Tuesday 1st November - Home

We heard this morning on BBC Radio 4 Long Wave that there had been a serious accident on the M25 and that they had closed a section of the motorway to resurface it. The queues were 27 miles long and it was on our route. The problem was confirmed by an announcement by the ferry captain who told us that the M25 clockwise was a “no-go area”. We set off on the M20 joining the M26 and eventually the M25 by which time local radio was saying that the queues had reduced although the delay was still two hours. We stopped briefly at the near-deserted services before leaving the M25 at junction 5.

Travelling on the pre-motorway route of the A25 made us appreciate how much time the M25 saves, when it is open. It was very slow but we eventually reached the M3 at Hook and the rest of the journey to Somerset was uneventful.

We joined out friends Ann & Nick and Les & Les for a meal at a local pub with real English beer. What a lovely way to end another great holiday.

Photos: None.

Monday 31st October – Licques, France

When we walked around the Hondshoote yesterday, we found a tourist information board that showed the surrounding area and we realised that an interesting town, Berques, would be on our route today. The map showed it as a walled and moated town but we didn't know anything about it.

At the edge of the town we stumbled on an aire that was not in our 'All the Aires of France' book. There were no motorhome facilities other that the ability to park for up to 48 hours but the parking area is next to the moat and walls, an excellent position to investigate the town. When we walked in we discovered that we had timed our visit for the day of the large Monday market. It was mostly clothes, household goods and fruit and veg stalls but there were a number of cheese and meat stalls, most of which had long queues. There were at least three stalls dedicated to horse meat and associated products. We saw some French parents slicing off some horse sausage and feeding it to their young daughter – can you imagine the reaction of a British child? We bought some excellent local cheeses from a cheese shop and then moved on to see the ruins of the 17^th century Abbey of Saint Winoc. At 11:00 the Berques bell tower started ringing a tune. At ten past eleven it was still playing and we thought that anyone who lived near the tower must curse if they played the bells like this every hour. When we arrived at the bell tower, which also housed the tourist information office, the bells were still playing and I had to ask for more information about it. Apparently it chimes on every quarter but only a simple chime. On Mondays at 11:00 a bell-ringer comes and plays a series of well-known tunes for an hour and we just happened to be there at that time. So, if you are in the area on a Monday morning, pay a visit to Berques.

The rest of the day was spent in shopping, first at Majestic Wine in Calais and then on to Carrefour in the Cite d'Europe. Lots of wine, beer and French delicacies are now stored in Henrietta.

We drove on to Licques and the Pommiers des Trois Pays campsite and settled in for the night.

Photos: The walls of Berques; The bell tower rises above the market.

Sunday 30th October – Hondshoote, France

This aire is a haven of peace compared to Gent and we had an excellent night's sleep. It was overcast but dry in the morning so we decided to investigate the area. First on the list was the windmill next to the aire, which turned out to be a modern (1993) reconstruction of the Spinnewyn Mill that dated back to some time before the 18^th century. We then walked into the town wandering around the centre and then out to another windmill on the other side of the town. The Noordmeulen Mill may be the oldest mill in Europe, according to the information board. This is based on the fact that they found a beam in the mill with the date 1127 carved on it. Perhaps they should use dendrochronology to confirm the date of the beam. Anyway it is a very impressive windmill. We were amused that we were staying in a French village with two windmills when, despite seeing many lovely windmills when we were driving, we didn't manage to get a close-up look at any Dutch windmill.

We thought that we might move on to a campsite today but the aire was good and tempted us to stay another night.

Photos: Hondshoote's Town Hall – ghosts, warlocks and witches were streaming out of here when I passed it last night. It was very frightening, although I suspect that it might have been a children's early Halloween party!; The Noordmeulen Mill.

Saturday 29th October - Hondshoote, France

The motorhome parking area is almost directly below an elevated section of a busy motorway and the noise during the night was continuous. This was not conducive to a good night's sleep and we decided not to stay a second night. However we didn't have to leave until later in the afternoon so that gave us time for another trip into Gent's old town.

Our main target was the Castle of the Counts that we had passed but not visited yesterday. It also gave us the opportunity to wander through more of the streets not covered by the tourist information trail.

The castle, once hidden behind a mass of mediaeval houses, has been fully restored and the tour allows exploration of the whole building. It is a very strategic position at the heart of the city and the confluence of the rivers Scheldt and Leie. Some of the rooms are dedicated to instruments of torture used in the castle and elsewhere but on a brighter note, the views of Gent from the walls are very good.

Emerging from the castle we had a beer sat outside at a small bar in the square that sold a variety of Belgian beers and, rather surprisingly, Mythos a Greek beer. Talking to the owner it became apparent that he is a Greekophile and has a house in Crete that he visits regularly. Pictures, road signs and other Greek memorabilia adorn the bar – ouzo and retsina are also available!

Next stop was a small café for our last opportunity for chips with mayonnaise, although I must admit that I have bought some Dutch mayonnaise so that we will be able to have the odd treat at home.

On then to France, just. Hondshoote is only a handful of kilometres from the Belgium border and here we found an aire in a much quieter position than the one in Gentbrugge. I walked into the town centre to find a supermarket for bread, eggs and pasta before we decided to have just bread and cheese for tea – those chips with mayonnaise were very filling.

Photos: The Castle of the Counts; The fish market square as seen from the castle; The Belgian beer was excellent!

Friday 28th October – Gent, Holland

The map showed a long tunnel to take under the tidal inlet of Westerschelde and given that this saved us a long trip round via Antwerp, this is the option that we chose. We were somewhat taken aback when we found out the price – a car and caravan was €7.30 but a motorhome was €17.85, the same price as a lorry. I find it very difficult to justify the difference – does a 3.5 tonne motorhome damage the road more than a car and caravan? It was however an impressive tunnel – 6.6 km (4.1 miles) of it.

We were soon at the Gentbrugge park and ride identified in our German Stellplatz book. There are no motorhome facilities here, only a place to park over night but it is ideally positioned for visiting the centre of Gent. Luckily a Belgian couple had arrived just before us and greeted us when we got out of the van. They were able to tell us that tram 22 would take us into the centre and explained where the historic centre was in relation to the Kouter tram terminus. Equally important, they told us that ticket machines were available at the tram stop.

After a quick bite to eat, we caught a tram and walked up an up-market shopping street to the old town. The Tourist Information Office staff were very helpful, providing us with a map of the city and a walking trail leaflet that described the major sights of the old town. We followed the trail and enjoyed the architectural gems. The walk was well designed with built-in surprises such as walking around a corner to find the 12^th century Castle of the Counts towering over a square in the middle of the city. Another memorable site was the beautiful buildings on Graslei, Gents first trading port.

When we visited St. Nicholas' Church we found a soprano and a violinist practising for a concert and it was great to be able to listen to them, accompanied by an organ in the lovely setting and excellent acoustics of the church.

We really enjoyed the city and decided that, proving the weather was good, we would come back in tomorrow.

Photos: Two views of Graslei Street.

Thursday 27th October - Oostkapelle, Holland

Moving on south towards Gent we decided to take a look at some of the more remote parts in the South-West of Holland. This meant taking the motorway past The Hague, Delft and Rotterdam and we were amazed at the size of Rotterdam's port and industrial areas. The petrochemical works are enormous and densely packed and we only saw part of it. Beyond where we turned off there were miles more of port and industry including the massive 'Europoort' area.

As we crossed to the area known as Overflakkee we had our first sight of the 'Deltaplan' a massive flood prevention scheme created after the disastrous floods of 1953 that killed nearly 2,000 people and flooded 150,000 hectares of land (see http://www.deltawerken.com/Deltaworks/23.html for details of the scheme). We drove over the Haingvliet Dam and sluices and a short drive across a peninsular brought us to the Brouwersdam. The main road was below the dikes and we couldn't see the sea but I noticed a sign to the North Sea Road and decided to follow it. Immediately we came to a vast area of beach with lots of people and all sorts of activities going on. We parked up and went to investigate. Families were flying kites, a group of land yachts (three-wheeled karts with a sail) were completing a circuit and parakarts (three-wheeled karts powered by the driver flying a large kite) whizzed past us at great speed. Meanwhile many people such as us watched the fun.

After crossing another peninsular (originally an island) we came to one of the main installations of the Deltaplan – the storm surge barrier of Oosterschelde. Rather than a dike or dam, this is a 3 km long series of sluice gates, 65 of them, each 40 metres long. The tides are allowed to flow through the barrier but it is closed during storms and extra-high tides. Completed in 1986, it cost over 2.5 billion Euros – a vast amount of money at that time. It is a very impressive feat of engineering and it was great to see the tide rushing in through the barrier as we drove over it.

We headed for Oostkapelle where we had identified a stelleplatz and found that there were three farms next to each other offering 'Mini Camping' as the Dutch call aires or stellplatzen. We found the one that we had selected, Pomona and parked up. At €12 per night and with electricity, toilets and showers, it was good value.

Photos: Land yachts with parakarts in the background.

Wednesday 26th October - Noordwijkerhout, Holland

We were told that the forecast for today was better but it was grey and overcast over breakfast and it was soon raining again. As I write this in mid morning, it is definitely getting brighter and it hasn't rained for some time so we hope that we will be able to walk later as planned.

We set off in the late morning walking the short distance to the path into the woods. There is a very wide area of sand dunes here, a natural barrier that protects the land from flooding – our campsite is a few metres below sea level. We struck out in the direction of the sea and after crossing many dunes we walked up a final high dune to be faced by the sea and a very long stretch of beach. This is obviously very popular for bathing in the Summer but there were also plenty of people here now, walking, riding horses or cycling.

We walked into a strong breeze all along the beach until we reached the large resort of Noordwijk. We had been told that there was a Chinese restaurant here and we soon found it. Their special lunch menu was Nasi Goreng so we headed on in and ordered it. It wasn't the Indonesian Nasi Goreng that we remembered but it was very good and the pot of China tea went down very well with it.

After buying a selection of Dutch cheese from a very good cheese shop in the town, we walked back on the land side of the dunes. A very pleasant walk and excellent lunch.

Photos: The beach at Noordwijk.