Monday 10th May - It was less cloudy and a bit warmer when we got up to a late breakfast, after which we did a few necessary tidying up bits. Then we walked down through the campsite to a sort of park, which led around to the Donkmeer. (A lake to us Brits) It was very pretty, with a promenade bit all around it, lots of restaurants and bars with outside tables but not a soul in site. We found the festival hall (shut), museum and information centre (shut), a fountain in the lake and not much else. At least the sun shone for a while whilst we wandered back to the campsite, but it was still not warm enough to sit outside with our cuppas.
Tuesday 11th May – Up about 8.00am, breakfast and packed up on the road around 10.30am. It was very chilly at first, but gradually warmed up a bit. We drove until 1.00 pm and stopped for some lunch, once more parked in amongst the lorries (no change there!) Arrived at Otterlo in Holland – about 2.30pm, Vakantie Park De Zanding, just as it started to rain. We had driven only 137 miles, but had already decided to take things easily, no point in rushing, after all we are supposed to be on holiday. This is an enormous campsite with over 1000 pitches, at least half of which are mobile homes or static caravans. By the time we had sorted out our pitch, it was slaughtering down, so we got very wet, cold and depressed setting up, wondering if it was really worth the hassle. We put the heating on, cooked a chicken casserole with rice, opened the brandy/whisky and decided not to set foot outside the door before morning. At least we have Sol Suite and our books, ‘cos we can’t understand Dutch radio, only the music bit!
Wednesday 12th May - It rained all night, so we are now soaked, and it was quite chilly still when we got up, so dawdled over breakfast. Just as well we paid 3euros extra per night to have a comfort pitch with more amps electricity (standard here is only 4 amps) as we seem to have the heating going full blast most of the time. Once it stopped raining, about 11.00, we went for a wander around the site to find everything. It is huge with lots of different attractions for the children. After a soup lunch we set off in to the woods which surround the area; little paths and unmade roads everywhere, but very pleasant – would be even nicer with the sun out! Hot showers beckoned when we got back, then a cup of tea. We had a typical Dutch evening meal in the Pancake House, one with ham, cheese, onion & paprika, the other with ham and apple, extra salad on the side plus 2 cokes – all came to 19 euros, so similar to a pub meal at home. We then settled down for the evening to play DoppelBlok, which is Kismet in Dutch, as we had picked the game up in the shop earlier in the day. Quite amusing trying to work out what all the scores were!
Thursday 13th May – It is Ascension Day and a public holiday…caravans have been pouring in to the park since yesterday evening. We did a bit of washing and tidied up, then went for a wander in to the nearest ‘town’ about 20mins walk away. Not a lot to see, especially as everywhere was closed. Back the long way round across the heath and through the woods. Still cold (thermometer in Otterlo said 10’C) Back on site kids were playing on huge inflatable thingies, riding around in a little train, eating candy floss, playing mini-golf etc….a bit like Thorpe Park really….and millions of bikes all over the place.
Friday 14th May - After filling the car up with 39 Euros worth of diesel (roughly the same price as at home), we walked in to town and found the Dutch National Tile Museum. It was very interesting with tiles going back hundreds of years, both floor and wall tiles, some that make up a mural showing what life was like a number years ago. We also found a Tardis –like everything shop, so ended up with a witches broom which will be quite useful in the camper. I got some strange looks carrying it around town with me.
Saturday 15th May – A colder but a bit sunnier, 214 miles drive to Bothel in Germany, arriving at Camping Park Hanseat .which is on the edge of the Luneberger Heath. Our first impressions were not very good, a terribly windy site, gate locked although it was now 3.30 (they close for lunch 1.00-3.00!) no one visible in the office and only one other touring caravan there, but lots of mobile homes and chalets around. Eventually a “Frau” came out of the building, when I asked if she spoke any English “Nein” was the reply! So my German, with hand signals, pay 10 euro deposit for a key and go and find a spot anywhere! We later found out that the key opened the door to the washrooms, and the blue plastic tag was to get in and out the gate (but NOT between 1.00 and 3.00, all closed) What a hoot!
Sunday 16th May – We woke up to a sunny morning, spoke to our Dutch neighbours who pointed us in the right direction as to all the rules and regulations – they had been there 5 days. We walked in to the town, but as it was Sunday, everywhere was deserted and closed. Very pretty houses and farmyards in this area.
Monday 17th May – Again a sunny but cold morning, and we had more neighbours – a German caravan had pulled in after we had closed our curtains. We spent most of the day trying to get some clothes washed and dried, nothing seems to work properly here. After the lunchtime shutdown we drove in to town to fill up diesel and buy some bread, milk, etc. Then back to sit and read our books until another Dutch couple turned up. They were on their way to Norway so we had a long chat with them. In the evening we went to the local pub for an evening meal, which was lovely.
Tuesday 18th May – We left Bothel about 10.00 and 1 hour later, having gone around in ever-decreasing circles across the heath managed to pick up the motorway up to the ferry at Puttgarden. We had a lunch stop about 1.00 and arrived at the port about 1.45 – very impressed with the service there, just drive straight to a check-in booth, pay the little man 98 euros to get a ticket, line up in lane 14, 2.00 drive on to the boat and before we had got up the stairs to find coffee, we were on our way! 45 minutes later we were driving off at Rodby in Denmark, needless to say the customs people stopped us and wanted a look, but we were soon on our way. It was only about 20 miles to the campsite, but once again we missed a turn, drove extra miles until we could turn round, then were hopelessly lost so pulled in to a garden centre for directions. Finally got to Sakskobing Camping, which is lovely, by about 4.15. They speak excellent English, as well as French, German, Dutch and Norwegian, the pitches are quite large, but at the moment a little muddy as they have had a lot of rain recently. Both Brian and I now have colds, probably due to the previous cold wet weather, so we got out the brandy bottle and went to bed early.
Wednesday 19th May - Today has been beautiful, warm sunny. We even went out in T-shirts, no sweaters! We had a wander along the path outside the campsite which led to a gorgeous little harbour with houseboats on it like nothing we have ever seen before, then in to the town. We found an Aldi so bought some pork cutlets for dinner plus veg and fruit. When we got back we sat outside, with an ice-cream and read our books (for Lorna’s benefit, I did have my eyes open!) This is more like it, we feel as if we are on proper holiday now. We have eaten our dinner outside and I am now sitting in the awning, typing and watching a very red sunset at 8.45pm.
Thursday 20th May - It rained again during the night and we were rudely awoken at 7.00am by church bells, blackbirds and Danish cuckoos that speak English! The blackbirds seem to think we are about to invade their nest in the hedge behind us and take every opportunity to tell us off! We are both feeling very achy and flu-like, so decided to have an easy day – just wandered along the fjord path a bit to take some photos, then back again in time for lunch in the rain. We can get internet here, so will pay my £5.00 for a day and try to get caught up with the outside world and update the blog. As this coming weekend is Whitsun here, the site is beginning to fill up with little people, so presumably the schools are on holiday.
Friday 21st May - A beautiful sunny morning! Maybe the promised heatwave is about to arrive. We took a leisurely drive around this Lolland area which is more or less an island. Up and down country lanes, always keeping the sea on our right in the hopes that we would end up back where we started. We found the town of Nakskov and had a look around their shops and streets. Some of the house were quite old and very pretty. The church was open so we had a nose in there, it was very modern looking compared to ours, but actually went back to the 1600's. When we came to go out, we could not open the door! The gentleman who had seen us come in had wandered off somewhere and we presumed had locked the door! Oops!! panic set in for a while, then we thought may be he had just gone for lunch. After hunting around for another way out, with no success we were just debating what to do next, when lo and behold the door opened and in came 4 other oldies, no idea what nationality.So we grabbed the door quick and snuck out - just hope they did not have the same problem!
Carrying on around the coast we came to Albuen Strand which is where we had thought of as an alternative campsite. It was lovely and peaceful, but very remote, so we just sat on a bench, had lunch, watching the sea, listening to the birds. Afterwards went for a walk along the dyke and back via the beach, but it was quite hard going.
We eventually found our way back by about 4.00pm, when it was 31'C in our camper, phew!! So we sat outside with cold drinks and watched the world go by.
Sunday 23rd May - After a very dull misty day on Saturday, we awoke to sun but cold and damp again. We packed up fairly quickly and were on the road by 9.45am as we knew we had quite a long day ahead of us. As it was Sunday the roads were fairly quiet, not so many lorries thank goodness and the sun soon came out and warmed us up. We stopped about 1.00 for lunch after negotiating the Oresund Bridge between Denmark and Sweden (toll of 570DKK which is about £70!) We finally found the campsite - Sjostugans Camping in Almhult, Sweden at about 3.30pm, blowing a gale but still dry and sunny luckily.
It is a very pretty area, right by a lake and with woods around, but not a flat spot to be seen and certainly no marked out pitches. So long as you can get your electric cable to reach a socket that’s fine. So here we are, in our crooked little house, on a crooked little hill, by a crooked large lake, chocks around the wheels, brakes firmly on, one side up on ramps and feeling decidedly insecure - I don’t know if I will survive the week!
We thought we would have treat tonight, so had a lovely meal in the restaurant that has a terrace overlooking the lake (236SEK £24 for 2 main courses and 2 coca colas) It started to pour with rain whilst we were eating, so we ran back to the unit and shut up shop for the night.
Monday 24th May - Today has been a day of sunshine and showers and is also a public holiday. Lots of Germans left the site this morning, so it is fairly quiet around now. We did some chores - removing mud from carpets, washing clothes and put the awning up. After a lazy lunch, whilst the sun shone we went for a stroll around the site and lake and then off in to the woods that lead back in to town. Back just in time for a cuppa as the heavens opened again! I don’t think our shorts are going to come out of the bag any time soon, but the brollies are being put to good use.
Tuesday 25th May - We set off this morning to find the ‘town’, were going to walk, but it seemed quite a way and was still raining on and off, so took the car. We found Netto, and used their car park whilst having a look around town. We picked up some useful maps and information in the Tourist Info office - now have a couple of places we would like to go and see whilst we are here. Almhult itself is the ‘home of Ikea’ where Ingvar Kamprad first thought of flat-pack furniture. There is an area called Ikea Way, where the very first store is, as well as a hotel, diner and his own house . We spent some time having a look around there and found lots of different styles to what we get back at home. There was a biting cold gale blowing all the time and we were quite glad to get back inside before we got drenched again. Our colds have now shifted a bit, but mine has turned in to the silly tickly cough that I had back at the beginning of the year, so I am somewhat lacking in sleep at the moment. Oh for some sun and warmth!!
Wednesday 26th May - Today has been a lovely day - sunny and fairly warm! We drove about 10 miles up the road to a place called Roshult, which is the birthplace of Carl Linne ( a very well-renowned man in these parts, apparently a botanist from a very young age who travelled all over the world collecting plant and mineral samples). His original house and gardens have been restored, now housing a museum as well.
There are numerous walks around the meadows, fields and woods as well as a nature reserve. We took the “yellow trail” which was 2.5km of undulating terrain, accompanied by millions of gnats! After a coffee in the shop followed by picnic lunch taken in the car park of the church/graveyard, we had a look around the church which was very light and airy and beautiful. All of this was free!!!
Another 4km by car down a single track road found us at the orangey, where he used to nurture the plants brought back from foreign lands and still grow today,as well as the visitor centre, where we roamed around for more than an hour. This bit cost us 30SEK each which is about £3.….not bad for a day out! We even managed to sit out in the sun with our cuppas when we got back as well as taking an evening stroll around the campsite in the setting sun after dinner.
Thursday 27th May - We have now driven 1000 miles altogether, so thought we would spend the morning at home and wash the sheets and towels. At least there is a decent, cheap washing machine and tumble dryer here. After lunch we went for a walk through the woods to a sort of boat ramp thingy, where we sat and watched the world go by ….still in the sun!
Friday 28th May - We spent a morning in the town of Almhult, taking some photos of the Ikea area and the main town square. The gardens in front of the station were quite pretty, with fountains and statues.
We waited for a Swedish train to go by so that we could see what that was like, then did a bit of food shopping and bought diesel. We visited the Tourist Office to use their Internet - what a laugh - Windows 7 in Swedish!! Took me ages to work out where my memory stick stuff was hidden. Anyway, we managed to answer some emails and decided to leave photos for another day. Back for a late lunch, then it clouded over and started to rain again.
Sat/Sun 29th/30th May - What a washout of a weekend! We had intended leaving Almhult and driving over to Oland on Saturday, but as it had rained most of the night and was still raining when we should have been packing up, we decided to stay put. I spent quite a time in Reception trying to translate for a French lady, via my English, to the Swedish receptionist who was having a problem with the number of days the French had stayed! My hand signals are getting better every day. We even went to the restaurant again for dinner and then the sun came out and it was a beautiful evening with a red sunset (which seems to mean nothing here)
Luckily it was still dry on Sunday morning so we were on the road by about 11.00am for a leisurely 127 miles over to the island of Oland. We arrived at Ekerum’s Camping (5*****’s in the book) about 2.15, only to find they were closed for the rest of the day!! After a bit of faffing around we found some little wooden boxes marked ‘drop-in plaatses’ with envelopes containing keys and pitch numbers. My best Swedish gave us to understand that we could just go and pitch up on one of these spaces, so we did, and hoped for the best.
Mon 31st May - We were up and breakfasted and over to the office by the time they were open at 9.00am and booked in properly, luckily we had chosen a pitch we could stay on “for as long as we liked”. It is a very large site with hundreds of chalets, cottages, mobile homes, tent area, seasonal caravans and us, but in a very handy location. By mid-morning it was raining again! We have come to the conclusion that ’him upstairs’ thinks that if we have had a nice day, it has to be followed by an awful one. It is now 8.25pm, 18’C in the camper with the heating on and STILL RAINING. We did go out this afternoon to a museum about 10 miles away. There were some very good textile exhibits there, but the rest of it was like a farmstead in 1700/1800, which was very interesting but needless to say most of it outside, so we only walked around until we got frozen and soaked, then made our way back in our nice warm car. We have got wi-fi here on the site, so I have bought a one-day card and will try to update the blog and photos tomorrow evening.
Tues 1st June - Well, at least it has stopped raining, still very windy though and cold. Today has been ‘castle’ day - we drove about 15km up the island to Borgholm and spent about 3 hours wandering around the old castle which was built as a summer palace in the 1600’s, renovated umpteen times since, had a fire, and is now used for concerts, banquets etc., rather like Leeds Castle.
As you know, us ‘oldies’ are at their happiest in ‘old’ places. After a picnic lunch (in the car out of the wind) we meandered a few hundred metres over to the ‘new’ castle called Solliden. This is the summer palace used by the current royal family and the gardens are open to the public at a vast fee of £7.00 each, so we decided we had walked enough and gave that one a miss. Drove on in to the town of Borgholm itself, but there was not a lot to see there so came back to the campsite for a windy walk on the beach. We have lost our Danish cuckoos, but are now being serenaded by a bird who sounds like a croaking frog. There are also some funny little birds who find it amusing to walk and hop along the path a few feet in front of us, but never really getting out of the way.
We also had one who came in under the camper in to the awning, only to scare the living daylights out of me when I opened up to go in.
We now have 1 Dutch family in a caravan, 1 Dutch family in a tent, 1 Swiss VW camper and us…all on 400+ touring pitches. Obviously their summer season has not yet started, but judging by the weather we have had I am not surprised. I wish we had brought our wellies, I now am reduced to my walking boots as my shoes and trainers are still drying out!
Weds 2nd June - At last summer seems to have arrived, it has been a beautiful day. We set off about 10.00am to go to the “Norre Udde” which is the northernmost tip of the island of Oland, where there is a lighthouse called Long Erik. We were able to walk around the point and stood watching a mummy duck teaching her babies to dive, very amusing. We also bumped in to another English couple who we had previously met at the last campsite we stayed at, what a small world! Oland itself is about 137 miles long but only 18 miles wide. It is made up mainly of heathland and beaches, but very pretty. There are still lots of the old windmills to be seen - we thought that they were rather small until we found out that they were used for polishing limestones for flagstones. They work something like a water-wheel you see in hot countries where oxen walk round and round, except that the mills have a grinding stone attached to the end of the long pole which goes around a circle of about 40 lime stones and polishes them.
We are staying half-way up the island roughly where the bridge comes over from the mainland, so did a circuit of the top half of the island. The sun shone all day, we were in T-shirts!!!!!!!!!! We found a few little villages to have a look around and even had lunch in a pub - they do a very good set daily lunch menu here in Sweden (£17.00 for 2 main meals, side salads, cokes and coffees.) So we only did toast for tea in the evening. We are getting lazy.
Thurs 3rd June - Decided to have a lazier day today, so did some washing first and used the broom…..then sat in the sun for a read. After lunch we went for a walk along the seashore path for about 2 hours. Lots of beautiful different types of wildflowers everywhere, swans in the water and birds all around. After dinner we had quite a long chat with the Danish couple that are here, as they seem to know quite a bit about Sweden and Norway. Then we got the maps out and started to plan our return journey, as we have now reached our furthest point and are half-way through the trip. We shall probably leave here on Sunday and set off back towards Denmark again.
Fri 4th June - Another beautiful day - we drove about 50 miles to “Sodra Udde” which is the southernmost point of the island, where there is a lighthouse called Long John (apparently the tallest lighthouse in Sweden).
We stopped a few times along the way to look at windmills, long barrows and pretty villages. We also bumped in to our English acquaintances yet again at one of the windmill stops. They are doing a similar trip to us, but in a small motor camper, so they stop every few nights in a different place. At the Sodra Udde there is a large bird reserve with hides to watch from and nesting boxes up everywhere, as well as lots of people with long-lensed cameras and binoculars. We were able to see seals sunning themselves on the rocks in the sea. Although it was sunny, there was still a very chilly wind so we had to put our jackets on again. On the return journey, through smaller country roads, we came across a place called Eketorps Borg, where they have excavated and rebuilt an Iron Age Fort, so we stopped to have a look around there. It was quite interesting and very well done, you could easily see how people lived in those times. We got back to base about 5.00pm to have dinner in the sun and found that we had been invaded by a lot of the seasonal caravanners come just for the weekend, so it is not so quiet now.
Sat/Sun 5th/6th June - Saturday was a ‘down’ clearing up, shopping etc. ready for travelling Sunday.
We have now started our return journey and drove 185 miles in beautiful sunny weather from Oland to Rostanga, which is about half-way back across Sweden. Rostanga Camping was not very impressive as it had a pool which was full of kids when we arrived, however by about 5.00pm nearly everyone had left - obviously only there for the weekend - just us and 4 caravans left. We had dinner and sat outside in the sun with our drinks, then went for a stroll around the site.
Mon 7th June - Woke up to the inevitable pitter-patter of raindrops on the roof again, so the planned visit to the safari park is on hold at the moment. At least this site has wi-fi (free) so I am spending the morning catching up on emails and blog. We’ll see what happens later.
Well, it rained all day, so we did nothing useful, just played cards and Sol Suite.
Tues 8th June - A lovely sunny morning, we had fresh baked rolls for breakfast and then set off for the “zoo”. We found a beautiful church at Billinge on the way and stopped for a mosey around. All the graves were beautifully looked after, mainly gravel which had been raked in lovely straight lines with some vases on. Even the paths looked as if they had just been raked.
We met up with a husband and wife who were the gardeners and found out that they did all the raking every Friday. They asked if we wanted see inside the church, so unlocked it for us! It was not so ornate inside as some we have seen. Unfortunately, our camera batteries died so we have no pictures.
The “zoo” was a bit of a disappointment, very tired looking and run-down, as well as being full of school parties. It is billed as the biggest in Northern Europe and we were given tickets by the campsite, but would have cost £20 each to go in!!
On the way back we found a nice little B&B which did lunches, so had a late smorgasbord (open sandwiches) and coffees, costing about £12.00 and delicious. We also called in to the Tourist Office in Rostanga and had a long chat to the lady there and found out another couple of places to visit, hopefully tomorrow.
We even were able to sit out in the sun with our drinks after dinner until about 9.30pm, but it is still light at 10.30pm. Unfortunately, it also gets light again about 3.30am when the dawn chorus starts so our sweet dreams are very short at the moment.
Weds 9th June - Would you believe it….it is b….y raining again!! So as we speak, we have changed the sheets on the bed, tidied up, taken some photos off the camera, listened to Radio Kent and now I am typing, in the hopes that it might get nicer a bit later.
After lunch it dried up a bit so we went to Soderesens National Park, up to an area called the Copper Hat, which is apparently an extinct volcano. However, it was very misty and we could not see very much. Back down at the Tourist Office we had a look at some very nice paintings done by stroke patients, then walked for about an hour around the lake and through the woods. Back to base for the final dinner and tidy up and a little bit of sun.
Thurs 10th June - It was grey and damp when we got up, but we managed to pack up in the dry, just. We left about 10.00am and had only been travelling ½ hour when the rains came again and stayed with us all day. We drove 219 miles in the pouring rain along the motorway that was more like a river than anything else. We actually found Kolding City Camp fairly easily for a change, about 3.00pm, without use of the sat nav, but it was quite a disappointment, right on a dual carriageway, noisy road with lots of decrepit caravans around. Luckily it stopped raining just long enough for us to get the camper up and watertight, although we had quite a few wet cushions and curtains inside where the water had got in whilst we were driving. There were no food shops very close by, so we fell back on our tin of ‘Chicken Supreme + sweetcorn + potatoes’. Sometimes tins come in handy!!
Fri 11th June - Still raining, we are now soaked, but good old Pennine canvas hasn’t started leaking yet! We faffed around all morning, doing some washing and tumble-drying, cleaning shoes and other necessary bits and pieces. After lunch we braved the road (by going 5 miles out of our way to go right round a roundabout and back up the other side!) and the elements to find a Super Brugsen (like our Co-op) in order to get some dinner food. It is quite difficult to find suitable cuts of meat and green veg seems to be non-existent. If one likes sausages or meatballs you are OK. Anyway, we found 4 pork chops (£12) and a pack of mince (£8), so I managed to make a decent casserole for a change. We have now come almost to the end of our brandy/whisky, so we feel a French shopping trip coming as soon as we are close enough!
Sat 12th June- It actually stopped monsooning during the night when the winds arrived, so first thing this morning we had to attach some more guys to all our ’flappy bits’ .
We took a drive down the coast to Haderslev and back via Christansfeld as it was marked on the map as a scenic route. The towns are quite pretty and we had a look around the shops in between showers. We even bought some broccoli!!!- probably the first lot we have seen over here. Tonight will just have to be the other 2 chops roasted. It is still very windy and a bit showery, but hopefully things are looking up.
Sun 13th June - After a very windy night with not much sleep, we got up late, then had a long chat to an English gent who was living full-time in a small campervan, travelling and working in it. We eventually set off for ‘Legoland’ at Billund as it is the original park. The 45 minute drive was very pretty, through farmland along empty roads. We arrived about 12.00 and stayed there until gone 4.00pm - like big kids having a go at everything! As we have never been to Legoland in England, we have no idea how it compares.
We had a mixed grill lunch in the saloon in the Western area and listened to a country and western band called Rattlesnake, who were not too bad. It was an enjoyable, but very expensive day out - £70 to get in + £40 for lunch!!!! Ouch….I’ll just have to do some more days work to make up for it.
Tomorrow we plan to go in to Kolding City on the bus, so I am going to take my memory stick with me to see if we can find internet anywhere, as wi-fi is £1 for 10 minutes here on the camp-site.
Tues 15th June - Must have been the worst day of the holiday. We left Kolding at 10.00am in sunshine, then ½ hour later down the road realised our euros were still in the camper ! Luckily as we crossed the border in to Germany there was a pit-stop with a bank, so we changed our remaining Danish and Swedish Kroner in to euros and set off again. We stopped for lunch around 1.30 for a while with less than 100 miles to go. It was hot, there were lots of lorries and as we were towing we were not allowed to overtake. Then came the roadworks, mile after mile of them…eventually we found our turn off the motorway, followed the directions in the camp site book and got hopelessly lost. When we found somewhere to pull in, a nice German gent who had been following stopped as well and offered to help. He gave us directions back the way we had come, which we followed to the letter, even found the road with the camp site on it, only to find that it was closed due to the roadworks on the motorway above!!! So there we were down a very narrow lane doing a 20point turn with the camper on the back, down the ditch and in the hedgerow, to get back to the main road, with no clue as to where we were going to go next! After much shouting at each other, we decided to go back the way we had come about 20 miles, to Camping Hanseat, the camp-site we had stopped at on the way out, arriving around 5.30pm having driven 250 miles.
Were we pleased to get set up, have a cuppa and a shower and a good night’s sleep.
Weds 16th June - Sun is still shining, we got up late, had breakfast late, went to get diesel and some milk, came back and sat in the sun until it was time to walk around the corner to a nice restaurant who cooked dinner for me for a change. Came back to type up the blog and found that we could get the internet, so am trying to play catch-up with emails etc. once more.
Fri 18th June - I was not able to get logged on to blog the other evning, so have bought a 1 hour voucher here in Holland to do it.
We drove 258 miles yesterday in sunshine the whole way, arriving here at Otterlo (where we stayed on the outward journey) around 4.30pm. We aim to go to Belgium on Sunday and stay there until the ferry next Friday.
Sun 20th June - After another washout day on Saturday spent listening to all the Dutch people supporting their team playing against Japan in the World Cup and a short walk around the campsite, we got ready to move on again. Although it had rained most of the night, it was just about dry when we packed up and left around 9.30am. Another long drive - 248 miles - to Jabbeke in Belgium, Klein Strand campsite (our last stop) mainly in sunshine, arriving around 3.30pm. We were hot and tired, so just had a cup of tea, then a rest, then a shower and off to the restaurant for my birthday dinner, which even included a free drink courtesy of the campsite. I had the most enormous lasagne and Brian had 9 tiger prawns on a skewer with all the extra bits and pieces. It was very nice, as is the site, only criticism is that it is close to the motorway so somewhat noisy.
Mon 21st June - We did our usual chore morning and then after lunch wandered in to the town of Jabbeke, about 15 mins walk.
All the shops were shut as it was still lunchtime! Anyway we found the church, bus stop, supermarket and not much else so wandered back again. We still haven't got used to things closing on Sundays and at lunchtime, we are really spoilt at home.
Tues 22nd June - Walked in to town to catch the bus to Bruges, which took about 20mins. We walked our socks off around Bruges, looking at the market, town-hall, lots of churches and old houses. We had a half-hour boat trip which was really quite interesting, under all the little bridges along the canals. Lunch was typical Belgian - waffles, fruit and ice-cream taken out on the street in the sun, unfortunately very expensive though. It was a beautiful hot sunny day and our wet jackets stayed in our bags all day. We got back to the site around 4.30 absolutely exhausted, so dinner was only ham salad and then we carried on sitting out in the sun.
Weds 23rd June - A hot sunny day again, when I spent most of my time trying to find a shady spot. This is a very well laid out camp site, pitches have a low hedge around each one and are quite large, so no encroaching on neighbours, but not much in the way of shade. We took the car in to Jabbeke to buy wine etc. rather than drive down in to France as the prices were very similar. There are a lot of English people here either just come off a ferry or like us spending a few days before going home. There was obviously an English football match on today as all the flags were out and much shouting. We learned that England had won, but do not know who they were playing!
Thurs 24th June - Well folks, that's it for now....time to go home...just the packing up to do today and chat to some of the friends we have made here. Tomorrow is 'ferry day'....the last 7 weeks have gone so quickly, but we have had a wonderful time even with the awful weather.
If anyone wants any more information about anywhere we have stayed, we will try to review all the sites when we are at home, but feel free to email us with any questions.
We have now been back at home a week and it is as if we have never been away. For those of you interested in doing a similar trip, here are some facts which may be useful to you.
We drove 2800 miles of which 2200 were towing and our car returned 43 mpg overall.
We spent £325 on diesel, £600 on food and meals out, £600 on campsite fees and £360 on ferries and tolls.
We have a spreadsheet of all the campsites and breakdown of costs - if anyone would like a copy please email us.
