We have had a few days of glorious weather in Somerset – it felt like Summer but it is only early April. The grass has been cut, weeds extracted, runner beans and courgette seeds planted and copious rhubarb sticks pulled and distributed to friends. We are ready!
We woke at 06:45 to find the skies overcast and the temperature lower – it must be time to leave for warmer climes. By 08:30, the last minute packing had been transported to Henrietta and I climbed into the driver's seat next to co-pilot Jane.
The weather forecast said that the cloud was spreading from the West and travelling through Wiltshire we outran it and had sunshine all of the way to Dover. It was great to be behind the wheel of Henrietta again and the journey went easily with only a small delay on the M26 where drivers on our eastbound carriageway were slowing down to view the accident on the westbound carriageway. We felt very sorry for the people in the 10 mile westbound queue, many of whom were wandering around on the road. It was noticeable that all of the motorhomers in the queue had their front seats rotated and were probably enjoying a cuppa. I have always thought that the enterprising thing to do under those circumstances would be to sell drinks from the van!
We travelled on the 14:20 Sea France crossing and were in Calais 90 minutes later after a very smooth crossing. Despite the lovely weather, it was freezing out on deck and the constitutional was done at pace.
Our plan for this sojourn is to visit Greece and, given the distance involved, we are going to make a fairly speedy (by our standards) journey down to Ancona to catch the ferry. We have often travelled to the south of France to get to Italy so this time we decided to try a different route. We have not visited Belgium or Luxembourg in Henrietta and we wanted to correct this anomaly. Travelling north on the E40 we crossed into Belgium and stopped at the Klein Strand campsite in Jabbeke, just a few kilometres from Bruges. This turned out to be a huge site with many permanent pitches but also plenty of touring pitches. Klein Strand has 3 restaurants, a supermarket, a lake for fishing, swimming and watersports and excellent facilities for children. It took Jane 25 minutes to book in – we had stopped at a second entrance and it was a long walk to the main reception. I was just about to send out the search party when she returned.
The pitch was good and we sat out to enjoy the last rays of the lovely warm sun. After dinner, the wind got up and the rain started. We went to sleep with sound of rain on the roof and the van gently rocking in the wind. Great motorhome memories.
Photos: Some serious rowing was going to be done somewhere on the continent; One of the many permanent pitches at Klein Strand – this one had a gnome (oh dear) and a shed named T' Zumernest' - could almost be in our native Somerset (or should I say Zummerzet?).
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