davenewellhome Posted September 7, 2008 Share Posted September 7, 2008 Hi all, as promised here's a brief summary of our fortnight in Holland anf Germany along with a few photos. We left here on Saturday 23rd August and drove down to Essex for the midnight ferry on Sunday evening. Being bank holiday all the sites round the Clacton area were full to bursting. We managed to find a quiet little hamlet called Little Benton with a rather nice little pub called the Bricklayers arms. The owners were very happy to let us stay on their car park for the night in return for spending a few quid inside on food and drink, the food was superb and all home cooked with locally sourced vegetables. We stayed the night and most of the Sunday so that we could indulge in Sunday lunch there before retiring to the 'van to watch the Grand Prix. Drove down to Harwich Sunday evening for the ferry and I have to say it was the smoothest ferry crossing we've ever experienced, on the night crossing you have to have a cabin so we got a bit of shuteye before driving off on Monday morning into Holland. First site was a municipal called Mollecatten at Hoeven near Breda, superb site with an adjacent water park. Site fees also included entrance to the indoor swimming pool but you pay extra for the site showers :-S . This was where we saw the dragonfly who just kept buzzing round and landing on the bushes bordering the pitch. Tuesday we moved on to Veldhoven which is on the outskirts of Eindhoven. Again a lovely site with good facilities. Wednesday we hired two bikes and went into Veldhoven for a couple of hours. We stayed here till Thursday when we moved on to Dusseldorf for the Caravan Salon. Dusseldorf Messe (exhibition centre) is huge and they have 1100 camping pitches, 450 of which have electric hookup! Most of the hookup pitches are reserved for the exhibitors and press though. Despite being quite close to your neighbours it was a very friendly atmosphere and excellent facilites are available including showers, toilets, beer tent and food stalls. Dusseldorf caravan Salon is an excellent place to view lots of motorhomes, caravans, accessories and main component suppliers (Dometic, Waeco, Thetford, Hella etc). Saturday evening we took the (free) bus into Dusseldorf along with Clive, Jan and Dave Hurrel for a meal. The locals were having a festival to celebrate founders day or something but I've never seen so many people in one place before, it was manic!! Sunday we moved on to Leukmeer near a small town called Well near to Bergen. This was another huge site with excellent services. It is right by a large lake/lagoon on the river which is obviously a great local tourist spot with a small beach and boat hire etc. Sunday was the hottest day peaking at 29 degrees C. Again the site fees included access to the on site indoor swimming pool which was excellent. You also get money off vouchers for food at the on site bar and the food was very good. Tuesday we moved on to the last site where we were booked for three nights, this was in Delft. The dearest site we used but it was excellent (only an outdoor swimming pool though and that was closed due to poor weather :-( ). Delft is a beautiful small city absolutely loaded with history. The royal family are buried in the old church there and of course it is where Delft pottery comes from as well as the home of Vermeer (the master of light)! We went round several small museums and the Delft pottery factory which was fascinating. There is a small bus/train that runs a one hour round trip from outside the campsite gates, taking in the market square, railway station, museums and pottery centre. For 1.50 Euro (although for 4 Euro you could buy a day ticket and get on and off as often as you wanted) it proved good value and the best way to get around town along with excellent tourist information from the driver. Finally on Friday we set off for home, stopping at The Hague (DenHaag) for a couple of hours. This is a huge modern city with some truly spectacluar modern architecture and two hours is nowhere near enough to do it justice but parking the motorhome was difficult and expensive. We came back on the night ferry leaving Hook of Holland at 10.00pm and landing in Harwich at 4.00 am. We weren't allowed to disembark till 06.30 though. D. Oops I seem to have posted the Hague picture twice. The picture titled Church is actually a painting of the inside of a church. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest JudgeMental Posted September 7, 2008 Share Posted September 7, 2008 Glad you enjoyed your break, and welcome back! :-D Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hymer C 9. Posted September 7, 2008 Share Posted September 7, 2008 Dave, that seems like a full action packed 2 weeks, with plenty of variety, sounds as if you really enjoyed it, they really packed the motorhomes close at the show, good pictures. Carol. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bob b Posted September 7, 2008 Share Posted September 7, 2008 Surely the picture entitled 'Bells' is the Leaning Tower of Pisa is it not ? Either that or you should 'take more water with it' Shipmate ! ;-) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
davenewellhome Posted September 7, 2008 Author Share Posted September 7, 2008 Hi all, yup it was a fantastic fortnight although not as action packed as it sounds, lots of chill out time. Hi Bob B, so you're a photo critic eh? :-) Yes it is a bit off kilter but then I never claimed to be Andy Stothert :D . The bells in the old church tower chime every quarter hour with a very musical tune, you really need to hear it "live" to get the best feeling for it. D. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
michele Posted September 7, 2008 Share Posted September 7, 2008 Look like you had a nice time Dave I liked your photo's Will you be going back at all ? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
davenewellhome Posted September 8, 2008 Author Share Posted September 8, 2008 Hi Michele, no immediate plans to go back but I'm sure we will go over again sometime. Holland is certainly an easy country to travel in. D. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ROON Posted September 8, 2008 Share Posted September 8, 2008 Hi Dave, pleased you had a wonderful time and got back safely...... ready for work now? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
davenewellhome Posted September 8, 2008 Author Share Posted September 8, 2008 Hi Joy, yes, had our first day back today and managed to blunder our way through it. My better half has now started working with me and is getting me organised :-S . D. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Geof Angi Posted September 16, 2008 Share Posted September 16, 2008 Glad you enjoyed your trip Dave I can see from the first photo that your better half is well organised, enjoying her reading on a nice day after sending you off to do the chores no doubt Geof Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
davenewellhome Posted September 16, 2008 Author Share Posted September 16, 2008 Hi Geoff, actually we were both enjoying chilling out but I spotted the dragonfly and grabbed my equipment (photographic equipment obviously) quickly to rattle off a few shots. That particular dragonfly was quite happy to "sit around" for minutes on end. There was a much more colourful one buzzing around but it just wouldn't settle on anything long enough to get a shot of it. D. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest peter Posted September 16, 2008 Share Posted September 16, 2008 Where's all the pic's of the Girls in the Windows of Amsterdam then? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
davenewellhome Posted September 17, 2008 Author Share Posted September 17, 2008 Still in Amsterdam where we didn't go Pete :-S . D. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest peter Posted September 17, 2008 Share Posted September 17, 2008 Well you should have. There are some brilliant pubs and eateries there. Maybe next time?. :D Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
davenewellhome Posted September 18, 2008 Author Share Posted September 18, 2008 It is a distinct possibility Pete :D . D. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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