IJlst is a very pretty city, it has also been one of the Frisian eleven cities since 1268. In winter when the canals froze the locals ice-skated on the canals on what is called 'Eleven City Tour'.
Same facts for you:
- 1909 was the first official tour, history shows that people were already trying to skate the route past all Frisian cities in a day centuries age.
- 1997 was the last official tour but every year as soon as the winter starts the Dutch suffer from what they call 'Eleven City Fever' hoping that this year the canals and lakes will freeze so the event will be on this year.
- Only 15 tours have been organized and gone ahead since it officially started.
Since the ice-skating events aren't that regular they now have a couple of summer version one is with 'Puddle Boards' and one with boats, these event they don't do in one day they have rest stop for night, well we have stumbled on one of the stops when they were in the middle of the boat tour in IJlst. So there wasn't much parking left, we needed to drop in to the mechanic to pick up more gearbox oil so we parked in front of his building where they pull out the boats for repair. Then we saw a park on the side of the workshop and asked if we could park there for the night. Luck was with us and we just fit in the gap.
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| Hand operated ferry |
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| They had a little trouble starting the motor. |
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| A group from one of the Yacht clubs going for a meeting. |
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and their off, no wait, yes they are off |
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