11th August 2019. A very windy day. With a little sun and a tailwind, we leave for the Netherlands. More specifically Friesland. The intention is to make the eleven cities tour. Not on skates, but with the camper.
Friesland is a very flat region with water everywhere, lots of water. And as the Frisians say: “wolkom yn Fryslân” (welcome to Friesland). Almost all villages and towns are connected by canals, canals and ditches. And since it can be quite cold during the winter and the ditches and canals freeze over, the idea arose at the end of the 19th century to visit the eleven cities on skates in one day. The first official eleven cities tour took place in 1909. A tour of 200 km. The latter, however, dates back to 1997. This was no longer possible, as a minimum ice thickness of 16cm is required for the Eleven Cities Tour and this over the entire route!
We will follow the full route. This leaves in Leeuwarden. Then it goes to Sneek, Ijlst and Sloten. The following towns Stavoren and Hindeloopen are located on the Ijsselmeer. On to Workum, Bolsward and Harlingen on the North Sea. Town ten is Franeker and we end up in Dokkum. The turning point for skaters is located in Dokkum. They end their journey where they started, in Leeuwarden.
To avoid the Antwerp ring road, as we come from Ghent, we always enter the Netherlands via the Liefkenshoek tunnel. You do have to pay a toll of € 6.
As mentioned, our first stop is in Leeuwarden. A camper stopover at the marina within walking distance of the city.
Day 2
We walk into Leeuwarden. A nice cosy city where you can easily spend a whole day. Just like in all other towns, most can be experienced along the canals. Small cafes with their terraces and restaurants. We have lunch in one of the restaurants on the canals. In the afternoon we stroll through the narrow inner streets with its old houses and many shops, and arrive at the main attraction of the city: the Oldehove, the Dutch tower of Pisa. In any case, he is skewed! The avid shoppers will certainly visit the Kleine Kerkstraat; this is rightly called one of the most charming shopping streets in the Netherlands. You can also buy typical Frisian delicacies, such as the orange cake and the Frisian peat-smoked dry sausage. But I don't like this one very much. Nothing smoked actually. But yes, tastes can differ; Fortunately.
Keep this in mind if you want to shop. We visited Leeuwarden on Monday. This is the closing day of most stores. They do open the doors at 3 p.m.