If I were to describe spring 2023 in Bruinisse in one sentence it would be 'a first cold/wet and later hot spring with a rollercoaster of events'😊☺️. With the highlight being hiking the West Highland Way in Scotland and seeing Eline and Jonas again 🥰. In addition, being together with Marinthe and Sam, sailing with family and friends, beautiful improvements to the boat, annual boat maintenance and our work (with the requisite frenzy, especially with Toine).
The first weekend in April we take a long walk near Nijmegen on Saturday and then visit Wim where Pieter is with the boys. It is a very wet day; a good test for the (not) waterproofness of our hiking clothes (before we will walk the West Highland Way in Scotland at the end of May/beginning of June) 🥲. On Sunday we visit Maaike and Peter in Utrecht. From Maaike we get the tip to start using walking sticks. We are enormously grateful to her for that weeks later in Scotland ☺️.
The second weekend (Easter) we go sailing for the first time. All of March was too cold and wet. Cozy with the NoDoubt to Burghsluis. The Calanche also comes by car for an evening of drinks and dinner. It is fine weather for some boat maintenance such as smearing the teak deck with boracol, polishing the white polyester in the cockpit, washing lines and putting the haul line of the mainsail properly in the boom. It turned out that the line was not fastened properly through the loop in the boom, leaving a big scuff mark in one place. A hidden problem; good that we found it out now, because when we sail back to Bru on Easter Monday, the line rolls up at the wear spot when unfurling the mainsail, which makes it impossible to unfurl the sail. So we just sail back on the genoa and immediately order a new line from Visser.
The third weekend Lian and Q came for coffee on Saturday morning. A short but powerful visit; we're caught up again 😊. Saturday evening we spend a lovely evening anchored at Stampersplaat, and on Sunday afternoon Alex and Brigitte come for drinks and dinner while they are in Bru for family visits anyway. All week after that we lie in our box the other way around because Nova's carpenters took the feet off the davits going to mount. This is a very strange sensation, we are a little off our feet because of it and don't sleep as well. Toine finishes assembling the davits on Friday and immediately afterwards puts the boat back in the box properly 😅. We are happy again and certainly with the result 😊☺️.
That Friday I walk 25 km with Mieke for the first time! Very pleasant and fun to do, but quite tiring! We plan to join a walking marathon one day 🚶♀️🚶♀️. On Saturday Jeske and Erik come to play golf and afterwards we have dinner at Sailors Inn. With them, too, we have caught up in this way. On Sunday, Toine finishes the electrical installation of the davits. The weather is not good for sailing after all.
The long King's Day weekend we will first go for a walk about 20 km near Bergen op Zoom on Thursday. Once back we have a drink and dinner with the Calanche. On Friday evening Marinthe and Sam will arrive and we will anchor at Stampersplaat. And finally on Sunday we sail (or rather float) and BBQ with Inge, Mark, Tess and Merel. Again, a very successful weekend.
The first weekend of May we spend mostly at anchor off Mossel Bank along with the Calanche. How nice that they too are back in the water and the new bow thruster is working well. On Saturday we go back and forth to East Brabant for my boss's wedding and then drive past the apartment in Eindhoven. Construction is progressing well; we should be able to move in sometime in the fall.
The second weekend of May we spend with the Summertjes and the Poppedien. We are moored at Middelplaat and on Saturday we take a 10 km walk there and back to a beach club and on Sunday I walk with Madeleine, Corinne and Peter. They are fanatical about the gym and strength training. I have also been doing strength and muscle exercises for long distance walking for a few weeks now. How well we are doing, that feels good 😉👌😎.
The third weekend (Ascension) we will take the NoDoubt to Zierikzee and Wemeldinge. All days we can enjoy sailing ⛵️👍. On Sunday we drive by the storage in Breda to take all of Eline's boxes to Maastricht, put up "welcome home" garlands and a basket of Dutch feel-good food. Eline and Jonas are coming home in two weeks (exactly when we are in Scotland for a week), so that's how it is 😅. We're going for a walk with Marinthe and Sam near Valkenburg (our last training) and afterwards out for dinner on a terrace by the river Maas. Very cozy 😊.
Up to here the weekends have been cozy with plenty of time for ourselves, even during the week. The next few weeks are a bit more filled, hence the rollercoaster feeling.
On Thursday, May 25, we are going to see Bruce Springsteen at the Arena with Claude and Jeanette. They are huge Bruce fans and have two extra tickets. We gladly go with them; with great energy and fun, the 73-year-old Bruce stands and plays for almost 3 hours. What a great performance!!!
On Friday we will take the boat to Van Ast, it will go out during our week in Scotland for annual maintenance. On Saturday we fly to Glasgow and then in 7 days we walk over 160 km from Milgnavie to Fort-William through beautiful Scottish countryside in beautiful sunny weather 😊😎👍. What a fantastic experience! We are immensely proud of ourselves, as this is the most challenging physical endeavor ever for both of us. We are doing very well, without blisters and other discomforts. Every night we are quite tired, but always rested for the next stage the next day. The fact that we walk with sticks helps tremendously, especially when climbing and descending. A more detailed story about this trip can be found at polarsteps.
Meanwhile, Eline and Jonas have arrived safe and sound in the Netherlands. Eline is coming to pick us up from Schiphol and will join us on the boat for a few days. How nice to see, hug and f2f speak to each other again 🥰.
On Monday morning the boat will be launched again (if Eline and I are still on it). Then we sail together to Den Osse to Van Dijke for engine maintenance. That will end up being a very necessary and thorough maintenance job. Eline and I drive to Inge and Mark in Wilnis to go with them to the Peter Gabriel concert at the Ziggodoom. Toine is busy at work and has a team session in the evening. As a 73-year-old, Peter Gabriel also gives a fantastic concert with beautiful also many newer songs and many special effects on and around the stage. Real enjoyment. Late in the evening Eline and I drive to Tilburg and sleep in a hotel there. I go to work the next morning and Eline meets up with Aemke in town. In the afternoon we drive back to Den Osse and have a nice dinner with the three of us. We have caught up nicely 🥰.
On Wednesday, Eline goes back to Maastricht and we sail the boat back to Bru; nice to just be back at our own place.
The second weekend in June we are anchored at Veermansplaat from Friday to Saturday. We then decide to look for a new dinghy with a fixed bottom, as the current one does not hang well enough on the davits. When the next morning the Summertjes come alongside us for a while and Charley can tell us exactly what is the best dinghy for us, the choice is quickly made in our minds 😎. Saturday evening we dinner with the six of us at the jappie in Utrecht. The six of us are together for the first time in a year 🥰🥰. It is a very hot weekend and we are almost alone in the restaurant, all right👍. Eline and Jonas join the boat for a day of swimming at anchor. Toine flies to Las Vegas for the Pega congress. Without Toine sailing out and into the box and anchoring fortunately goes very well ☺️.
During the days in Las Vegas, Toine figures out where to buy the dinghy. That is possible on Thursday morning on the road between Schiphol Airport and his work in The Hague. And so, on Thursday evening, a beautiful new Highfield dinghy hangs under the davits. On Friday afternoon the girls come to the boat already and for the first time in a year the four of us are together again. We anchor at Mosselbank and talk until late in the evening. Seeing each other and catching up is more important than the new dinghy, which will just wait until tomorrow 😉.
The weekend we will go to Zierikzee together with 15 other HR boats of the Hallberg-Rassy Connection. This is another very warm weekend. There is too little wind to sail and so we can anchor nicely on the Oosterschelde beyond Zierikzee together with the Summertjes to swim and try out the dinghy. At the end of the afternoon we are in Zierikzee with 16 boats and the SeaQuest is moored sisterly next to three other HR48s. We have a cozy dock drinks and 3-course dinner on a private terrace at the Proeverij. Very nice and cozy, also for the girls because the kids of the Summertjes and the NoMad are also there. On Sunday we sailed back to Bru and concluded with a BBQ at Mosselbank with the Summertjes. A very successful weekend.
This is how spring flies by. It is nice to have both daughters closer again in the coming months. They are even going on summer vacation with us for 2.5 weeks 🥰🥰.