HOORN

MONDAY 28^TH

After a day of sitting in the sun as well as catching up on washing etc. we decided to drive to Hoorn. Silly Emily sent us out of the campsite back towards the motorway, which was fine by us, but then told us to cross the canal on a ferry!! Just down the road we came across the ferry, very small, but we parked up and waited for it to come over. After 4 cars had driven off, I ran on board and asked the guy if we could go with the motorhome…no problem he said, we can take up to 11 tons. So after he had been back and forth once more we duly drove on, sat in Juliette for a few minutes, paid 2.60 euros, then drove off again. For once Silly Emily had got it right and saved us about 20 miles of our intended route.

We found the camperplaats at the harbour quite easily and parked up, climbed the stairs to see the harbourmaster and paid 45 euros for 3 days. We have all the facilities here including wifi so hopefully I can get up to date on blog and emails.

After some lunch we wandered in to the town to find the station and negotiated tickets for tomorrow, a round trip by steam tram, boat and then train, taking in the Zuiderzee open-air museum and the bakery museum at Enkhuizen. Should be good. Then we spent quite a long time looking around the steam tram sheds where they are restoring some old engines and coaches. I even managed to climb on to the footplate of one of the engines for a look-see, but they wouldn’t let me drive it.

Beautiful wooden seat on the tram

No spitting!

Smoking - 1st class

Non-steam engine being attached to our train

TUESDAY 29^TH

Up with the lark and on our way to the station by 8.45, walking through a very quiet town with nothing open. We had time to have a look in the signal box and take a few photos of our tram, with it’s very old carriages, before leaving at 9.40. We chuntered through the countryside, over lots of level crossings, stopped at a couple of small stations on the way to Medemblik. All the stations were done up just like yesteryear even down to the old “facilities” as well as the carts, milk churns and luggage.

 Arriving at 11.00 we had just over 2 hours to wander the town, so headed for the bakery museum first as we had been told about it. Still a working bakery we could see the old methods and utensils, the children there were able to help with rolling out pastry and putting almonds on marzipan tarts. The cooking smells were mouth-watering. Upstairs was an area devoted to icing models, moulded chocolates and sugar art. Again the children were given some coloured marzipan and ice cream cones and were making flowers in a vase.

From there we went to look at the wonky church, but unfortunately it did not open until 2.00, so instead we found a small café and sat with a cold drink and toasted sandwiches. It was a very hot sunny day so we were glad of some shade. Then it was back to the station, over the track and up over the dunes to the waiting Friesland steamer which was to take us on the next part of the journey to the Zuider Zee open-air Museum.

We got there around 3.00 and were able to have a good look round what is somewhat like a mini version of the Beamish attraction. It was all very well laid out, all the old houses and shops and workshops, many in use and the ladies in their original country dress.

By now we were flagging, so caught the 4.30 ferry across the Zuider Zee to Enkhuizen where we were able to get on a normal train back to Hoorn, we just made one by the skin of our teeth. Then it was the 25 minute foot slog back to the harbour and put our feet up, by about 6.00pm… we were shattered. We tend to forget we are not fit young 40 somethings and expect our bodies to keep up with our ideas. It has been one of our most interesting days on our travels this year.

Wednesday 30th

It rained all night and has been raining all day, so we are confined to barracks and doing some emails, photo editing and blogging. Hope it will stop soon, the camperplaats is now flooded.

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THURSDAY 31^st

As yesterday was such a wash out, and we had discovered that there was going to be a cheese market here this afternoon we decided to stay another day. First off in the morning we wandered around the harbour to the old prison which has now been made in to an excellent 20^th century museum as well as a hotel/restaurant. We spent nearly 2 hours looking and listening to all the exhibits, it was so interesting. 

After a freebie coffee there we walked off to see the old harbour with the sailing barges and very old boats, back in to town for a 1.00pm start to the market. We found a nice eating place which turned out to be the old weighing room for the cheeses, so sat and had a toastie/drink and watched the preparations. 

Back outside around 2.00pm the horse and carts came along with their cheese rounds to sell and did a few circuits of the square, then along came the men ready to carry the wooden stretchers. They had great fun giving some children a ride in both the carts once unloaded and on the stretchers. There were also some dancers in old national costumes who demonstrated polkas, waltzes and even one that looked a bit like the barn dance, accompanied by a fiddle and accordion. It was all quite fascinating and much more interesting than the market at Alkmaar which was somewhat touristy and over-crowded. Today’s seemed a lot more authentic and you could imagine the same thing happening donkey’s years ago.

Then it was a meander around the inevitable cheese stalls, ice creams, herring sellers, up to C&A to get a couple of cardigans, then the supermarket for some foodie bits before going back to the van for a cuppa and a shower. Hoorn has been a really interesting picturesque town and we would highly recommend it. It would appear that Shearings even do coach trips, ‘cos we came across one their coaches whilst walking about.

More photos