On a day that was too hot for walking through woods or across heathland, we thought a walk along the coast might be a good idea, with hopefully a refreshing breeze. So we set off for my native Friesland. Our starting-point was the old town of Stavoren (photo above), and our destination was Hindeloopen, another small harbour town. (It was a one-way walk – we took the train back.)
This isn’t the coast as in sea shore, but rather the coastline along the IJsselmeer, a former inland sea that was closed off around 1930 and is now a big freshwater lake. The dykes are still there, and our trail ran right across the top. Well, it wasn’t really a trail, just grass, but you get the idea.
Just some information:
Unfortunately the sea around Hindeloopen was, and still is, too shallow to enable the large merchant ships to entering the town. Their winter harbour was Amsterdam, on their way to the Baltic states, passing Hindeloopen, they would stay offshore. Hindeloopen seamen did use smaller boats to get ashore.
Thank you for this additional piece of information.
Stunning photographs! Thank you for sharing them with us. I love the little boats, the architecture and the pretty harbour of Hindeloopen. The fabric is beautiful. I can’t wait to see what you make with it!
It was such a lovely day. And looking around taking photographs added another dimension to it.