Holland here we come (1 Viewer)

[MR BLO]

It’s been 4 long years since we have taken the van across the water to Europe, but the wait will soon be over as we are heading off to Holland for a week tomorrow night.

Van is mostly packed, bikes are on the back, UK sticker on the number plate and my email out of office has been set. All I have to do now is drop the ponies off at the pony kennels, leave some instructions for mum to look after Doris the cat….oh and now drop Kelly off at the hospital in the morning for a quick procedure before picking her up in the afternoon once the GA has worn off (fingers crossed). And then it’s off to Dover for a chippy tea. Yippee.

The plan, if you can call it a plan, is to turn left at Calais, see some windmills, eat some waffles, cheese, chips and mayonnaise (not necessarily in that order) and generally just chill out (without the aid of those « special » Dutch cafes of course). We have booked our first night at Delft and we will see where the wind, or rain, takes us for the remainder.

From what little research that I have done The Netherlands does not appear to be as MoHo friendly with regards to aires as France, especially when comparing the cost and locale (& several that I looked at wanted 7 days in August) but that is all part of the fun and at least the cycling should be easy on the legs.

Photos anon. Quite excited really.

 

[Holly's mum]

I can tell you are excited
Once you have done this bit, "my email out of office has been set", the holiday has started!
Have a fabulous time.

 

[Grianan]

Have a great time! Check out marinas for ‘aires’.

 

[scousebird]

Have a great trip.

 

[brysee]

Don't forget the bitterballen with your beers and thr local weed with your coffee
I love the Netherlands and am very jealous have fun

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[lorger]

Have fun and don't forget to post loads of photos of your trip.

 

[Landy Andy]

We went in Easter. Check out the Zealand’s. We stopped there at aires, and then returned to the area after too as was so nice. Great cycling and picturesque villages on the waters edge. Ask if any more info required.

 

[MR BLO]

Parked up for the night on Dover promenade looking across the harbour with our chippy tea…….

….well that was the plan but instead we are having a chippy tea looking at the view of Worcestershire Beacon (admittedly you will have to zoom in to the gap in the trees to see it ) from our decking. Kelly wasn’t allowed out of hospital until 6pm and feeling pretty grotty. Not fair to sling her in the van straight off the bat and not to worry we will get to Holland, it will just be 24hr late. Only £20 to change our booking. Smashing!
Will play it by ear in the morning but all being well with Kell should hopefully get away sometime tomorrow morning with a view to stop by Windsor or similar for a spot of afternoon tea.

 

[Grianan]

Hope Kelly back to full fitness tomorrow and Holland beckons

 

[scousebird]

I hope Kelly's feeling better this morning and you can get away.

BTW it's now £10 to park overnight on Dover prom and MHs are banned during the day, shame as we regularly used to park down there and go for a walk and a coffee

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[Wanders from Glos]

Hope she feels better soon and you get away

 

[MR BLO]

Note to self, NEVER drive to Dover on a Friday. Over 7 hours. Had meant to go to Canterbury for the afternoon but traffic carnage and chaos conspired against us so we tacked to starboard and headed for Dover instead.
Stopped on the seafront and had a mooch. Kent is an area that I do not know well. We must have a look one day. Some of the history looks amazing, Dover castle especially.

Anyway we are off at last.

 

[claude et maude]

Note to self, NEVER drive to Dover on a Friday. Over 7 hours. Had meant to go to Canterbury for the afternoon but traffic carnage and chaos conspired against us so we tacked to starboard and headed for Dover instead.
Stopped on the seafront and had a mooch. Kent is an area that I do not know well. We must have a look one day. Some of the history looks amazing, Dover castle especially.
View attachment 793928
View attachment 793929
Anyway we are off at last.
View attachment 793930

If you want to see a great castle in Kent and amazing grounds then stop off half way down the M20 at Leeds Castle, it’s the one castle I never get tired of visiting.

 

[MR BLO]

If you want to see a great castle in Kent and amazing grounds then stop off half way down the M20 at Leeds Castle, it’s the one castle I never get tired of visiting.

Definitely on the Kent bucket list claude et maude

 

[Holly's mum]

If you want to see a great castle in Kent and amazing grounds then stop off half way down the M20 at Leeds Castle, it’s the one castle I never get tired of visiting.

Ditto that, I love Leeds Castle.

Dover Castle is good too.

Looking forward to more updates from your trip MR BLO

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[TrudeandDall]

It’s been 4 long years since we have taken the van across the water to Europe, but the wait will soon be over as we are heading off to Holland for a week tomorrow night.

Van is mostly packed, bikes are on the back, UK sticker on the number plate and my email out of office has been set. All I have to do now is drop the ponies off at the pony kennels, leave some instructions for mum to look after Doris the cat….oh and now drop Kelly off at the hospital in the morning for a quick procedure before picking her up in the afternoon once the GA has worn off (fingers crossed). And then it’s off to Dover for a chippy tea. Yippee.

The plan, if you can call it a plan, is to turn left at Calais, see some windmills, eat some waffles, cheese, chips and mayonnaise (not necessarily in that order) and generally just chill out (without the aid of those « special » Dutch cafes of course). We have booked our first night at Delft and we will see where the wind, or rain, takes us for the remainder.

From what little research that I have done The Netherlands does not appear to be as MoHo friendly with regards to aires as France, especially when comparing the cost and locale (& several that I looked at wanted 7 days in August) but that is all part of the fun and at least the cycling should be easy on the legs.

Photos anon. Quite excited really. View attachment 793029

We've just left The Netherlands after 3 weeks of nice travel and bike rides.
Wild camping is not allowed, but there are plenty of camperplatts and small campsites. Jatchhavens often have camperplatt, which if you like being by water and watching the never ending transit of boats - are great. You get to use the jatchhavens facilities as part of the price. Costs have gone up since last year, and vary quite a lot - we paid anything from 12 euro to double that price. We are off-grid so never bought a EHU.

 

[Trevor Wbm]

We stayed here in Amsterdam for a couple of nights in January, 10 mins walk to a tram stop which gives access to the whole city. If you visit you'll possibly need to buy a pass for the clean air zone (one trip in, one trip out) .. details of which are Broken Link Removed.

 

[MR BLO]

We were lucky for today. Managed to get a single night at delftse hout so spent the day in Delft. Such a pretty little place with loads of pretty side streets….

And canals….

Delft has a really great, dare I say cosmopolitan, vibe going on. We crossed the threshold of several bars and cafés, each one proving better than the predecessor, or was that because of the beer? Whatever the reason Delft for me knocks spots off Amsterdam. The centre square was alive this evening and no sign of a hen party. Just civilised people enjoying a beer, a coffee or just the sun.

We can tick cheese off the to do list. Found a shop full of it. Nice it was but not a patch on a Martells single Gloucester. Took some back to the van only to find the fridge has decided that enough is enough. I will have a look in the morning. Not too steady this evening, l can’t think why. It must have been the 4am start

Found a new favourite beer as well but at 8% I can only cope with it in small doses. Kelly says that she has the same problem with me Either way it was nice to spend an afternoon with my two favourite things.

Finished the day off at a Greek restaurant (Effectively a posh kebab but blimmin lovely it was) and a look at some door-porn, in this case from the Stadhuis.

Unfortunately we could not get a second night at Delftse hout so we will go off and search for something by the lakes tomorrow.

 

[Holly's mum]

Sounds like you've had a great day. Hope you get the fridge sorted tomorrow

 

[DBK]

The cheese shops looks intriguing. I guessed it was Gouda in the window and their website seems to confirm this.

Dutch Cheese Gifts and Gouda Gift Baskets by Henri Willig

Dutch cheese is the specialty of Holland based Henri Willig cheese makers. Try the goat cheese, smoked gouda or order one of the special cheese gift baskets.

henriwillig.com

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[Folkranger]

Not far from you best aire in the Netherlands Klein Amerika at Gouda. Wonderful city.
Great campsite at Maastricht with easy cycle into geat old city

 

[Grianan]

Had a fabulous chilli cheese in Holland. Expensive but worth it!

 

[MR BLO]

We've just left The Netherlands after 3 weeks of nice travel and bike rides.
Wild camping is not allowed, but there are plenty of camperplatts and small campsites. Jatchhavens often have camperplatt, which if you like being by water and watching the never ending transit of boats - are great. You get to use the jatchhavens facilities as part of the price. Costs have gone up since last year, and vary quite a lot - we paid anything from 12 euro to double that price. We are off-grid so never bought a EHU.

Sounds like you had a wonderful time TrudeandDall This sounds very much more like us.
Could I trouble you to ask if you just rocked up at a jacht haven or booked ahead?

 

[MR BLO]

The cheese shops looks intriguing. I guessed it was Gouda in the window and their website seems to confirm this.

Dutch Cheese Gifts and Gouda Gift Baskets by Henri Willig

Dutch cheese is the specialty of Holland based Henri Willig cheese makers. Try the goat cheese, smoked gouda or order one of the special cheese gift baskets.

henriwillig.com

Hi DBK the cheese is a Gouda cheese but the shop is very much in Delft. Kelly said as soon as we clocked it that she had never heard of a Delft cheese. It was only once we went inside did we discover the origins. Tasted good though. Nothing like the days of that rubbery Dutch cheese that we got as kids in the eighties.

 

[MR BLO]

Started the day with an early run around the lake to relieve my guilt of yesterday’s food and beer indulgence. All I had for company were a few overnighting fishermen and the pink legged geese. Can’t remember the last time that I saw these in UK but here they are rather plentiful.

The lake looks like a really great park with a beach, diving platform, a myriad of cycle trails and walk / running trails, and even trails dedicated to the ponies. Despite my strongest protest Kelly will not let me chop the Bailey in for a 26t Scania horsebox with living so that we could bring the boys (& some toys) with us next time

Being such a densely populated area, the park and the campsite are a bit of an oasis. The high rise of the big city is never far away in this part of the Netherlands. There was not a spot of litter and there was a solitary council worker out emptying bins and full of the joys of spring (@6am). You don’t get that in Blighty. Was it the beautiful summers morning that made him so happy for his work, or was it the 4 inch long cigarette hanging out of his mouth alerting me to his wearabouts with shall we say a distinctively fragrant smell?

We slipped out through the site barrier soon after breakfast and immediately had a game of diesel roulette which always completely freaks Kelly out. Trying to find diesel under EUR 2,00/ltr is a challenge. Eventually we managed to brim the tank at a bargain EUR 1,82.
Disaster avoided we set our sights on Volendam, turned up the stereo and hit the road North hoping that being a Sunday traffic would be lighter.

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[DBK]

Well done for the early morning run and it looks you are having good weather.

Your pink-footed geese are Egyptian geese I think. They are an introduction and pretty widespread in Europe, often semi-domesticated like those ones.

Egyptian Goose Facts | Alopochen Aegyptiaca

Related to the shelduck, this pale brown and grey goose has distinctive dark brown eye-patches and contrasting white wing patches in flight. Read more

www.rspb.org.uk

 

[MichelleRyall]

We stayed here in Amsterdam for a couple of nights in January, 10 mins walk to a tram stop which gives access to the whole city. If you visit you'll possibly need to buy a pass for the clean air zone (one trip in, one trip out) .. details of which are Broken Link Removed.

I love Camping Zeeburg. It’s a fabulous campsite….not what you expect when you first rock up. I though we had arrived at Glastonbury

 

[MR BLO]

If you have started reading this thread from the start you will know that Kelly had to pop into hospital last week for a small procedure. Happily she has no pain or issues other than needing to pee a little more frequently than used to. Why am I telling you this ? Because our route today took us under Schiphol airport and there is often a good chance of a photo of a huge airplane above you as you drive down the motorway. Today there were two of these giant airliners crossing above us, the perfect photo. Unfortunately my camera woman couldn’t cross them anymore and had to hit the bathroom. Disaster averted, but also no photo to place here, so instead I have used a library image.

A bit of Google research identified that the jachthaven aire at Volendam charges until 10am. So me thought get here for 10 and we should get a space. Well the plan worked. As we entered the village there were 12 (yes 12) Italian registered MoHos heading for the main road and lo and behold we had 12 spaces to choose from. Definitely the right decision because the aire was full within 30 minutes.

Took a quick walk around the near vicinity to scope out supper opportunities. The Jachthaven has some fantastic facilities for our waterborne cousins and even the general public. Where in the UK could you have outdoor cinema and kid zone with toys and computer games that don’t get pinched or damaged. The Europeans do put our society to shame in many respects.

When in Holland do as the Dutch do so we donned cycle shorts and Lycra and jumped on our bikes. First stop was a Windmill. This one is a pump built 300 years ago and capable of pumping 65,000litres per minute from the low side to the high side. Truly a marvellous piece of engineering and still operating today to prevent the need to teach cows to swim.

Our destination was Edam, namesake of that infamous cheese. Our route involved crossing a dijk which is possibly Hollands largest hill.

Edam was small and quaint. Lots of pretty alleyways and small town houses with grand entrances. Relatively quite today (Sunday and no cheese market) we used the opportunity to purchase some supplies. Here we experienced the local dislike for Visa, being charged EUR1,00 per transaction . We also managed to accidentally purchase the world’s most expensive mineral water at nearly a fiver for 1.5litres. Holland is funny with prices. We also purchased a bottle of wine for less than the water. Go figure.

After a beer and a Smurf flavoured ice-cream for the boy (according to Archie Smurfs taste like bubblegum) we cycled along the coast back to Volendam village. The epicentre is based in the port area - it’s a little like St.Tropez poor Dutch relation with a lot of very flash boats but less classy surroundings (a plethora of city bikes do not a Ferrari make). Didn’t bother us, we liked the friendly atmosphere so stopped for some first rate people watching over a (non alcoholic) beer or two.

 

[MR BLO]

Apparently you are not allowed to take your teddy bear for a walk on the beach in Holland

Seen on this mornings run of penance.

 

[MR BLO]

Once back at the aire it was time for a brew and the opportunity to watch the morning MoHo service point van Jenga. The Italians are here on mass but despite their coordinated attacks it was the Dutch who won the elbows out push to the front game.

The rules of service point van jenga seem to involve the passenger first standing in front of their van before walking out in front of others to prevent their exit. Once the route is blocked, other passengers or pack members block the route of others until the path to the holy grail (the service point) is clear.
Then amidst all of this kerfuffle this morning an Italian van complete with Toad entered the mix from stage left (I.e. the entrance). Well that blew the patience fuse of more than one of our European cousins and there were fingers waving everywhere accompanied by what I can only imagine were some choice and quite pointed expletives.
As the new arrival made his retreat from Hollands tightest aire the Italian berthed next to us remarked how he could reverse with a Toad better. My comment about his grand-papa driving a tank in the war par chance apparently flew right over his head.
Based on my low emotional intelligence and even lower diplomatic skills we may be away before breakfast in the morning to prevent any international incidents.

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