Around the Zuiderzee museum at Enkhuizen

Posted on September 5, 2019 by Bruce Ryan

street-name	Enkhuizen marina	about de Taanhuis	inside de Taanhuis
about the smoke-houses	inside the smoke-houses	about a house from Merken	inside the house from Merken
about a corner-shop	inside the corner-shop	inside the corner-shop	random building
around the museum	about a house from Marken	inside the house from Marken	about a fish-auction
inside the fish-auction	about tanning	more about tanning	more about tanning
more about tanning	more about tanning	about the Aeronef	the Aeronef
about a dike-house	the dike-house	about chalk-ovens
museum layout-information	museum layout-information	about the Zuiderzee museum	more about the Zuiderzee museum
looking back at the museum	I was intrigued by the ride of this thatched hut.	another view of the thatched hut
about the bronze-age hut	bronze-age hut	bronze-age hut
about the brush-maker	outside the brush-maker’s	inside the brush-maker’s	Elly is not an exhibit!
Shy sheep	flounder	boiler-room(?)	about the boiler-room
steam engine	boiler and steam-engine	about the steam-laundry	laundry
about van der Kamp laundry	more about the van der Kamp laundry	about Zuiderzee tastes	What to use for polishing your stove!
forge	about the high street	painted radiator	about the pharmacy
Enkhuizen marina	sailing	Drommedaris (more on Wikipedia)	about Paulus Potter
Paulus Potter sketching a goat…	… and his model.	Note the weathervane	view of Enkhuizen
view of Enkhuizen	view of Enkhuizen	Bookbinder Street

3rd September: if it’s Tuesday, it’s washing day

Posted on September 3, 2019 by Bruce Ryan

Elly realised that marinas may have laundry facilities for customers berthing there. The interesting question was whether random visitors could use these facilities. So we went to Oudeschild to find out, and then on to de Waal to encounter a museum of local farming. Sheep seem to fulfil more roles than just eating and being eaten.

local fire-engine

Brandweer Elly!

2nd September: to den Burg, then de Koog

Posted on September 3, 2019 by Bruce Ryan

Today was a shopping and sightseeing day. Cyclemeter map for now, photos below.

Den Burg sheep-market

Sheep in Den Burg market

The White Angel – sells all manner of Texel wool

how to use a sheep

At the ‘Flora’ shipwreck and beach-combing museum

A nation of cyclists!	Hope to auction fish	Elly gaming	outside exhibits
Jutter boat, previously used by Texel jutter Sil Boon. (A jutter is a beachcomber or scavenger.)	about the next few photos	lifeboat capsule	inside the lifeboat capsule
lifeboat capsule pilot’s station	inside the lifeboat capsule	about the lifeboat capsule’s air supply	ship interior
mammoths!	mammoth tusk	wine, women and song?	rubber gloves
penicillin	whiskey galore	Aye-aye captain!	snail-flour!
de Koog beach	de Koog beach	de Koog beach

1st September: round Texel

Posted on September 3, 2019 by Bruce Ryan

OK, it’s an island and it has tarmac, so Bruce has to go around it. Fortunately, Elly isn’t averse to a little cyclo-circumnavigation, either, and so off we went. Of course there was headwind both ways, so please don’t laugh too much as the speed on the cyclemeter map.

But we had 37 miles of being tourists, hence a lot of photos! Continue reading →

Stars and bars

Posted on August 31, 2019 by Bruce Ryan

So we are at the hotel 14 Sterren, on Texel. It’s a Saturday afternoon and there is the sound of a wedding in the background. It’s going on at the restaurant in the buildings next to where we are staying. We have had a short but fun ride to get here, and that was yesterday, cycling from Alkmaar to here.

Today’s very short cycles were into the centre of town and back:

Cycling without luggage was welcome. I don’t think we are at the full strength of former years at the moment. That is, we could have done the 36 miles from Alkmaar to our place in Texel in a morning or even the full 58 from IJMuiden to Texel, (i.e. IJMuiden to Alkmaar and Alkmaar to Texel) in a day if we had wanted. But we didn’t want. This is holiday, which means we don’t have to strain our bahookies. Continue reading →

Alkmaar to Texel

Posted on August 30, 2019 by Bruce Ryan

vegan breakfast!	central Alkmaar
Central Alkmaar – with weird pano effects	coffee!
random hefflump photo	ferry to Texel
Bruce is windswept and interesting…	… as is Elly
outside of our hotel’s bar on Texel

Alkmaar ambulations

Posted on August 29, 2019 by Bruce Ryan

Hello world! We are in Alkmaar’s main square, by a canal. So stereotypical, I suppose, but I am loving still being able to have such holidays. Elly is faster than me, and my left foot still tingles if I sit down too long doing nothing to distract my mind. (Hence blogging helps me ease tingles as well as being able to say hello to my audience.)

So where are we saying hello from? Well the canal is called Voordam, and we are in the main square next to an about-to-close cheese museum. So that’s a thing to do tomorrow, as is returning to this square tomorrow morning because there will be a cheese market. Personally, I am looking forward to miles of tarmac at my admittedly slow pace. However, I am currently not wearing Lycra, just sitting and enjoying.

Not many miles today: here’s the Cyclemeter map: https://cyclemeter.com/dd47ea6f33590baa/Cycle-20190829-1012-08925

There has been no rain, unlike yesterday. We got wet yesterday on the way to North Shields, then froze waiting to be let on the ferry. That was after the traditional 10 miles from Newcastle: https://cyclemeter.com/dd47ea6f33590baa/Cycle-20190828-1318-84841, and of course earlier the fun cycle along Princess St: https://cyclemeter.com/dd47ea6f33590baa/Cycle-20190828-1020-86136

So total cycling so far is 32.5 miles. That’s enough for now! Photos are below the cut. Continue reading →

We’re off!

Posted on August 28, 2019 by Bruce Ryan

We met Elmer in Newcastle central station

Practical Democracy Project session 8

Posted on May 17, 2019 by Bruce Ryan

As usual, this post is an edited version of my tweets from the event. My asides are in blockquotes. Most links are to Twitter presences.

Good afternoon Twitter. I’m at the Practical Democracy Project number 8, in Glasgow’s Tron Theatre. It’s organised by Delib, and has hashtag ‪#PracticalDemocracyProject. I hope to live-tweet so long as my laptop’s battery holds out.

Ben Fowkes is opening ‪#PracticalDemocracyProject number 8. The programme is

An introduction to Delib’s work
Niamh Webster (Scottish Government)
Ali Stoddart (Scottish Parliament)
Vilte Vaitkute (Media Co-op)
panel session.

Lunch is in there somewhere. There will be a round-up of the event emailed to participants. (I’ll share it how I can.)

Continue reading →