45 and 45 makes 90

With 90 nights of this trip now completed we have spent 45 of them in the motorhome and 45 with relatives and friends. The last few have been both eventful and uneventful. Firstly on the day before leaving dear old Blighty we were travelling toward Harwich to catch the ferry. As is my want/need we had plenty of time!! I often suffer much abuse from the family about my need to allow for all possibilities when planning a journey. Anyway neither of us had been feeling 100% well in the morning and by afternoon I suddenly felt a good deal worse. We were actually already on route to, and close to, our intended temporary parking spot so we parked up and I thought I might lie down for a spell. Bam! I suddenly felt nauseous and dizzy. I will spare you the details of the ensuing few minutes and cut to the recovery where I spent a goodly part of the afternoon dozing on and off. Sheila had to cancel my work calls which had been part of our planned stop.

Later same date, I was feeling a bit better and we had a ferry to board next day. We had read that it was permitted to overnight in the ferry terminal if you had a crossing booked and that did indeed prove to be the case. We spent the late evening watching the various cars, motorbikes, campervans of all varieties, motorhomes and cyclists board the overnight ferry whilst we waited for bedtime.


Leaving Blighty behind we head for the Netherlands

The crossing was smooth and uneventful. We have learned from previous trips that even in the daytime it is worth having your own cabin on a 7 hour crossing. We took our own picnic goodies to avoid paying the extortionate prices on board and you get a wee lie down any time you feel the need. Again being too mean to pay for their internet access we had a full day disconnected from the dreaded internet and fully connected with a good book. Well a book anyway. I made a random selection from the library on my iPad and became quite engrossed. I should definitely switch off the internet more often. Disembarking was smooth and we were back in the Netherlands.

We were due to meet up the next day with friends from Peru who are now living and working in The Haugue but we had not really allowed for the fact that this was a long weekend holiday and all campsites and available free or cheap motorhome spots were rammed. Hmmm we spend some time on the dreaded internet, which is not quite so dreaded in these circumstances. How is it that something can be the best thing to happen to the world and the worst thing simultaneously? Anyway, we really couldn't find anything so we decided to rock up at a place and see if they could squeeze us in. Luckily the guy was really nice and scoured his records to find a caravan where the owner was not actually in residence that day and he allowed us to park in front of that for the night. We got the van topped up with fresh water and emptied of waste and we were off next day to spend a nice day with Dave, Nina and the twins Oscar and Lucas.


If you can, zoom in on this beauty.

The Netherlands is such a lovely place and the people are nice and friendly. Apart from the hideously difficult language I think I could happily live here. Having said goodbye to Dave and his family we headed to a campsite that advertised we will always have space, no need to book. We decided to take the owner to their word and give it a go so we headed to a place called Ermelo where we were able to secure a pitch for a few nights. My days off were over and I had a busy couple of days and my cancelled calls to try to catch up.

The weather so far has been brilliant an we have managed to get out on the bikes a couple of times between calls.

Now where did I park my bike?
The road you can see in the above image is only for bikes! You get your own little road and traffic lights and roundabouts and stuff. They know how to treat their cyclists here. Mind you it makes such a difference being so jolly flat. 

Driving on the right is a piece of cake for us as we get ready for the Tour de Holland

OK once again I have to work. I wonder what today will bring?

D S and MJ

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