Amsterdamned

At long last, after years of dreaming, working and planning, we're off. The first bit, getting off our island can be traumatic, however, the gods smiled and it was flat calm. We decided to stay on the ferry overnight, so that we didn't have to get up early in the morning, like 2 or 3 am, and also it gave us time to make sure we'd done everything to close the house down. It's three months away after all. So we're awoken at 6 in the morning by the sound of ropes and chains and heavy metal doors being wound open, almost like being at home............and it was time for the first 'Jakeism' of the trip. On waking after a good nights sleep, still in Stromness harbour, Jake noted 'I can't believe this, all night on the worse ferry in the world and we haven't gone anywhere, we should be in Nova Scotia by now!!'

Lets just jump forward a bit and say that the trip from home to the ferry port at Newcastle was uneventful. A nice overnight stay in the Scottish border town of Melrose and fairly clear roads meant we arrived fresh and excited at the thought of crossing the North Sea to Europe on yet another boat, albeit a bigger one than before.

We set sail on the evening tide, the sails catching the wind and billowing like puffy white clouds against the azure blue sky. Ah the old Newcastle ferry takes some beating. For your evening entertainment, straight from South Carolina, is Mr. John Maze, with an array of electric wizardry on the floor around his feet, a guitar that has seen more roadhouses than all seater stadia and a face which could have placed him as Willie Nelson's long lost brother. John played from 7 in the evening until we went to bed late. Full of stories about drink and songs that needed singing along to, John ensured we all had a great time in the bar and vodka'd out, we rolled back to the cabin and slept till the morning sun.

The campsite at Gaasper in well sited, a five minute walk from the Metro, which whisks you away to the den of iniquity that is Amsterdam in around 15 minutes. As such, the campground is well used by all sorts of people. There is a section up the back, well shaded with high trees and hedges and lived on by the long termers, those that have a permanent caravan or motorhome. As you walk though the camp, there are the sections for the 'one weekers' like ourselves, graduating out to the outer fringes of the tented village, full of weekenders and overnighters, here for the craich that the city nights allow. The heady smell of Amsterdam's finest, drifts in the air along with that of a dozen bbq's and reminds us of where we are and what adventures lie ahead.