Good Friday 30 March
The crew familiarised themselves with our new location of the next few days, and walked the three kilometres to Anjum for some food shopping. The paved cycle track cuts straight across the fields, and they managed to fulfil their shopping list at the very good butcher/delicatessen and the Co-op supermarket. The weather was better than forecast, and the Easterly wind seemed to be confined to the marina; the walk felt a lot more sheltered.
Holy Saturday 31 March
…was a day of jobs onboard: Skipper made full use of the newly restored water supply to clean my grubby decks thoroughly with the pressure washer, and completely fill my water tanks. Meanwhile, Mate was busy in the galley, baking loaves of fresh bread and a traybake cake that smelt suspiciously similar to the birthday cake she made the week before.
Easter Day Sunday 1 April
The day dawned a little warmer, dry and with less wind than recently. Mate suggested a short stroll around the perimeter dyke of the marina “to see the view over the other side”. After a luxury breakfast of Skipper’s famous creamy scrambled eggs with smoked salmon and lovely fresh bread, they set off, not dressed or equipped for a hike.
In the end they walked all the way around the Lauwersmeer dyke to the Lauwersoog flood barrier, enjoying the views across mudflats and the Waddenzee channels, of traditional barges in full sail, occasional sunshine spotlighting their progress, and ferries plying their route to Schiermonnikoog, reputedly the prettiest of the Dutch Frisian islands. They found a scratch lunch, a busy fishing port enjoying its day of rest, and a welcome bus ride home.
They covered a total of 18km, over 11 miles! Unfortunately, the last 2km were more of a slow hobble, as Mate stumbled and tore the ligaments in her left ankle (again), resulting in an instant golfball-sized swelling and acute pain. Back at the marina, the friendly waitress at the restaurant very kindly produced a large quantity of ice and a restorative hot chocolate.
Easter Monday 2 April
Mate made the most of a quiet day to rest, in between supervising two loads of laundry a short walk away across the marina, while Skipper investigated the non-functioning autopilot, which resulted in much cursing and heavy sighs. This is a recurrent problem, caused by water ingress in the gearbox of the steering mechanism. It seems likely another call for help from Jefa will soon be necessary, doubtless resulting in another large bill.