Dutch Waterways

From JH Jonkman at Sassenheim it was about a 6km cycle ride to the famous Keukenhof gardens, just west of Lisse. This extravaganza of spring flowers is open only from March to May and features Holland's most iconic flower in a dazzling array of varieties, as well as lilies, hyacinths and narcissi. We went on a mid-week afternoon, but it was still incredibly busy with coach parties, although the car park was half empty, so be prepared for a full-on touristic experience, complete with a gift shop full of unbelievable tat. Outside the grounds is bollen-boulevard, a sort of gypsy camp of bulb sellers, cashing in on bulb-mania, although even my limited gardening knowledge told me that you can't plant tulips in April, right?

I've been to Leiden a couple of times before but I've never had much chance to see the sights, but this time, as Admiral of the fleet, I had to prove that my recommendations were sound and so it was on a sunny Saturday afternoon that three intrepid Broom owners lowered their dinghies from the davits and set off on the Rondje Leiden. The network of canals are teeming with small boats at the weekend so we fitted right in, although the king size sloop is more the thing to have. During our stay we also managed to fit in a trip to the Hortus Botanicus, the oldest botanic gardens in the Netherlands, and one of the oldest in the world. The new Winter Garden houses the sub-tropical and carniverous collections.

In lieu of not having a half term I decided to arrange a mid-term weekend on the boat, just to keep me going to till the visit in the summer. Flying from Newcastle proved relatively straight forward, although with an hour on the metro at the beginning and another hour and a quarter to drive to the boat, it took most of the day to get there and it was borreltijd by the time I arrived (quelle domage).

We decided that given the late hour it wouldn’t make a lot of sense to go dashing off somewhere else for the evening and stayed put for a relaxing evening on the boat. There was plenty of time for one of the local amenities – a walk to the lighthouse at the harbour entrance, although strangely enough the hatch to the top gallery was padlocked. I’d seen other people up there before, so whether it was a new innovation or a function of the time I have no idea.