The last road-trip of this holiday was to Friesland. The plan was to drive through North Holland and cross the Afsluitdijk to Friesland.
A few years ago, we had driven around the coast of the West Friesland region of North Holland, from Hoorn to Enkhuizen, along the dyke. This time we went past them to where the Zuiderzee was dammed to cut off the IJsselmeer from the Waddenzee which is like an inlet of the North Sea. The A7 highway continues across this major dyke and then leads into Leeuwarden, the capital of Friesland.
A few years ago, we had driven around the coast of the West Friesland region of North Holland, from Hoorn to Enkhuizen, along the dyke. This time we went past them to where the Zuiderzee was dammed to cut off the IJsselmeer from the Waddenzee which is like an inlet of the North Sea. The A7 highway continues across this major dyke and then leads into Leeuwarden, the capital of Friesland.
The IJsselmeer turns 75 this year! So you might say we visited to commemorate its milestone birthday. We have now seen two major waterworks projects in the Netherlands, the Oosterscheldekeering and IJsselmeer.
We stopped thrice along this road. The first time was just to take photographs of IJsselmeer. Although the embankments are human constructions, the plants growing there seem to be growing spontaneously. 
Our second stop was at the point where the construction of the dyke is commemorated.
The final stop took an unexpected turn. As the bridge at the end of the Afsluitdijk was drawn to let boats go by, we found ourselves waiting. I stepped out to take a few photographs and misunderstanding, stepped too far away to get back to the car as traffic began moving. I ended up crossing the bridge on foot, and then having to walk by the highway for a few long minutes to reach where the car had stopped for me. The photo opportunity turned into a motion picture moment but at the cost of creating a source of (continuing) annoyance to my companions. It is chancy to be in that situation but in that split second, it seemed a better call than holding up fairly quick-moving traffic as I walked back to the car. I have good footage of boats moving in and out, but I still don't know how to link that here. So here are the (ill-gotten) photographs.
And so we entered Friesland proper!
