If any of you already know Reinier Sijpkens you should probably stop reading right here. For those that don’t know him let us explain. He has a little boat in which he spins round in circles while playing a horn and winding a mechanical organ thingy. He produces soft melodic sounds and he has a deal with a chap in the local church who responds with the church bells. All fabulously mad!

When we got chatting to him we discovered he was a great fan of everything Scottish. He had recently been to the World Pipe Band Championships in Glasgow and told us that his favourite musical instrument was uniquely Scottish. “Bagpipes?” we asked. Not a bit of it. “The dulcitone” he replied with a wistful smile, “It’s wonderful!”. This was news to us because we had never even heard of a dulcitone. However, having looked it up, he was, of course, absolutely right … and it is uniquely Scottish. You can listen to one here. Also if you click on Reinier’s picture above you can enjoy one of his fabulous performances.

Chance is a wonderful thing

We tell you all this because it amazes us how extraordinary snippets of information fall into our laps. Our boat was even smaller than Reinier’s but we were on the same canal in Amsterdam and just sort of bumped into him. See, there we were pedaling round a canal in Amsterdam and we meet a Dutch guy, a complete stranger, who tells us something we didn’t know about Scotland. Isn’t life fascinating!

“So what the dickens were you doing in Holland?” we hear you cry. Well, it’s a bit of a strange story but suffice to say that we were looking for scones. It was a serious expedition, not any sort of jolly … honest!

Ticking boxes

Actually we have a couple of Dutch friends who visited us back in 2017. You may remember we took them to Monachyle Mhor in Balquidder where we had a lovely scone. Recently, they got in touch to ask if they could buy a bottle of my own whisky. They remembered cuddling the barrel and having a we taste. No problem. However, when we were trying to figure out how to get two bottles of whisky to the Netherlands it wasn’t particularly easy. Pat, to the rescue! A mini-cruise from Newcastle-upon-Tyne which gave us five hours in the Dutch capital. This ticked a lot of boxes. We would be reunited with our friends, deliver the bottles and get our first Dutch scone. What’s not to like about that?

Bon voyage

The ship left Port of Tyne at sunset. The following morning after a frantic night of dancing in one of the onboard night clubs we awoke and  knew immediately we were getting close to Holland. A sunrise full of windmills … hundreds of them! A couple of hours later we were in central Amsterdam and had managed to hook up with our friends. It was great to see them again and they were keen for us to enjoy a few of Amsterdam’s unique features. They had tried in vain to find a scone for us but had come to the conclusion that Holland did not do scones. Instead they said we should not miss the best apple pie in the world. Hence we ended up here at Winkel 43. Winkel translates as ‘store’ in English but we much prefer the Dutch

It is quite small and tucked away from the main touristy area, however, it is extremely popular with the local people. There were lots waiting patiently for a table. Fortunately, we did not have to wait long and were soon sitting in the sunshine tucking into the biggest slice of apple pie we have ever seen. It was full of chunky apple bits with a delicious crumbly pastry and loads of whipped cream … fantastic! If you ever find yourself in Amsterdam go to Winkel and have some apple pie, you won’t regret it.

Apple pie usurpers

As a visitor to this city you do feel a certain amount of pressure to go on one of these super-long glass covered canal boats. If you don’t it’s like going to Venice and not going on a gondola. Our friends however had other ideas.Feeling lucky

They elected to take us on a canal cruise but on a tiny pedal boat. Thankfully they also elected to do the pedaling. It was just a fantastic experience! For the end of February the weather was fabulously warm, a glorious day. Although complain

ing a bit and sometimes a little out of control our engines performed perfectly well. And, of course, if we had not gone by pedal boat we would never have met Reinier and never have known about the Dulcitone. We complained to Reinier that our engines were not as powerful as his. He looked and observed that we had the most beautiful engines in the world. He also said we were extremely lucky and should take extra good care of them. We promised we would and had to admit that we did feel very lucky.

Old Amsterdam

All too soon, our five hours were up and it was time to take our leave. Not before we visited one of the many cheese shops to buy some Old Amsterdam, however. Apparently they eat cheese for breakfast, lunch and sometimes dinner as well. They like their cheese in Holland. The cheese neatly replaced the lost ballast left by the whisky.

Welcome home?

Then we had to return to our slightly bigger boat and return to the UK. When we arrived in Amsterdam that morning they glanced at our passports and waved us through. On our return, however, we had to stand for an hour and a half in a queue waiting to have our passports scanned. Apparently, it’s a new system and it’s absolutely dreadful. Many in the queue would have had to wait much longer. We felt ashamed to be British but then again that wasn’t for the first time. If it’s a sign of how things are going to be after Brexit then we might have to move to Europe … or get an independent Scotland to stay in the EU. We’ll go for the latter.

Many many thanks to S & C for looking after us so well. It was fun!

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