Benelux

Netherlands, Belgium and Luxembourg

Saddle sore and sunburnt…

Posted by on 3, Jul 2013 in 2013 - Cycling from Med to Atlantic, Benelux, Europe, Western Europe | 0 comments

Saddle sore and sunburnt…

When we usually set off instead of the excitement of getting on our way we usually have a couple of days of being absolutely exhausted, so we’ve learnt to allow for this (3 days this year as we’re grandparents) and head from the Hook of Holland straight to Klein Amerika car park in the centre of Gouda and chill out on cheese fondue, champagne sundaes and chips ( not together, though that does sound scrummy) We happily filled up with diesel en route at the bargain price of £1.10 and navigated the roadworks in Gouda to arrive at a disaster zone reminiscent of a world war 2 bomb...

Read More

They think it’s all over….

Posted by on 17, Oct 2012 in 2012 - The Last Dictator Tour (Belarus & Russia), Benelux, Germany | 0 comments

They think it’s all over….

1000 km for the trip Lubbenau Spreewald Festival And in the knick of time Potsdam Malbork – the largest castle in the world Welcome home from Tilly! I always feel a bit of anti climax when we return to the EU, whereas Linda feels relief but I have to say I wasn’t sorry to see the back of Kaliningrad. After a smooth border crossing we headed to Malbork in Poland, another UNESCO World heritage site and allegedly the largest castle in the world. It’s remarkable and the camp site was on the river bank opposite – perfect for a couple of days R&R. We seemed to have caught the culture bug...

Read More

Last year it was strimmers, this it’s festivals!

Posted by on 10, Jul 2012 in 2012 - The Last Dictator Tour (Belarus & Russia), Benelux | 0 comments

Last year it was strimmers, this it’s festivals!

Last year we seemed to be followed around by a man with a strimmer who, at about 7am every morning would start strimming right outside the van. We’re not sure if it was the same man and we had somehow acquired the weirdest stalker of all time or we were unlucky, but this year we seem to be following the hippy trail! You may recall that we had decided to head to Gorinchem to repack and have a rest as it really is a lovely small town and the camperplaats is right on the Harbour. Well the weekend we arrived the place was full of VW camper vans – not the camperplaats but the whole town. There...

Read More

Things come in Threes

Posted by on 5, Jul 2012 in 2012 - The Last Dictator Tour (Belarus & Russia), Benelux | 0 comments

Things come in Threes

Linda always reckons that things happen in threes, I’ve never been a great believer the old wives tales myself but I’m hoping she’s right this time. After the batteries packed up we then found the alternator had stopped charging them too and after this the diesel cooker control broke! That’s our three we hope and we actually sorted all these things out in one day! We had arranged to collect the batteries in Gouda and managed to find an MAN dealer nearby who kindly set one of his mechanics onto Taffy immediately despite being really busy and sort the alternator problem (it was a fuse!) Next...

Read More

That was the week that was…

Posted by on 29, Jun 2012 in 2012 - The Last Dictator Tour (Belarus & Russia), Benelux | 0 comments

That was the week that was…

Well, we’re home (again) only this time we are really back in the uk, though not actually at home home as we’ve rented the house out and can’t go home… So we’re at Jon’s parents in Sudbourne. But why you ask, surely that’s in the opposite direction to Russia and Linda’s map reading is not that bad? Well yes, but on Tuesday we became grandparents for the first time, checked the weather for the next week and thought we’d rather pop home for a few days and see Ben, Toni and Matilda – our new Granddaughter – than sit in the rain and wind in Germany. That’s when the trouble began…. Taffy, in a...

Read More

Getting excited about the quarter finals….

Posted by on 24, Jun 2012 in 2012 - The Last Dictator Tour (Belarus & Russia), Benelux | 0 comments

Written off by the press, avoided Spain it seems like a great opportunity to make the semis. It’s raining here today so do we venture to town on our bike to find somewhere to watch it?

Read More