Joe Cool - Ijmuiden

[Spaldwickapeface]

ACD Page: Joe Cool

So I had previously seen the hydrofoils traveling up and down the North Sea Cannal and wondered to where they were traveling. It only took a little research to find the answer Ijmuiden, it's a relatively new town that was built at the same time as the locks that separate the IJ and the north sea. Also it did not take long to discover that there are a couple of coffeshops in the town, I plumped that we would make a trip out and discover what a provincial coffeeshop was like.

It was a lovely clear cold winters morning when we boarded the Connexions Hydrofoil at the back of Centraal Station, it was only €8 for a return journey, they leave every 30mins, soon we were speeding up the North Sea Cannal at 65kph; which for a boat is rather fast, skimming across the calm waters surface. It is quite industrial along the cannal so you do not see the countryside at its best but it was nice to see all the traffic on the cannal. It takes half an hour to get to IJmuiden and you are dropped off just outside town to the west. We walked for a further 30 minutes along the cannal towards the locks and Joe Cool Coffeshop on Kannalstraat. Our first impressions of the town were not great it was bitter cold and all the industry to the north of the cannal loomed ominously, polluting the atmosphere. We found the coffeshop with no difficulties right by the ferry port to Newcastle. At this point I started to worry about the weitpas, had it been introduced here, was our journey to be a waste? I think it was Manala cream induced paranoia!!

The shop itself was a long building split by a couple of stairs a third of the way down the room. The upper level was light what with the large window at the front of the shop, there is a table football table here and a few seats. When you walk down the stairs the bar is on your right hand side with plenty of stools along the front, sitting here seemed to be the popular place for the locals, on the left there are comfy booths allowing a lot of seating. This is where we sat, there was a tv on mute showing British program's (scrap heap challenge and something with James may), so I am sat in the Netherlands watching UK TV with Dutch subtitles trying to translate it back to English for my friend with only my rudimentary Dutch to go on, this still Makes me chuckle.

The bar is being worked by a very attractive Dutch girl, worth going for this alone!! As she made our hot drinks, we were in need of these by now, I perused the cannabis menu. What no Hash!!! There were six weed choices, the usual suspects Widow,Skunk,Amnesia,etc at similar prices to what you would find in Amsterdam (outside centrum) €8-€12. I opted for the Cheese €10, this is what we smoke a lot of at home so I had never bought it whilst in the Netherlands before, why not do a comparison. Well it was virtually the same, so it was good to know my contact here gets the good stuff and it was a nice smoke to have out there also. I was smoking this gram whilst escorting my friend round the Alleys of De Wallen, it was late and we had been drinking and smoking a lot but the cheese joint nearly knocked me off my feet. I was struggling to walk let alone direct the others and check out the ladies was an impossibility. I think I tripped over every cobble stone that night!! I get side tracked, good smoke, reasonable price.

Well we enjoyed the coffeshop for a good hour or so, watching the people coming in picking up and going, I was also trying to listen to the conversations going on, soaking up the atmosphere of the place and trying to improve my foreign languages. After the second cup of coffee it was diceded that we skip the second coffeeshop in town (scolo) and just head back to Amsterdam. This time we walked through the town centre, it was a lot better than the cannal road, the little town was really busy and with the post coffeshop buzz I was experiencing I enjoyed the walk very much. It was not hard to find the ferry terminal and we were off.

In conclusion we both enjoyed our trip out to Ijmuiden and Coffeeshop Joe Cool, it was a nice change to get away from the other tourists and the boat ride made for an interesting morning out. If I go again it will be during a summer trip and I will combine it with a trip to the beach, however I will make sure I have hash from Amsterdam with me again, though I will buy green again from Joe Cool I just prefer smoking good hash over weed if I have the choice.

Anybody who is going to Amsterdam from the North of England via The Newcastle ferry should defeniatly pop in for you first/last smoke of your visit it is literally only 25m from where you get off the ferry!

http://www.coffeeshopjoecool.nl/

[Not_the_monk]

Newish menu for Joe Cool in Ijmuiden dated 27 November 2024, kindly submitted to coffeeshopmenus.org by Bruce van Dam

https://www.coffeeshopmenus.org/cs-joecool.html