From Groningen, the wide Ems Canal leads to the Wadden Sea and to the river Ems, which flows through the North of Germany, called Ostfriesland (East—Friesland). Like its Dutch counterpart, the area is known as a shipping, fishing, farming, and former peat region. Unkindly and unjustified, Germans not from this area tell the same jokes about the people from Ostfriesland as the English do about the Irish.

But first, we stopped about 12km short of the sea lock at Defzijl at another small Dutch town called Abbingedam. In pouring rain, the harbour master opened the last bridge for us and guided us to a free spot in the harbour. The rain stopped shortly after, and we could do our usual walkabout. We ran into the first of five “Kissing sculptures” at the harbour. Local couples from the age of 5 to the ripe age of 90 have modelled for them, and the stories of their first kisses can be checked via a QR code. 

Appingedam is mainly known for its “Hanging Kitchens.” When the original warehouses along the canal were no longer needed and were transformed into shops and residential houses, there wasn’t enough room inside to add kitchens, so the hanging kitchens came into existence. 

The town is full of little bridges, quaint shops and cafés. But there were also quite a few buildings covered with scaffolding. The owner of a stationary business, who had just moved into a new premises, explained to us why his usual shop and so many other houses in the area were under repair. Fracking for natural gas, which is plentiful in the province of Groningen, has caused around 100 earthquakes, 44 alone since 2023. Shell's oil and gas company has now started compensating for the damages to the mostly 500-year-old houses in Appingedam. A local café owner told us that damage to her second floor and roof costs approximately 180,000 Euros. Fortunately, the old church and town hall seem undamaged. The church tower delights with an hourly Carillon of 51 bells. An emotional place is the old Synagogue and memorial stone for the local victims of the Third Reich who perished in Auschwitz.

We really liked the little town, but our agenda was to use a relatively windstill day to cross Dollart Bay of the Wadden Sea and reach the German town of Leer, about 40 km upstream of the river Ems.

We had to leave early in the morning to get to the Defzijl Sea-lock by 9:30 a.m. to take advantage of the incoming tide and be at the Leer Sea-lock for the 2:00 p.m. opening time. Two boats were already at the waiting pontoon in Leer when we arrived and shuffled around to make room for Lodi. We still had 30 minutes to go before we could enter the lock, so we had a friendly chat with Jan and Jaqui from Emden and the two Berliners on the other boat.

Once through the lock, we were told that the harbour master would open the bridge for us to get to the marina. In a queue of three, we hovered in front of the old, 1 ½ m high bridge, but nothing happened! Finally, the harbour mistress, Heike, came and told us that the bridge had a technical problem and the engineer was out of town on a bike tour. 

We got permission to tie up on the quay usually reserved for cruise ships and were waiting for further news.

One hour later, when it became clear that there was no quick fix for the bridge, we were allotted unique spaces in the Museums-Haven. Lodi was in great company, lying beside traditional fishing, freight, and tug boats. Even though Lodi was by far the youngest boat there, her crew fitted right in with the old tubs! 

Part of the Museums-Haven are signs about the boat's features and history. I learned that the large lee-boards on the old sailboats were designed to prevent them from drifting onto shallows during strong sideward winds. My favourite, a tiny boat called Mirjan, was a so-called “Opduwer”, a word in the Frisian dialect for “pusher”. Its function was to push the large sailboats, thus making them independent from the wind. The small motors on the

Pushers had to work so hard that they emitted lots of black smoke. Their captains ended up black-faced like chimney sweeps. The little “Mirjan" is 85 years old, so just a little older than Austin.

Tea is an important beverage in Leer and comes in various varieties and flavours. Leer even has a tea museum. The local cafés serve teas in beautiful china pots and pair them with traditional crumbles, waffles with cherries or scones with jam and cream. There are temptations, looking for easy targets like us, at every corner! 

The Saturday market is another draw card of Leer. Everything is farm fresh, from cheeses, fruit and veggies to fish, meat and flowers. 

While we were innocently ambling with our market purchases through the Pedestrian Zone, we were accosted by members of the rightwing populist party, AfD (Alternative for Germany). They involved us in a long discussion about vaccination (they are anti-vax). It didn’t help that we explained that we are Australians and don’t participate in the next day's European Parliament Elections. They talked to us with some tenacity anyway and praised Australia’s tough stand on immigration. Like many people here, we were shocked about their high results in the election. A little further on, we ran into a group of women who called themselves: “Omas gegen Rechts” (Grandmas against the Right).

Today, we are in Papenburg, and it is the beginning of the European Football Championship. So, for the time being, politics are forgotten, and it’s all about Football (soccer). As the Roman poet Juvenal said: 'Give bread and games (to the people), and they will never revolt!'