Blooming spring and meeting old sailing friends

My few days in The Netherlands after leaving Australia and before joining Jonathan on the boat in Montenegro flew past far too quickly.

It was so wonderful to arrive just at the point when Spring was absolutely in full swing. All the leaves had unfurled and the trees were fully dressed in their green finery. There were flowers of every kind blooming in every available space and wherever you looked there were sweet little ducklings and goslings darting between the legs of their waddling parents.

The days were long so in the evenings we could walk in full daylight after dinner – it was so relaxing strolling through the neighbourhood listening to the birds singing and enjoying the new growth in the gardens and parks.

While I was there, Kings Day (Koningsdag) happened to come around. This is the day that the Dutch people celebrate the birthday of King Willem-Alexander. L

The day is traditionally full of lots of music, flea markets (where the children sell their old toys) and fun fairs – and everyone celebrates this holiday while dressed in orange!

It happened to be Pieter’s birthday on the same day so during the morning and early afternoon members of his large family arrived to eat cake and enjoy the holiday.

Later we went to the town square – literally a few paces away from Hannah and Pieter’s house to see all that was going on – children’s dance performances, a small fair and lots of children with their wares spread out on the ground.

A couple of days later I went on my first solo trip in The Netherlands- to Utrecht, a town Jonathan and I hadn’t visited (together) yet. The reason for the trip was to meet up with our very good friends Gerrit and Annemieke who we first met in 2015 on the wonderful Indonesian Rally that we were all on – us on our monohull Bali Hai and they on their yacht Fruits de Mer.

The trip was all very easy – a metro ride to Rotterdam and then the mainline express train to Utrecht.

We had arranged to meet in the shadow of the iconic Domtoren, a 14th-century bell tower. I finally arrived there after letting Google maps lead me astray in an endless series of tunnels which turned out to be underground parking for thousands of bikes!

Despite my slight diversion we arrived at exactly the same time and it was a great joy to see their smiling faces!

We had a wonderful lunch together in one of the many cafes by the main canal which intersects this wonderfully picturesque and ancient city.

There was so much to talk about and we managed to stretch lunch out for three hours.

Back with Pieter and Hannah and after a few short days it was time to pack everything up (including various boat parts not available in Montenegro) and head to the airport.

My flight to Montenegro was at the ridiculous hour of 7.20 am which meant leaving at 4.30 am so the night before we had a lovely but early farewell meal at the local Italian restaurant. It was a lovely sunny evening so we were able to eat outside.

Thanks to Hannah and Pieter seeing me off despite the very early start, I had a smooth trip to Dubrovnik where Jonathan was waiting for me in a hire car for the 35 minute drive back to Sunday in Lazure Marina.

We had been apart for almost a month – the longest time for many years so be we were very happy to be together again!

That evening we belatedly celebrated our 38th wedding anniversary at the stunning restaurant attached to the Lazure Hotel in the marina.

This fabulous hotel was once a quarantine station and the hotel has retained much of the original building – including the tiny chapel.

The designer has managed to blend the old building with an ultra modern and very chic interior.

Our dinner was wonderful – the staff had even lit the log fire for us and the food and wine were delicious. A fitting way to celebrate our 38 years and being back together once again!