Galley slave was up bright and early on Monday morning. She had to bone out the duck breasts and pop them into a salt and brown sugar cure to be ready for smoking later. She also prepped the starter: avocado, tomato, cream cheese and other goodies encased in smoked salmon.
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| Preparations for our celebration begin! |
Here are the duck breasts after they'd cured for 8 hours. They've been quickly rinsed clean and patted dry…
And some photos from the celebration meal. Pink Champagne to begin with. Cheers!
The 'Before' photo of the luscious Smoked Salmon and Avocado starter…
A little later…
It's a great dish for advance preparations and, I think, looks rather good. It certainly tasted very, very good. Now firmly on our list of favourites for boat entertaining. Be warned!
We took a break and the galley slave went on to prepare the main course. The duck breasts need to be smoked for anywhere between 30 and 40 minutes, depending on the size. And then to rest for another 10 minutes or so. Here they are, sitting in the smoker, just before hot smoking.
And our main course, ready to be enjoyed. And enjoy it, we certainly did.
It was a lovely, balmy evening for our wedding anniversary. We sat out on deck after our meal, with the remainder of the Champagne. We are so grateful to have Pirramimma. We are very lucky indeed!
It's hard to believe that nearly 12 months ago, we saw our beautiful boat for the first time. As part of our wedding anniversary celebrations, and to celebrate owning Pirramimma for nearly 1 year, we decided to buy a dinghy with a little outboard motor. Pirramimma came equipped with davits on her stern, so it was going to be easy to carry the dinghy out of the water when we are onboard.
The following day was another day to celebrate, as Pottle (the dinghy's new name - as in, just pottlin' around), was to be… umm… blown up (inflated!) and would be taking her maiden cruise. Owning a biggish boat is wonderful. But owning a little boat and being able to zip around in small spaces Pirramimma cannot access is absolutely fantastic fun. There's a saying that the amount of pleasure derived from boating is inverse to the size of boat you're on. And it's true. Such a different world when you're almost at eye level with the water. Later that afternoon, the crew took the helm and we had huge fun zipping under the low bridges into Lemmer. Such fun!
The next morning, after breakfast and coffee on deck, we got down to work. Richard had made a 'bridle' so Pottle could be raised/lowered/suspended from the davits, and he decided to buy some lengths of chain for further security and strength. There's a good chandlery in Lemmer and also a very good hardware store that also deals in some bits and pieces for boats. It was such a glorious morning that we dawdled around the town, looking at shops before standing by one of the bridges, and watching the boats coming and going. The aroma of freshly cooked kibbeling was mouthwatering but we stayed strong.
Whilst we were back in the UK over the last few weeks, I'd been planning our summer cruise. The plan was to make our way back to Leeuwarden via one, two or more Marrekrite mooring places, stay a few nights in Leeuwarden, then head north to Dokkum. We wanted to spend 2 or 3 nights in Dokkum before heading in a north-easterly direction to the Lauwersmeer. Again, hopefully to be able to spend 2 or 3 nights there before turning to the south-east and making our way along the Reitdiep to the university city of Groningen. Staying in Groningen for say 4 or 5 nights, before finally heading back to Lemmer via the Prinses Margriet Kanal. The chart below will hopefully give you a rough idea of our plan.
Nothing was cast in stone; but it's nice to have a plan to work to. As always, we knew the weather might fling up a few surprises along the way, but that's boats and cruising for you!
The next morning at 0930, I wandered over to our havenmeester's office to let them know we would be gone for a couple of weeks so they could use the berth for temporary visitors if need be. By the time I returned to Pirramimma, Richard was refilling our water tanks and had readied all our lines for an easy exit. At which point, a woman from a visiting boat came to ask me a question and we started chatting. Viv and Bob are a lovely couple from the UK and were on their way from Sneek, south to Lelystad and thence onto Weesp and the Vecht in the south. Then Richard and Bob joined our conversation, so it was not until 1100 that we eventually let go our lines and gently reversed out of our berth. We waved farewell to Viv and Bob, wishing them a safe journey. Nice people and I hope we meet them again.
Motoring up the Prinses Margriet Kanal and we realised how much busier the waterways were since we left in June. Added to that, the Skutsje racing fortnight was on, and today's race was being held on Langweer. There was a steady stream of traffic heading down the kanal, a lot of which was no doubt heading to watch the race. And coming towards us was another Boarncruiser, this time a Classic Line 40, so I grabbed my camera to take a photo. Quite interesting to see it in the white hull version.
We cruised past Terhorne and discussed our proposed mooring for the night. We'd considered returning to Wergea again, but Richard thought it would be nice to try somewhere new. And how right he was. Just near the Alde Feanen, and pretty much exactly where we'd passed Jean and Phil on their boat, Sojourn, in early June. A very kind gentleman from the boat nearby took our lines, and we slid into our place. Again, this is a Marrekrite nature mooring. An island almost entirely surrounded by judiciously placed pontoons as well as grassed banks to moor against. Later in the afternoon, we walked around the island, taking photos and enjoying the hot sun on our backs. The island is a nature reserve, heavily wooded and with some small lakes on the northern side. The footpath was dotted about by information panels with colour images showing the flora, fauna and bird life on the island. Here are some of the photos I took that afternoon.
There were boats of every size and description cruising past us.
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| Skipper and Pottle on her maiden voyage. |
Whilst we were back in the UK over the last few weeks, I'd been planning our summer cruise. The plan was to make our way back to Leeuwarden via one, two or more Marrekrite mooring places, stay a few nights in Leeuwarden, then head north to Dokkum. We wanted to spend 2 or 3 nights in Dokkum before heading in a north-easterly direction to the Lauwersmeer. Again, hopefully to be able to spend 2 or 3 nights there before turning to the south-east and making our way along the Reitdiep to the university city of Groningen. Staying in Groningen for say 4 or 5 nights, before finally heading back to Lemmer via the Prinses Margriet Kanal. The chart below will hopefully give you a rough idea of our plan.
Nothing was cast in stone; but it's nice to have a plan to work to. As always, we knew the weather might fling up a few surprises along the way, but that's boats and cruising for you!
The next morning at 0930, I wandered over to our havenmeester's office to let them know we would be gone for a couple of weeks so they could use the berth for temporary visitors if need be. By the time I returned to Pirramimma, Richard was refilling our water tanks and had readied all our lines for an easy exit. At which point, a woman from a visiting boat came to ask me a question and we started chatting. Viv and Bob are a lovely couple from the UK and were on their way from Sneek, south to Lelystad and thence onto Weesp and the Vecht in the south. Then Richard and Bob joined our conversation, so it was not until 1100 that we eventually let go our lines and gently reversed out of our berth. We waved farewell to Viv and Bob, wishing them a safe journey. Nice people and I hope we meet them again.
Motoring up the Prinses Margriet Kanal and we realised how much busier the waterways were since we left in June. Added to that, the Skutsje racing fortnight was on, and today's race was being held on Langweer. There was a steady stream of traffic heading down the kanal, a lot of which was no doubt heading to watch the race. And coming towards us was another Boarncruiser, this time a Classic Line 40, so I grabbed my camera to take a photo. Quite interesting to see it in the white hull version.
We cruised past Terhorne and discussed our proposed mooring for the night. We'd considered returning to Wergea again, but Richard thought it would be nice to try somewhere new. And how right he was. Just near the Alde Feanen, and pretty much exactly where we'd passed Jean and Phil on their boat, Sojourn, in early June. A very kind gentleman from the boat nearby took our lines, and we slid into our place. Again, this is a Marrekrite nature mooring. An island almost entirely surrounded by judiciously placed pontoons as well as grassed banks to moor against. Later in the afternoon, we walked around the island, taking photos and enjoying the hot sun on our backs. The island is a nature reserve, heavily wooded and with some small lakes on the northern side. The footpath was dotted about by information panels with colour images showing the flora, fauna and bird life on the island. Here are some of the photos I took that afternoon.
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| With a bit of patience, English speakers can pick up lot of info. |
Some folk, maybe with very young children, just come for the day to enjoy a picnic and some fresh air.
Lots of useful information on this sign. And it gives you a good idea as to the size as well as what's going on in the National Park.
This next photo is taken from a tad further past the white tent in the second last shot. Looking back at the water and all the boats moored up.
Finally, our view of the grassed area adjacent to Pirramimma. Isn't it lovely!
We settled down for a relaxing evening. Supper was ratatouille served with a couple of luscious steaks, and all cooked on the Cobb.
Again, we sat on deck and again, we were treated to a beautiful Friesland sunset.
Vxx
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