And that's not only the flag. Things have gone pretty well this summer but there's nothing quite like a force 7+ gale to blow away your complacency. Over the past few days we have been wending our way back south and west towards Amsterdam. We locked out of the deserted canals of eastern Holland onto the River Ijssel and then out onto the Randmeren - a series of meers, or lakes, 97km in length. When we came this way 3 months ago it was sunny and the lakes were full of yachts and cruisers. I remember commenting then that I wouldn't like to do it in bad weather....The first 2 days weren't too bad. Just wet. A year ago, when we first embarked upon this, a woman said to me, 'Don't worry about rain. It can't hurt. Worry about the wind.' We've had plenty of windy days along the way but it's really a question of where you are when they start blowing. Out on a meer wouldn't be your first choice. The final in the series of meers is Markermeer which is the southern part of the Ijsselmeer (which you may recall was once part of the North Sea). The wind had been building all day but we weren't too concerned as we had been in relatively sheltered waters. As we emerged into the Markermeer we could see the colourful chutes of dozens of para surfers. Picturesque but not encouraging. Then, with an almighty lurch sideways accompanied by a crashing of waves over the roof (and unsecured dishes from cupboards) we were out of the shelter of the land. I know some people enjoy this sort of thing (people like those in the Volvo Round the World Yacht Race team who followed us into port) but I am not one of them. No pictures I'm afraid as both my hands were in use clinging on. Thankfully we didn't have too far to go before we were able to turn south and head into Muiden harbour.
This castle guarding the entrance to the River Vecht at Muiden dates from the 13th century. We did normal, sedate tourist stuff yesterday and had a look round.
Very Hogwarts!
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