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We were excited to welcome our first family member aboard to enjoy the delights of our Joie de Vivre. Peter even put on a clean shirt and pants and asked me to cut his hair, to celebrate the occasion. Kampen is another Hanseatic town and we were still on the Ijssel. Our mooring was in… Read more
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The Ijssel is a distributary of the Rhine that flows in a northerly direction eventually discharging into the IJsselmeer. We had travelled on this river in 2022, but at that time we motored against the flow, upstream in a north south direction. There was a drought and the river was low with not much traffic.… Read more
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Leaving Gouda we took the Hollandse Ijssel, heading east. This section is a meandering narrow waterway, 32kms in length with 11 opening bridges. Although we were aiming for the town of Ijsselstein, we made a stop at the historical village of Oudewater. Little is known about the origins of Oudewater, though it did hold a… Read more
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Since 2022 we have spent some time cruising with James, Julie and Colin on their boat Mimosa. Sadly all good things have to end. With James and Julie having now sold their boat we decided to head south from Amsterdam with them back to Haarlem, Leiden and Gouda. This was our last fling and the… Read more
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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
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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
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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
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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
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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
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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
Karen’s Travel Blog 