taraabit

Tuesday 31st May 2022.

We made a swift journey of 100 miles on the motorway today to reach Bourtange. Several years ago whilst flicking through the TV channels we caught a few minutes of a programme showing Bourtange from the air. It looked amazing, when we were looking for places of interest for this trip we stumbled across its location on the Dutch- German border.We decided to try and fit it into our schedule.

Bourtange is a village with a population of 430, it was built in 1593 during the Dutch revolt and used until 1851.Strategically surrounded by a marshy moat with sturdy fortifications it was built for defence against the Spaniards, it’s unique shape made it difficult to attack. It was built at the request of William 1st of Orange to control the road to Groningen.

It is now restored to how it was in the mid 1800’s between 1967 and 1992 and is currently an open air museum with certain buildings set aside to show life in the past, the other properties are occupied by normal tenants .

We left Bourtange and after topping up with LPG at local petrol station we made our way over the border to Haren in Germany, Homer has returned to his birthplace, tonight’s stellplatz is next to the River Ems and large boats are passing in front of us.

The local town is brand new with not an old building in sight, I assume completely rebuilt after the Second World War.

Monday 30th May 2022

We drove approx 50 miles north today, I asked Michelle to plot a route that didn’t use motorways, which she did using the sat nav.Well it was entertaining to say the least, we took a mixture of A/B/C class roads through small villages and towns but we also were directed through trading estates, housing estates and i’m sure several back gardens. Michelle was a nervous wreck by the time we arrived.

Herrenveer Yachthaven is another pleasant well organised motorhome stopover with 15 pitches, when we arrived at midday there were four empty pitches, by 12.30 the site was full. When we booked in the harbourmaster gave us a tourist map showing the route to town which we followed on our walk into town after lunch.It was 2.5km each way and with all the extra walking around we did over 5 miles again today.

The town has a mixture of old buildings and ultra modern ones, it obviously supports a tourist industry but on a Monday afternoon out of high season there wasn’t much evidence of that. In the old town there were a lot of street cafes/restaurants and they had moored up floating platforms with tables and chairs to increase their space.

Towering high above the town was a church steeple which we managed to find our way to, it wasn’t open unfortunately, or not, dependant on if you have to wait outside with a dog.

Wether as a result of all the walking we have done over the past three days or a flare up of rheumatism, my left ankle has swollen up and is quite painful. It’s strapped up at the moment but what ever happens it’s being used tomorrow as we hope to visit a special place I’ve wanted to go to for some time.

Saturday 28th&Sunday 29th May 2022

We have spent two days as tourists walking on average over 5 miles a day split reasonably equally by walking around the village and canals of Giethoorn itself and around the lakes and nature reserve over the main canal from Giethoorn. Giethoorn is described as a little Venice which I can understand, we in the UK would also think of the Norfolk Broads.

It’s evident as you walk around that this is a wealthy area houses are large and individually designed, it has made us smile to see how many lawns are being mowed by robot lawnmowers with no owner in sight.

Around the lakes there is a different feel, the landscape is more open, again many boats of differing kinds, some must cost a million pounds or more, and of course wildlife.

Friday 27th May 2022

We are staying for the weekend at Jachthaven Kuiper at Giethoorn. As the title suggests it’s a yacht harbour on the edge of a large lake and network of canals.It is a national holiday weekend so we have chosen to stay here for the weekend rather than worry about getting on a camp site elsewhere. Also today is our wedding anniversary and we didn’t want to spend it travelling all day.

It’s a very attractive site not too expensive to stay but it has to us, a weird system of accessing everything wether your a yachter or camper.You have to obtain a card which you load with euros and everything on site has a pad which you have to swipe to make it work ie the shower, water tap, electric hook up etc etc, it takes some getting used to.

Giethoorn itself is an attractive place known as “The Venice of the North”the houses, shops, restaurants etc are interspersed with a network of canals and there is a thriving boat hire industry here. We had a short walk around this afternoon but will explore properly tomorrow and take more photos.

First thing this morning we went to a shopping centre to access a supermarket to top up with a few things, you had to pay on the car park. The machines will not accept our cards, we have had this problem at other car parks this week and there’s no system for paying with coins. Thankfully today a kind man used his card and I gave him the cash. The one main supermarket chain Albert Heijn we use also doesn’t accept our cards so it’s cash only.

Thursday 26th May 2022

The wind died down overnight and this morning we made a swift journey north skirting Haarlem and Amsterdam to reach Zaanze Schans at Zaandam.

Zaanze Schans is a museum of buildings and windmills brought together from different places in Holland, it was free to enter and wander around although there was a small entry fee to go in those windmills open to the public. Some shops were being used to sell refreshments but everything was low key and not expensive.

After leaving this entertaining place we drove to the outskirts of Edam to “ Cheese and Clogs” where a a large variety of differing Edam cheeses are made and clogs for tourists manufactured.

As we walked in a coach party of Egyptians arrived, all of whom spoke English, the guide asked if we would join them for a guided tour/ demonstration. There was also a French couple there who didn’t speak English but they just had to put up with it. The two demonstrators/ guides were very entertaing and the man asked the coach party if they knew the song “ Walk Like an Egyptian” we laughed but of course the Egyptians didn’t understand.

There were loads of clogs for sale ranging from 20 euros for a very basic pair to 70 euros, there was free cheese tasting from the range they made. Young, medium and aged, smoked, and ones flavoured with garlic, chilli pepper, cumin, mustard, beer, whisky, cannabis, and nettle which we bought.

We wanted to drive into Edam and have a walk around, sadly there were virtually no car parks and non large enough to take Homer so we drove on to tonight’s stopover Strand Houtribhoek outside Lelystad. Unfortunately as the day went on the wind began to blow harder and harder which made the last part of the journey quite difficult as we drove across the Markerwaardijk or Houtribdijk which is 30 km long and very exposed to the cross wind. As we sit here the wind is buffeting Homer.

Wednesday 25th May 2022

Tonight we are staying on a motorhome stopover on a farm called December Houeve, strange name but only 14 euros a night.

This morning started bright and sunny and we did a quick trip to the local Lidl before heading north. We have only spent a brief time in Zeeland/ South Holland and will definitely return again to explore more. It’s a very agricultural region with fields full of crops and not livestock. We headed north on the motorway system, they are very busy and we seemed to cross numerous bridges and drive through lots of tunnels, it’s one of those move on days.

We are in what is supposed to be “ tulip country” we haven’t seen any growing anywhere but it is the end of the season, there were however some for sale in the automated farm shop.

We are not really near a town worth walking to but there s a leisure lake approx a mile from site with a beach and cafe restaurant that we took a walk to this afternoon. It wasn’t an easy walk as the wind was gusting over 20 mph, at one point we literally came to a standstill leaning into the wind.

As we walked back, there are no footpaths you have to take your life in your hands and use the cycle paths which are also used by scooters and mopeds, I spotted in the grass alongside the track an iphone that someone had dropped. There were loads of teenagers returning from high school so I can only assume it was one of them that dropped it. It’s locked of course and although it has burst into life a few times with phone calls we can’t answer them. Google has shown a police station a few kilometres away so I will take it there tomorrow morning as we head on north.

It rained overnight until about 9 am so we didn’t rush off this morning. Our first stop was Vlissingen a large town about 10 miles away, we managed to park on the cinema car park quite close to the town centre and walk in.It is on the coast so celebrates its maritime connection as well as being very cosmopolitan, there are a great number of restaurants from every continent, my friend Arthur would have enjoyed trying them out.

Tuesday 24th May 2022

After lunch in Homer we drove along the coast to the seaside town of Zoutelande, our two German friends regularly holiday there so we had to go and see it. It was a very lively little resort with a busy market through the streets and a wonderful stretch of beach.

We’ve driven quite a few miles over the past two days so we decided to shorten todays drive and chose a motorhome stopover at Zierikzee which is on the island above where we spent the past 24 hours.

To get to Zierikzee we had to cross the Zeelandbrug a connecting bridge 3.3 miles long, thankfully it wasn’t a toll bridge.

Tonight’s stopover Camperplaats De Zandweg is a purpose built motorhome stopover with full facilities, it’s not manned you just pay at the machine on entry, 17.50 euros including tourist tax. It is approx a mile from Zierikzee and we walked into town after our evening meal, it appears all shops close at the end of the afternoon but there were bars and restaurants open. Again it was fascinating to walk around with some amazing buildings and an attractive canal surrounding the town.

Monday 23rd May 2022.

It has rained virtually all day, quite heavily at times.

We started off this morning by driving to a motor parts centre on the outskirts of Dunkirk called Carter- Cash. It was like a large Halfords, using my limited French, sign language and one assistant using Google translate I managed to get a replacement tyre fitted. They weren’t insured to fit wheels to heavy vehicles so it remains as a spare. It cost 82 euros which I thought was reasonable for a large tyre.

Today had always been earmarked as a day to drive from Dunkirk to Middleburg here in Holland via Belgium. We have driven the autoroute many times and as we weren’t in a rush we decided to use A roads across the north of Belgium going through places such as Oostende and Zeebrugge. I’m glad we didn’t use the autoroute, the spray and water lying on the normal roads was bad enough to deal with, finding somewhere to park for lunch was a nightmare and eventually I pulled over by the side of a road in a town. Funnily a few miles down the road when we crossed over the border into Holland there were regular lay byes.

Zeeland is a peninsular above Antwerp and to get here we had to drive through a 6.5 kilometre tunnel at a cost of 7.5 euros, at least it was dry inside the tunnel😊

We are staying for the night at Mini Camping De Vlaschaard, it’s 18 euros for the night with full services plus 3.6 euros tourist tax payable by everyone.

After our evening meal we walked the 1.5 miles into Middleburg, the rain had now slowed to a drizzle, the town was a pleasant mixture of old and new and we would certainly return.

Sunday 22nd May 2022

We set off from home at 7 am giving ourselves more than adequate time to drive the 220 miles to Dover to catch the 2.40 pm ferry to Calais. We had only been driving 40 minutes and had joined the M40 when we found it was closed southbound and we were diverted off to take a scenic route that criss crossed the motorway and eventually allowed us back on.

Driving in Homer is a noisy experience with road surface noise being quite loud, however as we progressed around the M25 we seemed to be experienced vibration from the locker that houses the water tank. We stopped at the services and examined it and padded out the lid but it didn’t seem to help.

Suddenly 20 miles north of Dover there was a loud bang and the rear of Homer began to shake, I pulled over onto the hard shoulder ( thankfully there was one) and buffeted by the constant traffic going past we discovered the rear offside tyre had blown. I contacted the RAC and with the aid of WHAT THREE WORDS app pinpointed our position and arranged for help to change the wheel. Thankfully ( a weird premonition) I had paid for a new tyre to be put on the spare two weeks ago.

Ten minutes after he arrived we were ready to depart, great service I have to say from the RAC. We made it to Dover with about 30 minutes to spare so it was a good job we left early. The ferry was pretty empty and it was very quiet onboard. It was only a short ride to where we are staying tonight and thankfully there was plenty of space. A quick Google has revealed three tyre depots in the vicinity so we know what we will be doing tomorrow morning.

It’s 7.45 pm pleasantly warm so we are off to have a walk around Gravelines which is a town surrounded by a fortified wall and moat.

The past 10 days have been a mixed bag re weather and certainly a mixed range of activities. We have had two days where it rained heavily, that makes a total of 3 days in the 25 days we have been here, shouldn’t complain I suppose😊🌅We have eaten outside most days, lunch and evening meal and it’s been warm enough to sit out until at least 8 pm most evenings as it is as I write this blog.

One curious thing that has been happening since we arrived is that fibre optic cabling is being laid along the lanes around us, and past our house, we are in the middle of nowhere but the underground cables go on and on for miles deeper into the countryside. So who knows we may have 5g capability next time we arrive, we need something as the wifi signal is quite poor.

On Saturday we visited the market at Ste Foy Le Grande, and from there onto an agricultural equipment centre to re place my stolen jockey wheel for the trailer, we then popped into a garden centre and bought a few conifers to fill in a gap in our hedge. Peter and Alison were with us and they bought an olive tree to take home. It was a very wet morning out.

Sunday was another wet day we went as a foursome to two vide greniers but due to the weather there weren’t many stalls, we bought a few things and Peter bought a piece of South African pottery with a giraffe on it that was interesting.

Over the past two years a pine tree that was growing at the top of drive next to the gates had begun to lean in an alarming manner, I had on two occasions cut off a large number of branches to reduce its canopy but it was still leaning more. I took advantage of Peter and Alison’s company to help me to lop off the top of the tree. They were on rope pulling duty whilst I was up the ladder with the chain saw, thankfully when it fell it missed the gates.

Since I’ve had the house, 31 years now, we have always relied on a wall gas heater to heat the water for washing up in the kitchen, this meant keeping at least two bottles of gas handy and the price of these has shot up over the past two years. So I took the decision to take out the heater and connect the kitchen to the water system that feeds both bathrooms and the utility, the hot water for this comes from a large immersion heater. It took about 5 hours, there were initially a few leaks but a quick tighten up of a few joints soon cured that and now it’s working very well.

Michelle has worked extremely hard since we arrived, she has re emulsioned the four bedrooms, the small lounge, the kitchen, utility room and the main bathroom, she has also revarnished the floors in the two original bedrooms. It’s all looking clean and fresh.

Peter and Alison have a very nice swimming pool, they identified the need for a new pool cover just before Covid caused us all problems. Sadly during the time we weren’t able to visit due to Covid the cover continued to decline and so they had to order a new one, we gave them hand to fit the new cover when it eventually arrived via a French delivery service.

As is the norm at the end of our visit we had to take Layla to the vets to get her pet passport completed, as we had further difficulties travelling here due to a date not being acceptable. I explained this to the vet and thankfully he agreed to issue a new passport at no extra cost, hopefully this time it will work, in four years Layla has got through four passports.

To end on an amusing note. Last November we received a letter from the Marie telling us they were going to issue us with a house number and street name, it hasn’t needed one for 150 years, the postman never had any difficulty in knowing which of the two houses in our petit hameau to deliver to, in fact we haven’t a post box so all mail goes to my neighbour ( if you aren’t here to open the box the snails eat your post, a variation of snail mail😁). Any way our neighbour kindly collected our number for us and when she gave it us I dutifully fixed it to the gate post ( not many other people appear to have bothered) later that day Michelle was looking at some paper work from the vets and informed me I had given the vet the wrong house number. When I showed her the letter from the Marie she said it wasn’t the number I’d fixed to the gate post. It turns out that my neighbour had given me her number😂 what is bizarre is that the numbers aren’t sequential, there must be a system but I’m not sure what it is.

Sadly it’s our last night, tomorrow the long trek home so it will be au revoir until August.