Bikes on the towbar, tools in the boot, Easter on the water.
We left at sunrise. Genuinely — actual sunrise, golden light, the whole thing. The car was loaded to the roof: tools, provisions, work clothes, proper clothes, and two bicycles strapped to the towbar looking very pleased with themselves.
It’s Easter weekend, which means we’re doing something slightly unusual: we’re not just going to work on the boat. We’re going to stay on the boat. A miniature holiday tucked inside a working trip. The cycling junction routes are already mapped, the gin is already packed, and we are, cautiously, optimistic.
The Small Problem with Bicycles
Two bikes on a towbar, it turns out, have strong opinions about fuel consumption. The car was not pleased. Piet’s solution — empirical, characteristically practical — was to drive at exactly 80 km/h and find a working compromise between ambition and aerodynamics. It added some time. It probably saved money. We’ll call it a win.
“We’re leaving the Flemish cobblestones behind for Dutch dikes. Secretly hoping the best one wins.”
No Belgian cycling madness this weekend. Instead: flat dikes, sea views, junction numbers, and the particular freedom of pedalling somewhere with no particular deadline. The routes are already checked. We’re curious how far we’ll actually get.
The Weekend’s Ambitions
We arrive with a long list. Some of it is proper work. Some of it is the kind of thing that only counts as work if you’re on a boat — coffee drunk outside, for instance, requires genuine effort when it’s still April and the wind has ideas. We’re committed to all of it.
🔤
Fit the new name letters — Adriana, finally made official
💧
Watermaker pump — get it installed and working
🚽
Guest toilet — pick up where we left off with the wiring
🔌
Electronics inventory — find out what we actually have
📦
Clean and inventory the lockers — all of them
🔧
Spare parts inventory — so we stop discovering things by accident
🛏️
Investigate the bunk cabin — we suspect more surprises
⛱️
Set up the bimini — fingers crossed the instructions make sense
🩺
Final first-aid kit check — one less thing to worry about
🔑
Clean check list — because nobody is perfect
🧽
Cockpit and deck — a proper clean, stem to stern
📋
Full inventory, continued — calmly, methodically, without panic
🚲
Cycling — as far as the dikes will take us
🍳
Good food — this is not optional
☕
Coffee outside on deck — even if we have to wear three jumpers
🍸
Inaugurate the gin and tonic seats — the whole point of everything
🌤️
Catch our breath and do absolutely nothing — at least once
About the Weather
The forecast is, to put it charitably, more January than April. We would have preferred otherwise. We did not get otherwise. So: layers, flexibility, and the firm conviction that every patch of sunshine will be treated as a personal gift and spent immediately on deck.
If the gin and tonic seats get their inaugural moment this weekend, we’ll consider it a triumph. If not — well, there’s a very good reason we’re coming back.
🐣
Easter on Adriana. Tools, bikes, and one ambitious list. We’ll keep you posted.
By Ilse & Piet – Friday 3 April – Breskens Marina
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