May 2023 – Part 1
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Safely moored up in Weesp, and Nicki back in the UK, I settled into a routine of looking after the dogs and trying to address some of the outstanding chores.
I managed to work through the main jobs until Malcolm (an old school friend from Maiden Erleigh) and Kelsey arrived after a couple of weeks to give me a break.
Malcolm was visiting the UK and showing Kelsey some of the sights. They decided to visit Paris so I was very pleased when they said they would also come up to Amsterdam for a few days.
We spent time looking around Amsterdam and to a lesser extent, Weesp, although the local micro brewery got a fair amount of attention.
Along with Malcolm and Kelsey, I took the train into Amsterdam on their first full day with me, but as luck would have it, on that particular day there was a massive free festival taking place on the NDSM wharf side of Amsterdam (an area often quite neglected even though it is easily accessible via free and frequent ferries, and it is very popular with the locals).
Malcolm and I were immediately both distracted by one of the open day events being held at the Demon ship repair yard on that wharf, so we ended up spending most of our time there, rather than heading into the city. However, we were time limited as later in the afternoon I had to head over to the airport to pick up Nicki, so Malcolm and Kelsey then carried on into the city to do some sightseeing and to enjoy a canal cruise. The whole day was spent in glorious sunshine, and we all had a fantastic day.
After two weeks in the UK Nicki arrived back at Schipol airport just in time to spend a little time with our guests before they set off for London en route for Australia ….. which naturally meant a few drinks at the Weesp brewery before heading back to Shensi for dinner and a final evening together.
After saying goodbye to Malcolm and Kelsey, it was another few days before we could set off on our travels as we were still awaiting the engine turbo fix and re-installation, but eventually everything was completed and we could leave again. Our final evening was spent at a bbq on Lizzie Too with Ruth and Barry Morse and two new friends, Heather and Tim Le Roy on Chamame. That was a lovely way to end our stay in Weesp.
