Next Season's Cruising in Friesland: A New Jachthaven Berth for Pirramimma.

But backing up a little, here's some history: 

This summer season, which was our first in Friesland, we kept Pirramimma in Lemmer. It was one of those last-minute decisions due to not being able to berth her in Elburg, our first choice, for the summer.  

Well of course we couldn't keep her in Elburg - it's a hugely popular location and the jachthaven had only a small number of berths for boats of Pirramimma's dimensions. And they'd been booked up long, long, long before we completed the purchase in September, 2014. 

I was broken hearted very disappointed when we heard the news but our kind friend, Diederick, told us about some other options he thought might be useful and where we might stand a chance of being able to find berths still available. And Lemmer was one of those options. Some online research showed the town had quite a few jachthavens so on a cold, grey and very windy October day we jumped in the car and headed off to Lemmer.

At the time, we wondered what on earth we were doing as we seemed to be taking the boat further and further north. And to colder and colder climes than we'd originally intended! Would we ever see the sun shine and feel its warmth on our backs? To top it all off, everyone was telling us 'They speak a different language in Friesland, you know'.  WHAT???  I'm only just beginning to learn a few words of Dutch and now you tell me I need to learn another language…

I could, no doubt, be heard mumbling and muttering to myself as we drove along the motorway.

By the time we arrived in Lemmer, the wind was having a fine old time of it. We drove through the town and found our way to some of the jachthavens on the IJsselmeer side of the town. At three of them, we could see at a glance that the berths were too small for us. No matter: the wind was making such a racket through the yachts' rigging I hardly felt inclined to want to stay at any of them. We drove on to the end of the pier and found another large jachthaven but were unable to find anyone to talk to. We hung around for a little while but were driven back to the car when heavy rain began to fall. But at least many of the berths were big enough for Pirramimma. I made a note to phone them the next day if we were still looking. 

At the next jachthaven, a little out of town on the north side, we found the havenmeester in his office and we were grateful when he said, yes, he did have a space for us. Just one space left, so be quick with your decision! We promised we would return before the end of the day as we still had another couple of places to check out. At the next haven, we pretty much received 'short shrift' from the havenmeester who just laughed at us when we inquired. And that was also Okay with us: now we know all we need to know about you! The final jachthaven was a bit of a riddle as we were completely unable to find the havenmeester despite being directed, one by one, to several buildings he was 'definitely' working in. I guess after that, it was pretty much 'Fait accompli".

So. There we were. All sorted via one way or another. Phew!  We drove back into town to look around and see if we could find some food. It was now after 3pm and we were famished. 

Lemmer Centrum and the haven. Looking North.

Lemmer Centrum again. Looking South and some blue sky makes an appearance though not for long!

After a snack lunch, we walked around the town to get our bearings - and liked what we saw! Then we drove back to Elburg feeling more confident that we would have some pretty good cruising locations to visit in 2015. 

But during the course of the 2015 summer, we realised just how noisy the jachthaven is. It's right next to a major road that carries some heavy traffic at all times of the day and night. It also turned out that the berths on either side of us had been dedicated to charter boats berthing. And that wasn't such a happy thing as sadly, a lot of those folk have no idea how to handle a boat - charter companies have no requirement for experience and don't provide any training, basic or otherwise. There were other issues but here is not the place to discuss them. Enough to say that very early on in the season, we decided to move for 2016. 

We won't be far from Lemmer and that's a good thing as we still like the town very much. Plus, it's extremely convenient for our journeys to and from Hoek van Holland. 

So, where will we be?  Here are some pics of our new berth and the surrounding area. In the first photo, imagine Pirramimma in the space where the lovely traditional Dutch aak is berthed. 

There's a lovely view aft over open farmland...

It's quieter for one thing. And it's a much smaller and much friendlier place, too. Sure it will be busy in summer cos that's how it is Friesland in summer. Our berth is bigger and access is easier. The last one only had about 1 metre manoeuvring space which is not a lot of fun in a strong cross wind. Again, doable, but who needs it!  Plus, it's not next to a very busy and very dusty road.

Looking either way from where the above photo was taken…

Looking towards Lemmer in the distance...

Looking towards the Havenkantoor and the little town.

This next photo was taken in April, 2015 when we were still trying to secure a berth here. It was taken just outside the havenkantoor building and you can see the windmill and the outskirts of the little town.  We can either walk into town or take our dinghy, Pottle, into town should we want to. There are some lovely restaurants to choose from so I imagine we will be doing that quite a bit.

Lovely sunshine in a lovely little location. The Skipper looks happy too.

I'm looking forward to being able to post more photos and information in due course when we move Pirramimma there in 2016. 

Vxx