France and Belgium

The following morning the weather was horrible and it rained all day so we decided to drive south to France as the Christmas Market has started in Lille and we had planned to go and visit it for a couple of days.  We found a camper stop 16km outside of Lille at a snail farm where they also have deer, rabbits, chickens and a donkey. After saying hello to the animals we retreated back to the van to avoid the rain and relaxed for the day, while making preparations for our return to the UK.  We had planned to go into Lille for the Christmas market today but due to the rain we decided to wait and go tomorrow and spend the whole day and evening in the city as it was supposed to be a much nicer day.  We also found a local too good to go from a local bakery so we decided to get it as it was only 3 euros. Rich cycled off in the dark and raining night to go and get it while I stayed warm in the van. We thought we might be able to use whatever he got to go with dinner but little did we know what he was getting. He arrived back in the van about 10 minutes later with 3 French sticks, a large flat bread, two loaves, a half loaf, some chocolate and jam filled rolls and some croissant. I think we will be eating bread with every meal until we head home! 

The following morning we got up early and cycled into Lille without getting lost. Once there we walked around the centre and went into the small Christmas market. We walked around the Grand Place which is the historic centre before traveling out to the working class area of town where there is a large food market. While there we saw a programme of some sorts being filmed and the presenter was walking in and out of the food market with a bag stuck to his foot. It was very entertaining but weird. After that we decided to head to a military fortress, called the Citadel, the other side of town where the NATO Corps de réaction rapide France. We couldn’t go in as we had not pre-booked a tour 7 days ahead but we walked around the star shaped fortress and the surrounding park. In the park there was also a zoo which appeared to be setting up and which we avoided, especially once we saw they had tigers in a cage which looked far too small for them. We then headed back into the old section of town and wondered around the shops for a little while before it got dark. Once it was dark we headed back to the market for a drink and some dinner, with a little shopping thrown in for good measure. Once finished we got on the bikes and started the 45 minute cycle home, again without getting lost.

The following morning we got up and headed north towards Belgium, stopping to buy some wine and champagne before leaving France. Afterwards we headed to a little town called Ypres which has a significant history in WW1 and now has a gate, Menin Gate, which is inscribed with all the names of soldiers who have no grave. There are thousands of names all over the gate from all over the world including the UK, Australia and Canada. We walked around the town which had a Christmassy feel especially as the cathedrals were all lit up against the black sky. At 7pm we went to the Menin Gate to watch the Last Post Ceremony which happens every night. This basically entailed two men playing bugles, a short reading and then a minutes silence while people laid wreaths to the fallen soldiers.  It was interesting to watch and it has been going since 1928 but we had expected a little more as it had been heralded as one of the must things to do in the area.

The following morning we got up and continued our journey north to a town called Gistel where we spent a little time walking around the town and sorting out some admin as we have booked the ferry back and are leaving in less than 2 days’ time. We then continued north to a little camper stop outside Bruges where we will spend the night. In the morning we plan to drive to a car park closer to Bruges where we can walk into town and explore the area and the Christmas market, which starts tomorrow. We will then head back to the van in the evening for some sleep before getting up at 3am in order to drive south to Dunkirk where we will be getting the ferry at 6am and will be back in the UK on the 25^th November and ready to drive to Somerset.

Belgium

So we headed into Belgium and our first stop was a town called Doel which is a small town just outside Antwerp. This town was identified in the early 70s as an area for the port to expand into and since then there has been an on-going war between the inhabitants and the Government regarding the future of the town. The number of residents has dropped from around 2,000 to 30 and most of the houses lie empty. Currently the residents have saved the town until 2020 but its future after that still seems uncertain. Artists have taken to the area and many of the derelict houses have murals on the outside walls. We walked around the town for a little while stumbling upon many of the murals but it was a ghost town and apart from 2 cyclists who were also mural spotting we didn’t see anyone. We did find a couple of houses that were occupied and a pub but that was all the town had. There were no cars driving on the road and no sound apart from the water in the river and birds singing. All in all it was very spooky. After the wander around the town we headed further south nearer Antwerp to a camper stop in Brasschaat where we planned to spend a couple of nights. The camper stop was in the middle of a large park with a Chateau in the middle and contained a couple of campers including another English one. We were going to have a good chat to them, as they were young unlike most English campers we meet, but they were stood outside the van in keep fit gear and doing random exercises so we decided they weren’t our kind of people and we instead retreated to the van to eat some Belgium chocolate and drink some Belgium beer.

The following morning we were back on the bikes and cycled into Antwerp which was an 14km cycle. The city was larger than we thought and started to explore and soon found many chocolate and beer shops around every corner.  We went to the heart of the old town and saw the town hall, before walking around the old town and the fashion district. We also went into the pedestrian tunnel under the river which still contains the historic escalators.  The number one thing to do in Antwerp, according to Trip advisor, is the Central Train station so we went to see it and it was a lovely building and impressive as the trains enter and leave on three different levels. After lunch we headed out of the centre into a very wealthy area with stunning architecture. The houses along the main street ranged from large Georgian white houses that would be suitable for Hogwarts. After admiring all the houses we headed to a nearby brewery for the De Koninck which brews several beers including Duval. We did a full tour of the brewery which including a couple of different beers to try (which were the bet bit). After the tour and the beers we decided to head back to the van but 1km into the 15km ride Rich got a completely flat tyre and as all the shops were shut and it was dark we didn’t think we could fix it so it was a long and dark walk back to the van.   

  

The following morning we had another admin day as I had a job interview; Rich had to fix the tyre on his bike, which it turned out had 2 punctures and we needed to give the van a clean. We travelled around Belgium a little to try and find a camper stop which had working services and would give us the space to actually fix the bikes. After we managed to get everything done we travelled to Grimbergen which was just outside Brussels and would be perfect for us to explore Brussels from.

The following morning we got up early and cycled the 11km to Brussels, stopping on the way at the Atomium which is a large structure which was built for the World Fair in the 80s and still remains. It was impressive and we managed to see it all lit up on our way back home in the evening. We continued on into the town and soon found the large stock exchange building which was impressive until we saw the Grand Place which is the main square and contains the cathedral and some stunning buildings covered in ornate gold statues. We then went in search of the comic strip murals and the statues of the little boy, girl and dog peeing that are dotted around the streets. We managed to find a couple of the comic strips and even saw one being painted and we managed to find the three statues. The boy statue is the most famous and he is dressed in different outfits depending on events going on in the city. We then cycled out to the royal palace which was a bit of a let-down as it wasn’t as beautiful as the rest of the city. We then travelled out further to the Laws Court which is one of the largest buildings built in 19^th century. When we got to the courts we saw a few news crews and as we explored the cavernous building we spotted more and more news crews. We did a quick bit of googling and realised that the courts were reviewing the extradition order of the Catalonia former prime minister. While we were walking around the judges came out and gave their verdict, that they would be adjourning the case until December. With that excitement over the journalists al left and we continued on with our journey around the city and found the historic shopping arcade and then we went to the Delirium Café for a beer. There were over 2000 to choose from which made it difficult but I ended up having a grapefruit pink beer while Rich had a strong beer called Guillotine and was 8% so he only had a small one. After that we headed back to the van through the city centre which was far more difficult than our early morning cycle as the roads were much busier and we had to fight traffic until we got out of the centre but at least we made it back with all 4 tyres inflated.

The following day we headed to a chocolate factory where we bought some chocolate and got to try as much as we liked. We kind of overdosed on chocolate and by the end we couldn’t face the thought of chocolate (and still cant!). afterwards we continued driving towards our next destination – Ghent. We had to service on the way which was interesting as there is a lack of places in Belgium to do that but we had pre-arranged with a place to do it, but as usual it didn’t come easy. We finally arrived at the stop which was a couple of KMs outside the city and would mean we could get into the city in the morning.

We got up early to explore Ghent which was larger than we thought and contained several historic castles and the cathedral. There was an event at the cathedral for a saint but we couldn’t quite work it all out so we didn’t hang about too long. We cycled of the historic centre to the park where we found that a big cycling event was on but we didn’t have ticket so couldn’t go inside to see what was happening. After a cycle around the park we headed back to the centre for some lunch, a bit more exploring and a pancake before going back to the van and spending the night in the same camper stop.

Dutch Photos

Amsterdam Canal Side

Water Water everywhere

1 of 1 million bikes in this small city

Bird playing peekaboo in the park (Amsterdam)

Barge houses - why not when there is so much water

Amsterdam Architecture

Random Pic in a Random Museum

Rotterdam

Delft city square

One of many statues alongside the river in Rotterdam

Santa statue holding ???? 

The view from Moses bridge (wet feet)

Merky but cool Rotterdam

Wet feet and Wet hands!

Don't worry lonely planet said - it won't flood!

Rotterdam across the water

Very cool cube apartments

Keeping dry

Rotterdam huge indoor food market

trying not to get hit

The birds the word

Windmill ahoy

Kinderdijk - site of many windmills

Still working to keep the water out!

They pick up some serious speed

Don't get hit

Clogs - of course

Farewell Amsterdam

Netherlands

We got up early on the 5^th November and needed to do some admin but our laptop had other ideas and had started to download an update which killed our data allowance so we did what anybody who is limited on data does and headed to McDonalds where they have free WIFI. We sat in there for about an hour but it still hadn’t downloaded the whole update and our laptop battery was dead so we had to think about what to do next. We decided to head into Netherlands and charge the laptop on the way before heading to another McDonalds to hopefully finish downloading the update. Our camper stop was in a little town just over the boarder called Sittard and had all the services we needed so we parked up and cycled across town to spend another hour in a McDonalds while the update finished and then headed back to the camper where we could actually try and do the admin we had started in the morning. We also made sure that we turned off all the automatic updates on the laptop although this is more difficult to do on windows 10.

The following morning we got up early and had to fix my bike as I seem to have picked up a second slow puncture on my bike in Cologne. While the glue was drying we decided to explore the town but soon found out that as it was a Monday most shops either opened at 1pm or not at all and given that it was only 10am there wasn’t much to see. After the bike was fixed we headed to a town called Arnhem which was a couple of hours drive away.

The town of Arnhem played a significant part in WW11 when the British tried to defend the area from the Germans but suffered significant losses. It was an interesting town to explore the following day and we cycled around the large park Sonsbeek which had a small waterfall, some deer and various birds. It was a Tuesday when we cycled around the city but it was eerily quiet until the late afternoon. Apart from the bridge and the park there wasn’t that much to see so we had some lunch at a nice café where they made fresh stroopwafels and headed back to continue our journey Eastwards towards Rotterdam. We found a camper stop in a town called Maasluis which was around 20km outside of Rotterdam but it did have the ever elusive free electricity. It only had three spots and we managed to get the last spot and we settled in for the night.

The following morning we got on the bikes and cycled the 20km to Rotterdam and while it didn’t pour with rain, it was a murky day and looked like it was going to pour it down any second, the ride wasn’t too bad. It was mostly flat (as you would imagine for the Netherlands) but the signs weren’t as good as expected and I think it took us more than 20km to get there due to a wrong turn.  Once we got to the centre we were keen to ditch the bikes for a couple of hours and walk around the city. Having researched online we knew that the Netherlands was the bike theft capital of the world so every time we locked up the bikes we had to make sure it was safe and that we had secured every wheel and the frames so in the end we had 2 bikes, 5 locks and it took us at least 5 minutes to tie them up.  First off we went in search of the status which line some of the streets and managed to find several including Santa, Picasso painting and a weird baby statue. Next we crossed the wan bridge and admired the range of architecture around the city which ranged from very old to very modern. We went for lunch at the Markthal which is a very modern building containing lots of different food from around the world and we struggle to choose what to eat.  We then went out to one of the disused stations which has been converted into cool shops and saw lots of people doing photo-shoots around the outside of the building.  Finally we decided to get back on the bikes and head out of the town a little to a brewery where we could taste some local beers. We had a 5 beer taster which ranged from 5% to 8% alcohol with a couple of blonde beers and 2 dark beers, but all were very nice. Afterwards we started the long journey back to the van but this time seemed to make it without getting lost, despite the alcohol.

The following morning we headed off East to a farm camper stop which was an interesting little place. The farmer had limited English and we had very limited Dutch but between us we managed to find the services, even though he really wanted to help us (by standing there and watching). We then hopped back onto the bikes and cycled 13km to see a World Heritage site, called Kinderdijk which contained 19 windmills from various years. The Windmills were used to pump the water out of the area and prevent flooding as the area is under sea level. These were used for many years until some were made redundant with the creation of steam powered pumps and then more were made redundant by electric and fuel powered pumps. We walked around the windmills and were allowed into two mills where we could see the mechanisms used and the living conditions of the people who lived there (17 are still occupied by trained millers). We also got to view one of the new pumps and watch a weird video about the history of the area. We then had to cycle the 13km back to the van and avoid the friendly farmer and settled in for the evening.

The following morning we got up and headed north for a couple of hours to get to a camper stop near Amsterdam where we would be spending the weekend.  We couldn’t go to the camper stop until after 6 so we stopped for a while in a nearby town and organised the van before heading to the final camper stop just outside the city centre for the evening. The weather had been horrible again today and it rained all day which is why we just drove for most of the day. Overnight the wind started again and it was like being in Berlin again as the van rocked for hours due to the wind and we had no real shelter as the camper stop was right on the water.

The following morning we got up early to make the most out of our weekend in Amsterdam, despite the lack of sleep the previous night. We headed into town which was, for once only included, a short bike and ferry ride, and headed into the centre to get our bearings.  We then headed to some of the markets which were disappointing before heading to a café for a nice hit of caffeine. We then went to explore the canals and different areas of the city, including the Red light district, the historic centre, Spui and Jordaan. We went into a couple of museums, one being a modern art museum which was very odd. After a long day exploring we headed into a bar for a couple of drinks before calling it a night. Everything in Amsterdam stays open late and we could have stayed later but as we started the day at 7 we were getting tired and there were some very drunk/stoned people out by the time we left.  As it was a weekend the city had been hectic and  packed all day and had tested Rich’s cycling abilities, especially with the petrol scooters being allowed in the bike lanes and the number of pedestrians stepping into the bike lanes without looking (or looking the wrong way which I as guilty of doing once).

The following morning we had pre-booked the Anne Frank museum and headed there first thing in the morning for our timeslot. The tour around the museum showed the annex they lived in and parts of the diary but didn’t go into the relationships as much as we would have liked. We then continued our tour of the city and went to a couple more areas before heading back to the van and onto Zaandam where we planned to spend the night.

The next morning we headed for a local town called Delft where they make Delftware pottery which is similar to the British willow pattern plates. We walked around the town which was like a quieter version of Amsterdam as it also had lots of bike lanes, lots of canals and large historic squares but it was prettier than Amsterdam. After lunch and a nice hot drink we headed back to the van and headed down south back to the Maassluis camper stop with free electricity.  About 5km outside Maassluis a camper over took us and Rich thought they might be heading to our camper stop so decided to over take them back and when we pulled off the motorway they also got off and followed us. They continued following us the final 5km to the camper stop but unfortunately there was only one space left which we were able to pull into leaving the Dutch camper to have to go elsewhere for the evening and we were glad that Rich had over taken the camper on the motorway.

The following morning we had planned to do a couple of things including going to a nature reserve and going to see a life size version of Noah’s ark some guy built but neither were open so we had to change our plans an instead we went to see Moses Bridge which was a bridge which was below the river level and never meant to flood. However this wasn’t fully the case as there was a couple of cms of water in the bridge when we got there. We crossed it anyway and continued to have a walk in the surrounding woods and through the war memorial there before heading back to the van and heading further south to Belgium.