Arrival. Pirramimma cruising back home to Elburg: Part 3

Another glorious day dawned with wall-to-wall sunshine and a perfectly blue, cloudless sky. Crew managed to be up early enough to snap a photo of the sunrise through the saloon windows. 

And a little later, this photo showing the direction we take when we leave. It really was an absolutely idyllic morning. By the time the photo below was taken - 0820 hours - many boats had already left the haven and were making their way out onto the IJsselmeer. 

We enjoyed a very pleasant stroll along the breakwater ...

Strong sunshine and sharp shadows

...and along the little beach where Crew decided to test the water temperature - ankle deep was far enough, thank you! …

Bracing!

Then we continued on up around the headland before making our way to the lighthouse and through some of the back streets near the church before dropping back down into the haven, taking the opportunity to grab some pictures in this lovely sunshine. 

Looking back along the route we followed yesterday from Lemmer.

Engine on at 1145 hours. Farewell Urk! Sadly, by the time we left Urk some dark clouds had made an appearance and a cool breeze was ruffling the water a little. 

However, it had been a delightful stopover in Urk and I'm looking forward to going back again. We pootled along towards the Ketelbrug, with the Perkins in 'relax' mode, tickling along at just over 3 knots. Lovely, quiet motoring! And happily, the sunshine fought back for a little while, making the first hour's cruise very pleasant indeed. The Ketelbrug seemed to almost be a dividing line in the weather: north was sunshine but south east, where we were headed, was looking rather cloudy. 

By the time we reached the Roggebotsluis, conditions were distinctly on the cold side and Crew was beginning to contemplate several more layers of clothing. We had a bit of a wait at the sluis as there was a tug towing a couple of boats so was going through by itself. All of which gave the wind enough time to become a nuisance and caused quite a bit of trouble to a couple on a small motorboat behind us. Finally all seemed OK and the lock keeper gave us a green light to proceed into the lock. 

Engine revs upped for the remainder of the journey until we turned to port into Elburg haven. Skipper slowed the boat again and we savoured the familiar sights of being back 'home' again. Navigator knew exactly where she wanted to moor up in the town haven and was delighted when she saw that the spot was indeed available. There's a webcam just above so once we'd settled Pirramimma into place, plugged into shore power and tidied up our lines, Crew went forward and grabbed a screen shot. 

As is so often the case, the clouds eventually disappeared and we were treated to another beautiful sunset.

Galley Slave prepared a lovely home-coming treat of rare pan-fried entrecôte steaks, asparagus with balsamic dressing and parmigiano shavings plus a mixed salad on the side. Washed down with a glass or two of extremely pleasant Spanish red. Olé!