Karen’s Travel Blog

Journeys on water and land

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  • Amsterdam for 2 weeks, Museums, Gardens and Friends

    Yes the bad weather did persist, but I did manage to make a few forays into the city of Amsterdam. With my trusty museum card in hand(best 75 euros I have ever spent!) we (that’s Peter and I) visited a number of sights. Next on the list were the Oude Kerk and the Nieuwe Kerk. Read more

  • Escorting our visitors through South Holland to North Holland

    With Helen and David Grodski in tow we left Gouda, destination Leiden This city is home to the oldest university in the Netherlands, which is celebrating its 450th anniversary this year. Wow and we think the 150th anniversary for our yacht club is a major event. Puts it in perspective, doesn’t it? The tulip was Read more

  • Zeeland and beyond

    Now it’s time for a little geography lesson. The Netherlands (which literally translates to “lower countries”) is a collection of 12 provinces or states. Two of these provinces are South Holland and North Holland, so when people refer to Holland they are technically only talking about these two provinces. So we left Yerske in Zeeland Read more

  • We’re off, our 2025 adventure begins

    It was cool bright morning as we cast off lines and left our winter port in Coupure. With a couple of stowaways on board (James and Colin) we set out to Ghent , a 5 hour cruise down the Oostend Ghent canal After our hectic pace last year the idea this year is to take Read more

  • Back to Brugge

    Leaving our home in Brighton on 1st April we arrived back in Brugge on the 2nd. Yes it is a long trip, with 6 hours in HCMC to break the tedium. Normally we start the engines of our Joie de Vivre within a few days of landing but as we know all good plans of Read more

  • 2024 seasonal summary

    After being on the move for 6 months, we arrived back at our winter port in Brugge on 29th September. With still a month until we would depart for Melbourne, we decide to catch the train to Paris for a few days. Paris Sojourn Travelling with our friends Ann and Julie we stayed in a Read more

  • Sailing Back to Brugge: Reflections on Our Antwerp Adventure

    Sitting here in Brugge, only 8 degrees outside our cosy boat, with the rain tinkling on the roof, I am beginning to think that we should have already started our trek back to Melbourne. But we have another few weeks yet! Time to catch up with the last leg of our voyage for this year Read more

  • The Historic harbours and fishing Villages of Zeeland

    Zeeland is one of my favourite parts of the world. If you like the boat culture, open waters, pristine beaches and freshly caught seafood (from the fishing boats, of course), this southern area of the Netherlands should be on your bucket list Day 1 Rotterdam to Middleharnis 1 lock 51kms On leaving the Veerhaven it Read more

  • The Netherlands, Where the Rhine becomes the Waal

    Day 1 Wesel to Lake Bijland 51 kms Day 2 Lake Bijland to Zaltbommel 72 kms I looked back at our days travelling on the Marne au Rhin canal, where we we lucky to cover 10 kms in a day. 72 kms seems an impossibly long journey, but with no locks and about 5 kms Read more

  • The Mighty Rhine from Germany to the Netherlands

    Just to recap, we travelled from Willingen to Koblez on the Rhine, 1 lock 15 kms Our first port on the Rhine was a harbour just upstream from Koblenz. As we turned from the Mosel to navigate upstream our speed across the ground reduced to about 5kms per hour from 10 kms per hour. Thankfully Read more