky mayonnaise, and pancakes (pannenkoek) met slagroom (cream) yes, really! An entire nation on its bicycle; mothers and fathers, boyfriends and girlfriends, grandparents with grandchildren perched in front, clutching tiny pretend handle bars and looking terribly serious. Or walking dogs; big dogs, little dogs, every possible variety of dog.  Every Dutch family must own at least one - they even take them out on their boats.

A huge bowl of sky in gorgeous shades of palest duck egg blue and grey. And water. Water everywhere. Canals leading off inland seas, taking us right into the heart of lovely ancient towns, where we could step off the boat straight into the nearest cafe or bar, wander through the streets shopping for fresh bread, coffee, cheese and fruit, or just admiring the pretty Dutch houses and wondering how on earth they get their windows so very clean, before heading back to the boat to sit in the cockpit watching the world go by with a glass of wine and a bowl of pasta, cooked on the little swinging stove.

From Goes we sailed across the Oosterschelde to Zierikzee for the Mussel Festival, where we joined friends from the Little Ship Club as part of the Holland Rally, staying a day longer than planned because of severe weather then, setting off for Willemstad, were forced back to Goes (probably my favourite place in Holland) by an unpredicted Force 7 in the Oosterschelde, which is like standing fully dressed in the wind and rain with someone chucking buckets of freezing water over you every few seconds. Not my idea of fun at all! Delicious fish soup and a glass of warming Calvados in a lovely Square in Goes helped to ease my recovery from the difficult conditions at sea that day.

A long day's sail up the Volkerak finally brought us to Willemstad, despite problems with the final lock which meant we had to use the lock reserved for commercial traffic - rather like crossing the M25 on a bicycle.  Willemstad is a lovely, historic Dutch town and we stayed for a couple of days before taking the boat up the Haringvliet to Middel Harnis for pannenkoek, then on to Hellevoetsluis where we fell in with a crowd of Dutch boaties who were holding a Rally for Contessa 32s - an instant connection there - and invited us to join them. We spent a couple of days with them, enjoying their hospitality and joined them in a race (my first) where we were totally outclassed, but great fun anyway, then a barbecue in their Clubhouse in the evening, watching the sun go down over the water and chatting with the English speakers, swapping sailing stories and practising Dutch pronunciation to their great amusement.  We have an open invitation to attend the rally every year, but need to hone our racing skills a bit first!

Sadly, it was time now to retrace our steps, back to Willemstad, then back across the Oosterschelde again, this time into the beautiful Veerse Meer and on to the pretty town of Veere for the night, then on to Middelburg in the pouring rain and an end of holiday feeling. For me it was the train and the ferry home while Roger sailed the boat solo via Vlissingen, Breskens and Ostend, then across the wide, cold unpredictable Noordzee and home to The Deben.

Catherine Digby-Rogers

Gallery