When we'd arrived at Middelburg, the harbour master had stuck us on the short term pontoon for the night, which is outside of the bridge.... it had power so we were quite happy there, but he'd told us that we'd have to move when a 4m box became free the following day... however, by 18h00 on Sunday, we'd suspected that he'd decided to leave us where we were... which suited us just fine... and it proved to be the case...
So we got the folding bikes out, and rode them around Middelburg for a while before eventually ending up in a small cafe.... a large Duvel beer later on an empty stomach, and riding back proved more interesting!
Another early night and we arose by 08h00, fully refreshed from the crossing by now, and ready to move on.... so by 08h45 we slipped and headed to the fuel pontoon, which is run by the chandlery... while we were there and while I filled her up, SWMBO had a quick peek around.... which was fortunate.... inside they had the last pair of Vetus Davits reduced to 195 Euro from nearly 500 Euro..... a heavy cast Aluminium set that mounted directly onto a vertical surface.... perfect... and less than we'd been bidding on eBay for a secondhand pair of far less quality.... well done SWMBO!!!!!!!
Soon we slipped, and motored up the remainder of the Walcheren canal and then waited 20mins for the lock, slowly circling while the number of boats waiting steadily increased.... as the lock opened, the now expected mad dash to be in first (why don't the Dutch have more world class F1 drivers?), left us a port too spot (hoorah!), but right into a recess, making the exit challenging (boo!).... but we made a fine job of both arrival and departure, and popped into the lovely Veerse Meer...
The wind had appeared at about 12kts, but given that we only had a mile to go, and that it was pretty fine on the nose, and we would be heading yet further into it just round the corner, we elected to not bother putting the sails up (i'm beginning to wonder if we'll sail at all this holiday!), and within a short while had reached the entrance to the little island that we enjoyed so much last year, Baastian de Langeplaat.
The island is horseshoe shaped, and another island closes the loop bar two small entrances either end and we crept in through the shallow entrance, reading just 0.4m below the keel at its shallowest... good job we're east coasters, and used to it!
The pontoon we'd earmarked is at the centre of the pool in the middle, and we could see that it was free... and the only one free... as we motored towards it, we saw another boat enter the other end... so throwing caution to the wind, and ignoring the shallow water, we gunned the engine to get there first... it was a drag race... and we won!
Soon tied up, the engine off... the sun shining, and all is good with the world.
This evening, after a day of thorough relaxation, including a swim off the back of the boat, a gentle walk round the island, and quite a bit of reading, SWMBO really topped off the day perfectly by producing a full roast beef dinner.... which complemented the excellent bottle of wine sublimely.... how much better can life get?
