Medemblik and Urk, Friday

This was our last full day in Holland. We had picked up a rental car Thursday evening, so set off this morning to see if we could find the old house at Onderdyke that we lived in for a few months, in 1970. We also hoped to find the gas compressor station that Doug worked on at the time. We then planned to follow our noses for the rest of the day.



To begin with driving on the wrong side was hard enough. We found it difficult to navigate as Gertie the GPS kept talking rubbish until we turned her silly voice off and used her as just a map display. We eventually found Onderdyke (about 1 km from Medemblik) and after a couple of passes on the dyke, spotted our house. This house is mainly remembered for its spiders and antique sewage system - straight into the canal.



After a coffee stop, we spent a pleasant time in Medemblik's main street, it seemed much bigger than we remembered.

Next we drove out looking for the Wieringermeer Compressor Station, but after asking directions that would have dropped us into a canal, gave up. We drove to the town of Schagen, having not been there before, but it didn't appeal photographically. The old church was an 'Out of Africa' shop and the other shops had the usual household stuff.

We decided to visit the island of Urk during the afternoon, so set out to drive across the Markermeer Dyke highway between Enkhuizen and Lelystad, then further on, North to Urk.





This highway is a fine piece of engineering. It is 57 km long and includes water level gates, a lifting bridge, and the naviduct in the picture, where the ships sail over the traffic. There are lot of wind generators close to the road, and in the distance.





Here are some photos around Urk, which once was an island but later had a causeway built out to it.



This cat was hopefully watching some boys fishing.