Hoorn is just as lovely as we remember it. We're tucked up at the far end of the Inner Harbour, very protected and out of the way, but with an excellent view across the harbour.

So, how's it doing on the ameneties? Well, working down the checklist -

Electricity: Expensive - €0.45/Kw. The average in Dutch moorings has been €0.25. But the next cheapest place was €200 more for the winter, and that buys a lot of electricity, even at that price.

Water: Hose pipe at a special berth by the entrance. We have to take the boat to get water, but that's an improvement on the normal arrangement. The Dutch marinas switch off the water to the pontoons in winter, to avoid problems with frozen pipes. In the past we've had to carry water cans from the clubhouse to the boat.

Fuel: Still checking. But there must be at least a garage.

Showers: Available at the Harbour Shop. Expensive, but same argument as electricity.

Laundrette: Same as showers.

Accessibility: At the moment we're next to the quay wall, just one step up to get ashore. In a marina we would probable have to walk a few hundred meters to get off the pontoons.
There's nobody next to us, inside or out. We don't mind having another boat between us and the shore, but more than one gets tedious, climbing over wires and ducking under rigging. We also don't mind having a boat outside us, but we're more likely to go out on a sunny day if we don't have to negotiate with someone else. Our own inertia is quite enough to overcome.
The town center is a couple of streets away, and the station half a mile. 40 mins to Amsterdam by train.

So we're staying.

Motored up the IJsselmeer, steering from inside, with feet on a warm radiator. Bliss!

IJsselmeer views.

After e-mailing and/or phoning all the likely candidates, Hoorn came out cheapest for winter moorings. Hoorn is one of our favourite places in the IJsselmeer. We had been there several times on Duet, and again on Polly Anne. It is very pretty and gezellig (a very useful Dutch word, meaning something like pleasant/cosy/welcoming/sociable. A bit like 'nice' in English, before it got devalued).


Hoorn entrance.

But let's not rush into anything. A good summer mooring is not necessarilly a good winter mooring. The very fact that it is a charming tourist spot argues against such practical requirements as supermarkets, laundrettes and showers. So we're motoring up there to check it out.

Can it really be true? Yes. Two radiators installed and plumbed in, the diesel stove connected to the plumbing and the diesel and even the chimney. The pump connected and powered and - It Works - and before the winter.

As far as the Dutch marinas are concerned, winter runs from the begining of November to the end of March. Most offer a heavy discount on moorings for this period, as there aren't many boats around. Better a little money than none at all.

We haven't organised anything for winter yet, as we wanted to move near to whatever job turned up. But it's getting to that time, so we decided to go for our favourite location, Amsterdam. The two main marinas there are both close to Central Station and the center of town. We spent a winter at Sixhaven on Duet, and loved it.

Ooops - they're both full! Aeolus have less space than usual, as they're repairing their stages, and we should have booked into Sixhaven 3 months ago. They could fit in a little boat, but 13m takes up too much room.

I wonder where we'll be this winter?