We’ve lived down here for 30 years and I’ve run, walked and cycled the bridleway from Locks Heath cricket club grounds to Brownwich Beach many hundreds of times. I have read the Hampshire County Council notice board that tells me about the local fauna and flora, but I never seen one of the ‘white admiral’ butterflies they claim can be seen in and around the woods. That was until last Saturday on the return leg of my run. Across my path fluttered a large black butterfly with white banded wings. A beautiful creature, perfectly formed. I watched it for a minute or so until it flew away.
The next day, Fiona and I walked the path to the beach. It was a long walk, we were out for almost 3 hours. On the way home we again spotted a white admiral which made the long walk in the hot weather well worth it. However, we had forgotten to bring the camera along.
I was determined to get a photo of such a beautiful creature so returned again to the woods on Thursday armed with my camera and plenty of patience. This is what I saw:
In commemoration of the 75th anniversary of the Normandy invasion five days of events were staged in and around Portsmouth & Southsea from the 5th-9th of June.
With the improving weather on Sunday 9th we decided to get to the park and ride at Tipner for the short bus ride to Gunwharf and then walk over to Southsea and see what was happening. The weather was cool, jackets were necessary, as was sun factor 50, sun specs and a sun hat.
By the time we arrived Lizzie, the Donald, loser May, nouveau Napoleon and the BBC had all buzzed off and headed to France leaving Portsmouth and Southsea to us ordinary people.
On the large open stage a number of acts performed their WWII pieces; some read wartime memoirs and entertained us with song and dance from the period. My particular favourite was the rendition of “they were only playing leap frog”, a Great War song.
Outside the main arena there was a vintage vehicle show consisting of a number of wartime vehicles including Jeeps, ambulances, a staff car and others. There were a few buses, a gorgeous MG PA from 1934 and even a small helicopter.
As Southsea is right next to Portsmouth there were plenty of ‘people watching opportunities’; there were plenty of large bodies plastered with tattoos on show – and that was just the women.
I love to see people who have the confidence to dress up in period costume. There were a few men in American uniforms, some women dressed as WWII nurses and the occasional ‘civvy’. All good fun.
Whilst at Southsea, we paid a visit the Navy memorials on the seafront, where the names of thousands of lost souls are cast in bronze. A very poignant structure.
It was months in the planning; Luke and Louise engaged the venue, catering, florist and many other suppliers; they organised accommodation, table decorations, the violinist and the DJ, the registrar, dresses, suits, refreshments and so much more.
Family and friends had travelled from as far away as Vancouver, France, Scotland, Norfolk, London, Bristol, Colyton and down south (Fareham, Southampton,Portsmouth area) all to witness and celebrate Louise and Luke’s big day.
The weather was superb; despite it being the Easter weekend, the weather was dry and warm with next to no wind. A little high cloud to keep us all from getting too hot. Superb, they were so lucky.
Luke’s uncle Abe was the master of ceremonies for the day and ensured everyone of us was in the right place at the right time and helped the day run to plan.
The bride was stunning dressed in a beautiful white lacy wedding dress and a simple see through veil. The groom and best man wore matching blue suits and ties, as did the brides father.
The nerves Louise exhibited the previous days and weeks had completely evaporated. Her dad, Andrew, walked her down the aisle behind the bridesmaids and towards her waiting bridegroom to the melodies played by classical violinist Mr Kai Choi.
In front of their close friends and family, Louise Wills married Luke Razack at a civil ceremony where she became the new Mrs Razack . The ceremony was held in the open air overlooking the pastures around Froyle Park, near Alton in Hampshire.
Photographs and refreshments followed the ceremony and much socialising and mingling gave both of the extended families and friends plenty of time to become acquainted. Then it was in for the celebratory dinner of chicken in a mushroom sauce accompanied by fine wines.
Celebratory speeches followed dinner and included a guest appearance by Louise’s ex-best friend since childhood, Doggy. Doggy, Louise’s Andrex puppy dating from the late 60’s, has followed Louise everywhere including the sandpit, paddling pool, playing in mud, chasing cats, through school and Uni and even moved in with both Louise and Luke.
The disco started at around 6:30; the bride and groom had been practising their dance moves over the previous weeks and the first dance of the evening let them show off their moves to great applause.
Showing off the well practised dance moves
The day was a great success; all of Luke and Louise’s organising had paid off; the day went without a hitch or hiccup and a fabulous day was enjoyed by all.
The evening was spent dancing, chatting, mingling and consuming a variety of drinks, wedding cake and bacon rolls. The dancing continued until 11pm by which time almost everyone was exhausted.
Here is a collection of the photos taken during the day Louise & Luke
The following morning many of us met up for a hearty English breakfast at the nearby Hen & Chicken pub before saying our goodbyes and heading off home.
For the wine anoraks the wines we enjoyed were as follows:
White fizzy: Maison Guertin, Vouvray fines boules
White still: Maison Guertin, Vouvray 2017 Sec
Rose: Coq’Licot Cabernet d’Anjou 2017 from Robert Et Marcel, St Cyr en Bourg, Saumur
Red: Saumur Champigny Domaine Couet 2015 from Robert Et Marcel,St Cyr en Bourg, Saumur
Red: Domaine Olivier, St Nicholas de Bourgueil 2015 VV
There was an additional bonus for me: of the 93 bottles of wine we took to the venue 17 of them came home again. Whoopie.
After days of warm, spring like sunshine we awoke to a Sunday morning of grey clouds, rain and gales. Worse than that, we were due to catch the 8:15 ferry to Caen and the winds had whipped the channel up into a frothing mass that would buck the ferry around like a toy.
Once on board we breakfasted in the main restaurant of the Mont St Michel. I wasn’t feeling well. To make it worse I had to witness a member of the Volvo sailing team bullshitting some middle aged hippy about how ‘massive’ their sustainability budget was. As she went on and on I got sicker and sicker so retired to the cut price cabin for a long lie down in easy reach of the great telephone to God. Fiona, on the other hand, decided to go solo in the prize quiz, which had been announced by Andrew, the Entertainments Manager. She could easily have won; especially given that no-one else turned up. Miserable lot! In the absence of a quiz, Fiona went for a lie-down too.
The journey South
The drive south from Caen was scary; the bit on the bridge going over the Bassin de Calix was truly awful, with very strong cross winds. I seriously feared LC was going to flip over.
The drive down to Vouvray was too long to complete in a single drive so we decided to break the journey somewhere around half way. A few hours later and we arrived at our overnight stop at St Germain de la Coudre, and wait a minute; there’s some err..travelling caravanners here, complete with an Alsatian. . I was too tired to drive any further so we stayed.
Monday morning saw us wandering around the village hunting down milk and a bakery; but this is rural France and it is Monday, so everything is closed- our journey continued without breakfast. As we left the Aire, our neighbours were just dismantling a barricade to the tennis court area, as you do (or at least they do). All 4 of LC’s wheels were intact, phew.
We arrived at Vouvray early in the afternoon and found the free overnight motorhome parking straight away, parked up and headed into town for some food, as one of us had forgotten to bring the milk despite her being asked to do so.
Parked in Vouvray
Provisions bought (once the only supermarket in town had reopened after lunch) we headed to the wineries for an afternoon of wine tasting. We found some delicious fizzy wine in the first place we visited, bought one bottle and headed off to another winery for the same again. The wine was an excellent accompaniment to a dinner of takeaway pizza from the Italian restaurant right opposite the motorhome parking.
Tuesday saw us revisiting our chosen wine merchant to try his still white Vouvray wines and to negotiate a discount on the fizz. We left the store with yet another sample wine having paid for the fizz that we came for. M. Fizzy agreed to keep the wine till we returned in a few days to collect it.
Tuesday also saw us running a little short of clean water as the borne at the aire had been turned off due to possibility of ice. We showered quickly but thoroughly on the Wednesday and headed off towards the vineyards of Saumur Champigny. We took a small detour to check out a Camping-Car park near Bourgueil where we invested €4 in their life-time membership with the intention of staying at one of their parks for the night as they have water, electricity, free wifi and are secured by entry barrier.
Sat Navs are really great, they are so helpful most of the time. Most of the time. Ours decided that we should cross to the south side of the Loire on the D952. Jeepers, the D952 bridge crossing at Montsoreau is barely wide enough for 2 cars to pass each other let alone a blooming great motorhome. That was 600metres of stressful driving I never want to repeat.
We sampled at least 8 delicious wines at our favourite wine cellar at St Cyr en Bourg, accompanied by a comedy routine from the guy at the desk, who then relieved us of a stack of €s after which we headed off to Villebernier for the night.
All alone at Villvernier camping car park
We spent an enjoyable evening at Villebernier, but overnight the heavens opened. It chucked it down from about 7pm until about 5am the next morning. As we were parked next to the Loire, I fully expected it to visit us during the night.
There was very little to do at Villebernier so we decided to move on to another Camping-Car Park, this time the one at Saumur which would give us easy access to this beautiful and ancient city.
Saumur as seen from the isle d’Offard
The Camping-Car park at Saumur, on L’isle d’Offard, is a short walk over a bridge to the city centre from where we visited the chateau and its surrounding old town. It is also an even shorter walk to local shops where we bought our breakfast croissants.
The journey back
It’s Saturday morning and it’s time to start our journey home via Vouvray to pick up some of our purchases. The journey from Saumur to Vouvray is uneventful but for some unknown reason the sat-nav again tried to take us across the Loire on the D952A suicide bridge at Montsoreau despite the warnings as shown in the photo below. Not bloody likely, sat- nav! Given that the sat-nav is set up with LC’s dimensions, in particular her width of 2.35m, and the warning signs quotes 2m..WHY does she try to make us use this bridge?
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Arriving in Vouvray mid morning, our first priority was to pickup the fizz we had purchased a few days prior from the wine merchant Guertin, and to also buy some still white wine. While at Guertin, we treated ourselves to a bottle of St Nicholas de Bourgueil without tasting it as his stock was very low. Our next priority was to get a free parking place at the Vouvray aire, located in the middle of the village and then to have lunch. To accompany lunch, we opened the St Nicholas and quickly returned to Guertin to purchase his last case. It was delicious. In the afternoon, it was time for a walk around, and an ogle at some very grand houses in the village and beyond. Another excellent take-away pizza from the local Italian restaurant accompanied more of the St Nicholas and we settled in for a number of rounds of Rummikub and a very wet evening in the ‘van in Vouvray.
The aire at Vouvray is very handy for the village, and while we were there it was never full, despite only having 3 spaces. Unusually for aires, it also had clean, 24 hour open toilets adjacent to the car park. Worth noting, it’s also easy walking distance of the Boulangerie, and a supermarket, which is open on Sunday mornings, handy if someone has forgotten to bring extra coffee beans.
Coffee beans were bought at the local supermarche and then it’s off to St Suzanne for a stopover for Sunday night, and a wander around this very old and pretty village. Along the way we watched the odometer closely as LC passed the 10,000 mile mark.
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The wind had dropped significantly by tea time so we were able to get the BBQ out and cook outdoors. Setting off on the Monday morning , there was a bit of a Hotel California moment “you can check out any time you like, but you can never leave” The card reader at the exit barrier wasn’t working, so we had to phone the CampingCar Park support number so that we could exit the carpark. A helpful French/ English conversation sorted us. All good fun.
The journey between St Suzanne and Villers Bocage was fraught. The sat-nav wanted to take us all over the place as can be seen in the photo below:
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Ignoring the sat-nav and resorting to reading maps we reached the motorhome aire 2 hours 20 minutes earlier than sat-nav’s predicted ETA, using her “unusual” route.
Villers Bocage is a pretty town, with a bustling main street. Look closely, however, and you will see that most shops are closed on Mondays..yip, we arrived on Monday! A quick couple of drinks were enjoyed in a bar- Andrew’s 2nd beer of the trip, and my 2nd Monaco. Determined to find a restaurant for our dinner, we had a quick shifty at Trip Advisor, and once back in the van, after a quick post sat-nav nap for Andrew, we set off again into town. One particular bar/brasserie in our sights, we loitered, waiting for it to open at 7pm. Oh lala…spot on 7pm, we saw…the owner promptly take in his menu A- boards, so clearly it was a closure, not an opening, so, Plan B, we trotted off to Le Vrai Normand, a “posher” restaurant, offering regional specialities (neither of us fancied the tripe, funnily enough, but there were other, more acceptable offerings). Table for 2 found, the meal was superb…3 courses €15.40pp, all delicious, and finished off with coffees. Followed by a short walk back to the van.
Christmas is approaching and Fiona wants to visit the Bath Christmas market again so we book a few nights at the Devizes Camping and Caravanning club site from where we will visit the Bath markets. With a home made Chicken jalfrezi and plenty of fresh food on board, on midday Sunday we headed off towards Devizes. We arrived at Devizes campsite shortly after 2pm, well before the daylight had faded so once we had parked up we put on our boots and set off on a long walk down the canal footpath in the direction of Melksham, looking for the elusive pub ‘somewhere down there’.
The canal towpath walk in the late afternoon was pleasant; the weather wasn’t too cold with no wind and it was dry. The winter countryside is a lovely place to be when it is dry.
We walked for about 1 km before heading back as the skies were beginning to darken. Needless to say that we didn’t find the pub.
Back in the van we cooked a pan of Pilau rice and finished cooking the chicken jalfrezi for dinner. Delicious. Then it was over to the ‘Three Magpies’ pub for a drink before bedtime.
The chicken jalfrezi recipe comes from the Balti House, Rishton. Chef Hussain has made a few videos of himself cooking some of their meals. The videos are available on Youtube.
After a cooked breakfast on Monday morning we put on our boots and coats and headed off towards Devizes along the canal towpath passing the marvellous Caen Hill locks which are a masterpiece of early 19th century engineering. The Caen Hill locks allow the river Avon to rise around 230 feet over a distance of 2 miles using 29 independent locks.
The area surrounding the Kennet & Avon canal is a haven for bird life. We spotted geese, ducks, kestrels and a Heron.
The hedgerows along the canal are bursting with the berries of hawthorn bushes giving many of the hedges a bright red hue.
Click on the photo below to see a selection of the photos we took as we walked along the canal towpath.
The hedgerows are full of hawthorne bushes with their berries
Monday evening saw the end of the dry weather. On Tuesday it bucketed down all day. We had chosen Tuesday to walk around the Christmas market in Bath so we caught a fairly early bus and headed to Bath for the day. The rain was relentless; we got soaked so took the 4pm bus back to the campsite where we hoped to dry our clothes before evening.
Fish & chips and a couple of pints of Wadsworth Old Timer in ‘The Three Magpies’ got my vote on Tuesday evening in Devizes .
It’s time to get back in the van and head for the New Forest. This time we are spending a few days at Long Meadow campsite with ‘Team GT’, our fellow motor-homing friends. Long Meadow is a short walk from Brockenhurst which is easily reached via forest paths from the campsite. We chose to park in the large grass meadow rather than the more cramped hard-standing pitches. Of the 72 grass pitches only 2 were occupied, and those were by ‘Team GT’ and ourselves so it was going to be a nice peaceful few days.
Camped at Long Meadow, Brockenhurst
The weather on arrival was sunny and bright, but not warm. Dinner for four at our place was a lamb tagine served with rice after spending an afternoon enjoying conversation, sunshine and wine.
It got colder the next day but the lack of sunshine didn’t spoil the gentle cycle journey to Brockenhurst where we enjoyed a wander around the village followed by a relaxing hot drink together before we set off back to the campsite. Despite the cold we were snug in Team GT’s van for scrabble, rummikub, a delicious curry and an uninterrupted flow of fermented grape juice.
The New Forest is such a magical place; a mix of animal grazing, heath land and forest land with a variety of wildlife; buzzards, kestrels, owls and more in the air and very many ponies, cattle, donkeys and deer allowed to roam freely.
The sun came out on the following day but Team GT had to depart early leaving us to our own devices. Fiona and I headed onto the forest tracks on our bikes and enjoyed a splendid autumn day in the New Forest before heading home the following morning.
Sadly, we were only there for 3 nights although I could have easily stayed longer. Long Meadow along with most of the other New Forest campsites closes soon for the winter and doesn’t open again until March or April.
Click on the photo below to see a selection of the photos we took while at Long Meadow
I’ve always checked the change in my pocket; I’ve looked for unusual or special coins ever since I was a child. I collected the Victorian coins I received as pocket money when I was young and now have a small bag of “old money”. Recently, I have collected – or rather been reluctant to spend – the special coins now in circulation, notably the £2 and 50p special coins. I have saved these coins in a Dr Who tardis money box. Recently Fiona has shown interest in the special coins that are in circulation today; this includes £2, 50p and 10p special coins. Fiona’s interest has gone as far as “buying” a bag of coins from the bank for sorting through. When the good ones have been removed she’ll take the rest back and get some more later on.
Here are the goodies in her first haul
Oooh look, a Kitchener £2 as well as 2 other WW1 £2 commemorative coins, and Britannia. A 1066 50p featuring Harold not William, so much for being the victor eh, and a good few Beatrix Potter coins. Nice
There is a lot of “discussion” in forums about the type of battery that should be fitted in a motorhome, and why some types are deemed to be unsuitable. In order to help me decide on which battery to buy to replace our existing battery I have pulled together the following information.
Summary of battery types
Wet lead acid: traditional old fashioned wet cell technology. Charging the battery heats the electrolyte and causes gassing.These batteries must be maintained by topping up with distilled water. They must also be vented and should NOT be mounted inside a motorhome. As the electrolyte is a liquid, wet cells are more susceptible to vibration. Some are sealed so shouldn’t require topping up. Electrolyte is liquid so can spill in a crash.
EFB: Enhanced flooded battery: A step up from the wet cells, still a wet cell battery but does not need topping up. Supposedly sealed but still should be vented. Electrolyte is liquid so can spill in a crash and they will be susceptible to vibration. Charge regime as per wet lead acid battery.
Absorbed Glass Matt (AGM): this is the most contentious battery type. It was introduced as a completely sealed, high power, deep discharge, rapid charging, high performance battery. They are less susceptible to vibration as their electrolyte is encapsulated in the glass matt. AGM batteries are fully sealed and do not need venting. They can be mounted inside the motorhome.
Gel: Gel batteries are another deep discharge, rapid charging battery type that are completely sealed. Due to their construction, gel batteries can be mounted at any angle or orientation and are suitable for mounting inside a motorhome.
Gel batteries perform better than AGM when deep discharged, meaning that they will provide a greater number of recharge cycles, they perform better at higher temperatures than AGM and are less sensitive to thermal runaway.
Gel batteries recharge much faster than flooded-cell batteries, provided that a regulated charge voltage is temperature compensated, but cannot be charged as quickly as AGM.
Gel batteries are extremely sensitive to charge voltages above 14.1-volts DC at 68 degrees.
There are many posts in the forums from people whose batteries have failed after 1 or 2 years and many blame the AGM technology.
My current battery is a Banner AGM. It is 5 years old and still retains its charge. My “usage pattern” is one of low rate of discharge – we have LED lighting and rarely use the TV; we also keep it on trickle charge when the ‘van is parked at home. We have not gone off-grid for more than 3 days at a time, the last time being in the New Forest in October where we needed lighting, water pump, satellite (radio) and heating. The battery discharged to 12.3volts by the end of the 3 days and was showing as fully charged by the time we arrived home, less than an hour’s drive away.
Much of the “noise” around the suitability of AGM batteries seems to be that they are unsuitable if you cannot charge the battery at 14.7V. The following graphic is from the Victron site and clearly shows that the normal charging voltage for an AGM battery should be between 14.2 and 14.6 volts. The ‘van’s alternator voltage is 14.4 and the EBL is capable of 14.4V which fall in the normal service charge range for an AGM battery.
From the Victron table above it looks like 14.6-14.9V is needed to perform a fast recharge of the battery as opposed to a ‘normal’ recharge.
Banner specify a maximum charging voltage for AGM at 14.8V.
An AGM is capable of a fast recharge which would mean supplying 14.6-14.9 volts.
An AGM has very low internal resistance allowing it to be charged very quickly. Low internal resistance combined with a low state of charge and applying >14.4V will lead to a high current charging so will necessitate using a charger capable of providing around 25% of the battery rating to adequately charge. For a 100Ah battery, the charger should be rated at least 25A.
Low internal resistance also leads to better high current discharge rates than wet cell batteries hence exhibit a greater number of charge-discharge cycles.
AGM batteries require precise, voltage-regulated, temperature-compensated charging routines. AGM batteries can accept a very high charge rate, a charge rate unlikely to be provided by most van battery chargers. Chargers should be connected to a battery mounted temperature sensor to prevent thermal runaway.
Gel: Gel batteries are another deep discharge, rapid charging battery type that are completely sealed. Due to their construction, gel batteries can be mounted at any angle or orientation and are suitable for mounting inside a motorhome.
Gel batteries perform better than AGM when deep discharged, meaning that they will provide a greater number of recharge cycles, they perform better at higher temperatures than AGM and are less sensitive to thermal runaway.
Gel batteries recharge much faster than flooded-cell batteries, provided that a regulated charge voltage is temperature compensated.
Gel batteries are extremely sensitive to charge voltages above 14.1-volts DC at 68C.
Notes:
Our on-board Schaudt EBL 29 has battery charge settings for “wet” and “gel”, but does not have a setting for AGM so cannot provide the higher 14.6-14.9V required to rapidly recharge an AGM.
The Schaudt EBL 29 contains a Schaudt LAS 1218 charger and can provide up to 18A charging current.
The Schaudt EBL charges both the habitation and cab batteries.
The Fiat cab alternator supplies a charging voltage of approx 14.4V
Thoughts:
Wet cells, even the EFB (enhanced flooded battery) are really only capable of a maximum of around 200 recharge cycles. They are not capable of rapid charge and discharge, they will also need to be vented.
EFB cells are really only suitable for low power requirements where the rate of discharge is low.
Adding a second habitation battery may require a second charger to be fitted although the EBL could charge 2 95Ah batteries, but this would be an edge condition and is outside the spec of the EBL29. As gel batteries charge at a slower rate than AGM, the EBL could support 2*80Ah gel batteries.
A second charger could be connected directly to the batteries or connected as an auxiliary charger through the EBL. The EBL auxiliary charger is fused at 20A charge current. A suitable charger is the “blind” Apuljack Engineering AE276Plus or one of the Victron Blue Smart chargers, in particular the 15A charger.
A Gel battery will typically provide 600 recharge cycles
An AGM battery will typically provide 400 recharge cycles
An AGM can be charged at a faster rate than Gel or wet.
A wet or EFB battery will be unlikely to provide up to 200 cycles
Single replacement battery costs
Wet/EFB (100Ah)
AGM (95Ah)
Gel (80Ah)
Cost
120
170
180
Additional charger
–
Total
120
170
180
Dual replacement battery costs
Wet (100Ah)
AGM (95Ah)
Gel (80Ah)
Cost
240
340
360
Additional charger
140
140
0
Sundries (cable, sockets)
40
40
40
Total
420
520
400
Conclusion
EFB batteries are not suitable for any kind of wild camping as they exhibit too few charge/recharge cycles.
Both AGM and Gel batteries require a well-regulated charging system. Without a voltage regulated, three-stage battery charger with temperature compensation then you should not expect to achieve the battery’s rated life cycle.
With a correctly rated charger capable of 3+ stage charging and temperature compensation AGM should provide a long lasting, high performance battery power
In addition, the AGM and gel’s self-discharge rate is extremely low. Flooded-cell batteries self-discharge 1 percent per day or 30 percent per month (at 68 degrees), while VRLA batteries self-discharge generally less than 2 percent per month.
Habitation batteries will not recharge fully from the van alternator and should be regularly charged using a well regulated 3+ stage charger.
We have to consider the motorhome 12V power supply system in its entirety and not just look at individual components. Focussing on the battery without addressing its usage or charging requirements will result in less than optimal power delivery and increased costs.
Ah well, it’s Monday morning and time to set off for Calais. The holiday is over. Now all that’s left to do is to get to Calais in time for the 17:50 train, an overnight stop at Canterbury and then do the laundry once we get home.
We have really enjoyed our time in Belgium and The Netherlands. Our eyes have been well and truly opened to the beauty of these countries. Or at least of the parts we have visited- we’re both well aware that there’s a lot more to explore.
So, after our month in the van…the longest holiday either of us have ever taken…we have discovered a few things, some of which we will detail below.
The Belgians and Dutch don’t go in for large, out-of-town supermarkets. In France, we had got used to popping to a large Carrefour, and stocking up. Here it was different. We did once squeeze LC into a space at a Lidl, but mostly we cycled to the shops for food, using a pannier and a rucksack at most.
It’s worth chatting to “locals”….it was by doing so, that we found out about the wonderful sand dunes, and the smaller type of campsites, often based on farms. Vekabo and SVR are the ones we discovered. These smaller campsites are quieter, but the facilities are still excellent, though some lacked a drive-over drain for waste water. We got around this, by finding the nearest Motorhome aire where we could dump waste water. No, we didn’t resort to emptying the waste whilst driving. We do have some standards!
It IS possible to survive a month without a hairdryer. Yes, Andrew already knew this.
It’s also, apparently, possible to survive without changing bedlinen every few days….
Lidl do lovely cheap croissants..as do Emtee, a Dutch supermarket..29 cents each, or, our best bargain- 4 for a Euro! ….nothing beats croissants and fresh coffee for a Summer holiday breakfast.
After years of “making an effort” to speak French, when on our hols, it was of no use at all in The Netherlands…it had to be Flemish, or Dutch. Occasionally, a bit of schoolboy/ girl German, came in handy, but we have decided to at least try to pick up some Dutch for our next visit. It was quite embarrassing, not being able to converse properly.
Belgian beers can be very strong! Watch out for the alcohol content on menus, and on bottle labels.
Cycling in Belgium, and in the Netherlands, is an absolute breeze. Not only do they have proper cycleways everywhere(not just the few inches afterthought at the side of the road UK style cycleway) and bikes do rule the road. Oh, yes, and the lack of proper hills does help a lot! It takes a bit of getting used to , especially when cars give way at junctions. Us foreigners always acknowledged their kindness.
Also on cycling…we were constantly amazed by how families get around…lots of wooden boxes, carrying up to 4 kiddies, attached to the front of their parents’ cycles. Very few cycling helmets were seen, and we certainly didn’t feel the need for ours.
Eurotunnel will be delayed. Your cross-channel journey will not be at the time specified on your ticket. This makes a nonsense out of the ‘Flexiplus’ ticket type which costs pretty much double the standard, fixed date/time ticket.
Book well in advance on Eurotunnel and use your Tesco vouchers.
We managed to get into each of the campsites we stopped at, but a few of them had only a few pitches available when we turned up. The small farm campsites seem to insist on prior reservation. So next time reserve a day or so ahead of arrival, and maybe go a few weeks earlier next time.
So nice we had to visit it twice and in doing so we travelled across the Oosterscheldekering (East Scheldt storm surge barrier), a 9km dam built to protect much of Zeeland from flooding.
The Oosterscheldekering dam is half open so allows tidal water into the eastern Scheldt, and when needed, can be fully closed to protect the eastern Scheldt coastal areas from tidal and storm surges. It also serves as a road and cyclepath between two of the Zeeland islands.
We arrived at Middelburg for the second time on a very hot Friday lunchtime having decided to stop here on our return journey to Calais. We chose to stop at Middelburg because it’s only about 3 1/2 hours from Calais so not too far to drive, and its also a very scenic area so we intend to get out on the bikes and have a good look around.
We stayed at the same campsite as before, but this time we were not so happy with the campsite management. The site was more than half empty, OK, it was about 20% full at most. We selected a pitch and settled in. On our return from the town we found that someone had been allocated the space right next to us so blocking our view with their van. An immediate visit to the campsite reception followed; the word ‘stupid’ was used a couple of times to describe their pitch allocation policy, and we basically informed them that we were moving to a different pitch. Grrr.
Our Saturday morning was spent wandering around the shops looking for the last few bits we needed and for a final look around the town.
On a baking hot Saturday afternoon we headed towards the north to have a look at the sea-side. There are marked cycle paths all the way making cycling safe and easy. The lack of any hills also helped. We passed this field of cornflowers and had to stop to take photos.
After an hour or so of cycling in the heat we arrived at the small town of Veere and stopped and have a look around. The Eyewitness guide said very little about Veere, but it was very hot and I needed an ice-cream.
As we entered the town we heard the sound of ‘local’ music and headed in its general direction. The music accompanied a ‘ring driving’ event, which is a traditional Zeeland competition.
We spent the rest of the afternoon watching the competition so never made it to the far north of the island. Maybe next time because we will be back.
Ring driving participants dress up in very specific period costumes, their horses are decorated with ribbons and their traps are festooned with flowers.
Competitors use a lance to try to hook a suspended ring as they race along a course. There are four rings suspended along the course and competitors are awarded points for each ring they manage to hook.
Apparently, the tradition goes back to the middle ages. It was good fun to watch.
We spent the rest of the afternoon watching the competition so never made it to the far north of the island. Maybe next time because we will be back.
We ventured out on the superb cycle paths again on Sunday morning. This time we headed for Domburg, north west of Middelburg, and it was scorching again. We stopped briefly at the beach at Domburg before heading to Veere where we stopped for another ice-cream and a wander around. Then it was back to Middelburg for a well deserved cold beer in Markt square, well, we had cycled 24 miles in the blazing sunshine and both felt that we deserved the break.
