3. IJlst
At last a bit of real skating
Listen George Schweigmann: “When we had passed Sneek, then there was de Geeuw between Sneek and IJlst. That was a lovely wide stretch of water. Was also nice clean ice, swept clean by the wind. There for the first time you could make real strokes. That was really wonderful. We Overtook someone there who was singing. “Well”, we said, “here we have Music while you work”. How that fellow was singing! At the top of his voice. We liked it so much, that we skated along with him for a while and said: “How terrific! How terrific! You’re enjoying yourself, aren’t you!””Yes”, he said, “What a nice stretch of ice, what a wonderful stretch of ice.” Past IJlst you get the Lange Lits, where we had already been on our Eleven-lakes Skating Tour. That broad canal was completely filled with snow, but they had actually managed to make a track through it. So that wasn’t too bad, that was another boost for us. So I wrote in the telegram to my wife: lovely, really! A newspaper journalist thought, that must be a code word, because who could ever say such a thing.” With picture: At every town George Schweigmann sends a telegram to his wife in hospital, who is about to give birth to their eighth child.