On this trip to Holland, Malcolm and Brenda took their sons James and William. They travelled to Harwich by car then stayed overnight in a Bed and Breakfast run by a typical landlady who kept saying "all right my love". The breakfast was also typically greasy. From there they took the ferry to Hoek of Holland then drove on to Dronten in Flevoland where their friends Hans and Ynskje Bosma lived on a houseboat.

The weather was incredibly hot and the flat roof of the houseboat offered little shelter so Hans played a garden sprinkler onto it but without causing much relief. The heat made it quite difficult to sleep at night. One way of keeping cool was to swim in the canal and some time was also spent rowing along the canal.

The next day they visited the reconstruction of the old naval ship Batavia in the nearby town of Leltstad. Another day they visited the Soesterberg Aviation Museum before going on to see some friends who had two donkeys as pets. They had been warned that Malcolm's family had big appetites so they had prepared plenty of food. Unfortunately, the family were late and had got hungry and had eaten shortly before they arrived so were not able to do justice to what had been provided. Malcolm's sons were fascinated with the donkeys and were allowed to help brush their teeth before leaving.

The next day they all went for a cycle ride around the local nature reserve. Neighbours of Hans had lent their bikes to Malcolm and Brenda but, unfortunately, the front tyre on Malcolm's bike was perished and split open so Malcolm tried to keep the inner tube in place by tying his handkerchief around it.

Malcolm and his family were taken out on trips by car with Hans and Ynskje, visiting several towns including Elburg and Kampen. Favourite salted herrings were bought and consumed in Kampen then a heavy shower of rain forced threm all into a shop for shelter. The next day there was another cycle outing for everyone to KetelHaven.

At the end of the holiday, Hans put on a barbecue and invited some of his neighbours round and that was a jolly time. There was another barbecue for lunch the next day and, whilst that was in preparation, Brenda cut the hair of both Hans and Ynskje. After that it was back on th referry to Harwich then the long drive home.