Antwerp - FinlandDAY 4
- by Nikki and Pol
- Monday, July 18, 2022
Blessed weather this morning, sunny and mild, and the ripples on the water are not worthy of the name "waves". We keep breakfast to a minimum, because lunch will be served at 11:30 a.m., so that we can go into Hanko as soon as we are moored. Captain Paul and first mate Joris advise us to do that by bike. There is a very nice cycle track of about 18 km around the village. According to the captain, we are the first passengers to bring our own bikes, and even e-bikes. Gisela and Arnout will be allowed to use bikes from the crew. After breakfast, Arnout and we talk for a while with Hennie and Martijn, who are leaving the Timca today. Martijn is a doctor, specializing in hereditary diseases, and Hennie works as a copywriter and editor. The punishing thing is that this sympathetic Dutch couple does know stand-up comedian Arnout Van den Bossche and his shows. What's more, Hennie included a link to one of Arnout's YouTube videos in one of her assignments not long ago! Shame on us, again!
Before lunch, we watch from the bridge how we are gradually approaching Hanko harbor.
This stretches across the tip of the peninsula and is not very large, but there are some substantial ships moored there. Much faster than I can park a car, the Timca is manoeuvred in reverse to its place at the quay and secured. After lunch we hardly have time to say goodbye to Hennie and Martijn and, to Jim's disappointment, certainly not to eat our dessert. As agreed, Captain Paul is ready at noon to guide us all the way down to the ro-ro deck. While the unloading of the Timca is in full swing, we put on our orange vests and bring out the bikes. Even in this small port, it is very hard to watch out when you cycle through it. Because the huge reach stackers or container grippers, which may or may not be carrying 30 tons in the spreader, thunder back and forth across the terrain like frightening dinosaurs, do not expect orange cyclists to suddenly appear from around the corner or to cross the road between two towers of loading crates.
But all four of us get out safely.
Nikki and I follow the bicycle route that runs in a wide loop around Hanko. And that does not disappoint. The vacation village has its busiest month of the year and will empty out again in August. But outside the center it is now very quiet. There is hardly any traffic on the narrow macadam roads, many beautiful wooden houses, well-traveled paths through the Finnish forests, in short: a varied and pleasant bike ride. On a first terrace at a marina we consume two expensive Finnish beers and, now that the internet is working for a while, we check what news our cell phones have in store for us. On the second terrace, at the end of the trip, we get a phone call from captain Paul asking us to be back on the ship by 5 p.m., as promised. And so we do.
In the cabin afterwards, we are both so 'busy' (?) that we don't even notice that the Timca has already left.
Only during dinner - hungry, and with curry sausages "because the Dutch like them so much", according to Filipino cook Jim - do we realize it. We watch the news on Channel One to see how hot it will be in Belgium tomorrow, and end the day a little earlier than usual. Tired, surely?
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