The crossing is done by ‘Rederij Doeksen’. Our crossing was already reserved by Lucia travel counsellor, she took all of the administrative work out of our hands. We arrive in Harlingen and are immediately in traffic. There are a lot of cars in line for the parking place that we also choose for this weekend. There are other parking places, but this one is within walking distance of the ferry. With a 15 minute delay, we are finally parked and on our way. The walk to the ferry takes us around ten minutes. Luckily, we don’t have to wait long to board. Onboard, we immediately take a seat in the restaurant, ready for the two hour journey to Terschelling!

The ferry docks in the harbor of West-Terschelling. As soon as we get off, we see a lot of activity going on. There are people walking to the busses, to taxi’s and to rental bikes. We didn’t rent any bikes yet because the hotel is only 15 minutes by foot away from the harbor. Full of newfound energy, we walk to the hotel: WestCord Hotel Schylge. The hotel is located at the bay of Terschelling, with a view over the marina. The hotel and room looks neat and clean, exactly how Lucia described it.

Now we finally arrived and decide to go for our main goal of the holiday ‘to find some rest’. Roughly translated; looking for a good place to eat and drink. The centrum of West-Terschelling looked appealing during our walk to the hotel, so therefore we return. We end up at Grand Café Zeezicht, where we have our first drink of the weekend. The waitress recommended the local cherry beer. I couldn’t let this recommendation pass my by.

The next day, we really had to do it; arranging the rental bikes. It would be possible to arrange this on forehand, but because the weather forecast wasn’t clear yet, we decided to arrange it during the weekend. At first sight, the weather forecast was looking positive, so we decided to go ahead and rent the bikes. Lucia already supplied us with the address of a place for rental bikes; ‘Jonker Fietsverhuur’. Which was located within walking distance from the hotel. While we were renting the bikes, we decided to book an excursion to the ‘wildlife’ of Terschelling; seals. Because the weather would be sunny in the afternoon, we booked the first sailing possible. We continued with the bikes to the boat, where we would soon sail for the sandbars.

The excursion can only be executed by sailors who have the approval to sail through the protected area. In exchange, the institution asks the sailors to keep an eye out for any sick seals. During the trip to the sandbars, we received a lot of information about seals. We received the information on the way to the seals, because it has to be completely quiet when we arrive at the sandbars. Arriving at the sandbars, we see the seals. The boat stays at appropriate distance from the seals, not disturbing them. The seals take a moment to look up, but decide to lay down quickly and don’t give us any further attention. On the way back to Terschelling, it starts to rain. Luckily, we are able to take shelter inside the boat. Back on land, because of the weather, we decide to go to the hotelbar. This ended up being a very good choice, since the waiter could tell us everything about the different beers he was serving.

After breakfast, we really couldn’t postpone it any further; the rental bikes. We’ve rented them, but not really made use of them. The hotel offers a biking route, which we decide to do. The biking route brings us all the way to the other side of the island. It only skips the nature reserve. The first part of the route was very easy; we had a tailwind. We are biking over a dike, so we can see the sea, but nothing of the island. We decide to stop for a moment to have a look across the island.

Our attention span isn’t that long, so after five minutes we are back on our bikes. Halfway, we arrive in Oosterend. I want to have some lunch and see that the beach isn’t that far. On the beach is the Heartbreak hotel, which has been recommended by other passengers on the ferry for a good place to eat. It’s not on the route, but we decide to go anyway.

The view from the beach is very nice and with our bellies full, we continue the route back to West-Terschelling. Unfortunately, the wind didn’t turn, so we are having a strong headwind now, which gives some extra exercise. In the evening we decide to have dinner in the hotel. The same waiter appears to also have a lot of knowledge about wine! The ideal evening for the last night of our weekend. The next day we prepare to leave. The ferry takes as long as it did on the way to Terschelling and before we know it we are back on the parking place. We really enjoyed this weekend!