2026, May 1st-15th
After spending another night at the Noordergathaven, we left and returned to our previous Marrakrite mooring (LM24 on the Dokkumerdiep) but not before we’d made full use of the ‘free’ electricity and fully filled our water tank.
LM24 was as lovely as our visit just a few days earlier, and we took the time to chill for a few days (although that ‘chilling’ did involve some cleaning of the boat’s paintwork). We did have a visit from the local “haven helding” (harbour police), just to say hello and check on any boats in the area, which was nice.
The whole area is actually a bird sanctuary, and there were many hides tucked away in the reeds and the forest, and plenty of information posts on which birds can be seen and identified. That did however mean that all dogs had to be kept in a lead all the time. But nonetheless Casper and Pip enjoyed all their walks.
In amongst the reeds is the Observation Tower De Reiddomp. This is a huge 25-meter-high tower built in 2022 on the edge of the Lauwersmeer and the Diepsterbos in Kollumerpomp, which can be climbed to see the view of the vast water landscape.
Having spent three nights here, it was time to move off again, this time aiming for Kromme Raken, an sarea that we had enjoyed before. However, with the Miami Grand Prix taking place on TV around midday, we decided to make our own ‘pit stop’ partway, stopping for a couple of hours in Zoutkamp to watch the race. Nicki walked the dogs whilst I had my racing fix, after which we set off again to our next destination.
A couple of hours motoring along the Reitdiep took us to the Kromme Raken mooring, and once again it was empty and we had our pick of space. The weather was turning by that point so we settled in for a few days and nights, and except for the dogs’ daily walks, we stayed inside to catch up on housework etc..
Kromme Raken (also known as Schouwerzijlsterriet) is a small canalised waterway flowing from the Reitdiep, passing through the very small village of Schouwerzijl, via the Schouwerzijl lock, an historic lock built in 1849. The village is surrounded by mostly farm land and (as at 2023) had a population of just 90 people, which could explain why over the years the local school, shops and even public transport have all disappeared.
After three nights here, we set off early-ish making our way to Groningen with lovely sunny skies all the way. The journey was uneventful other than having to wait for the bridge keeper at our 4th to last bridge to finish his lunch – this season we’d almost forgotten that that happened as to date all bridges had been remotely operated from a central point, not by a group of bridge keepers!
Finally though we reached our goal of the Museumbrug in Groningen, and moored up in our ‘usual’ spot opposite a canoe club and just a few minutes walk away from the busy town centre.
We managed a walk into town later on and were amazed to find that a huge fun fair had taken over a large part of the central shopping area – how they managed to squeeze so much into the available space was a real tribute to optimism, and how they then constructed and erected everything in that space was a true feat of engineering. We decided to take a trip in later that evening to see everything in action, but apathy and the telly ruled and instead Nicki took the dogs out for a late evening walk. Scarily, on her way back Casper fell over and couldn’t get up at all. It seemed he’d hurt one of his front legs (twisted it walking off a curb?) and with such weak back legs he couldn’t get himself up and was very distressed. So the cavalry was called out (ie Captain Andrew) with a trolley to get Casper back to the boat. Only Casper was not prepared to travel in that contraption! Luckily, after some rest and a little massaging of his front leg, we managed to get him up and he very slowly limped home. (By the morning he seemed to be back to his normal self, thank goodness.)
The next day we had a few things planned, which included a vet visit for Pip, whose ear and paw had been troubling her – €196 later Nicki arrived home with several lotions and potions for her, so hopefully that’ll solve Pip’s problems, and I collected our car from Lauwersoog and re-parked it closer to Groningen, and collected any post.
Now on our second evening in Groningen we managed to summon up the energy to visit the fair, where it seemed hundred and hundreds of people were out in force to soak up the atmosphere and enjoy the rides and win cuddly toys, and around the perimeter in all the noise and mayhem were families casually having dinner and drinks, some tables almost pressing up against barriers surrounding rides. Bizarre.
Nicki was heading back to the UK the following day (9th May) for family visits and we had selected a mooring close to the train station for her departure. As it turned out however, we weren’t allowed to moor there any more, and so had to move slightly further along the waterway, although still within a short walking distance of the station.
Securely tied up, we walked over to the train station together where Nicki caught the train to Schipol and from there flew into Bristol airport. The plan was that she flew into Bristol, was collected by Lesley to attend a couple of days in Somerset, catching up with her and Mike, popping over to see Steve and Steph, and a couple of forays to Yeovil and Crewkerne.
From there Nicki caught a train (on 12th May to Worcester) and had a few days with Stuart, Sara and Isabella, before they all travelled down to stay with Amy and Tom in Southampton on 14th. (Stuart and Sara were having new flooring installed downstairs, and took the opportunity to leave the workmen to it for the few days it would take to complete.)
In the meantime, I stayed on Shensi with the dogs, moving on to the next mooring on the Hoornse Diep where I was able to spend the rest of my solitude. Unfortunately the weather was fairly atrocious a lot of the time, but on the plus side I was close to some reasonable dog walking and didn’t have far to get there, so it all balanced out.