Amsterdam

Amsterdam , a set on Flickr.

You may notice that I lke canals. And bikes. And I'm not at all averse to the trinkets on sale all over the city centre either. Click any of the pictures to enlarge and view slideshow.

DFDS Ferry to Amsterdam

Eight out of ten to the ferry from North Shields (Newcastle) to Ijmuiden (Amsterdam). The crossing is 16 hours, overnight, leaving at 5.30 pm and arriving at around 9 am. This long journey is comfortable and there is a range of cabins to suit different budgets. The boat has a choice of eating places but there is no budget option for eating. Prices start at around €7,00 for a sandwich and top out at around €20 for the all-you-can-eat-buffet option. Notices around the Danish-owned boat strictly tell you that eating your own food in public places may result in your food being confiscated. Catering aside the journey was really comfortable. Having a cabin to slope off to when you get on board is a real treat. Bunk beds, fresh linen, towels, soap and an en suite shower room with toilet. I want to have cabins like this on trains too. You can shut out the world and read or play games. And the children loved having boarding cards that double as cabin keys. We had a window in our cabin on the way home and could watch the waves down below. No such luxury on outbound leg. Force 6 winds buffeted the ship all night and we just lay down  for 16 hours and slept fitfully. Mini-cruise passengers who return to Newcastle after 5 hours in Amsterdam may safely leave luggage in their cabins whilst enjoying the pleasures of the Dutch capital.

Make sure you book the bus from Ijmuiden to Amsterdam when buying your tickets. It is included in the ticket price (ie. not extra) if reserved in advance. If you decide later to get the bus it will cost €10,00 a head.

digging the foundation trenches

It's only been eight years since we first drew up plans for our extension! But on Thursday Rob the builder came along with a mini digger and dumper truck and started cutting the trenches for the foundations. Work stopped on Friday when the skip was full, so we now have two more 8 yard skips waiting for him to come in and finish the job this week. In the meantime the big toys in the garden have been irresistible to some people over the weekend...

heading for a ten miler

I'm really pleased to say that I completed the 10km run in Edinburgh yesterday. And I think my time of 70 minutes and my place (4935th out of over 11,000 runners) is quite creditable. The course was quite hilly as I'd thought it would be, but the longest ascent was in the first couple of kilometres so the worst climb was over early. I found it hard going for the first half, but after collecting a bottle of water between the 5th and 6th km markers I began to feel better. After 7 km it seemed very fast to 8km and the last stretch was on familiar ground which helped too. The weather was cool and stayed pretty dry so running conditions were quite good.

After the run we took our picnic to the beach at Portobello. A fret was coming in from the sea but the beach was wide and sandy and we'd love to go back some time. We also had time for a look around the very picturesque Grassmarket below Edinburgh Castle before driving home.

Next run could be a ten miler, you never know!