27th May Calais to Bielefeld

Today was a long drive but it had its moments of interest. Not knowing much about the geography of Europe I was somewhat surprised by the nature of the terrain over which we drove.

Leaving Licques we had to climb a sharpish hill, almost out of a crater onto a plateau area, except that this area is, more or less, flat up to the coast. Farmland in the main, it took 30 minutes to reach the main west-east road near Loon Plage and Gravelines. Surrounded by the hundreds of power lines from the nuclear(?) reactor on the coast line we set off towards Bruges, then Gent, and then Antwerp. The lay of the land was flat; no hills, no slopes just flat. Maybe the only ascents, if you can call them that, was up to a bridge.

For much of the day it seemed the road was flat. An almost endless ribbon of tarmac, and often ghastly concrete, which was noisy and unpleasant. Having said that we did manage a sort of interesting set of mealtimes.

Breakfast was taken in France so we had croissant and coffee, a heady mix that set me, at least up for the morning drive.

Having departed form France, at least for a few weeks, we entered Belgium and perhaps enjoyed some reasonable roads. In 2012 our journey via Lille towards Luxembourg found some really poor surfaces with potholes and ripples that shook the suspension, and us, about. However, we had to have lunch so somewhere near Antwerp we enjoyed a baguette and some ham. This was only barely in Belgian but it had to do.

As with the crossing of the French border there were no formalities. We did not even have to slow down. Infact the only thing distinguishing the crossing point was a sign on the road side: 'Netherlands' or what ever. And, of course the language on the sign posts changes.

Later near Venlo and just before the German border we stopped for tea - well a quick break before we passed into the depths of the Dortmund industrial area.

And so we kept going in order that the drive on Tuesday might be easier, eg shorter,

I said. This meant a late stop but also a first visit to a giant German Supermarket. I think we should have had roller skates on so we could easily get around the vast barn of a building, selling everything.

Out campsite was found courtesy of the Sat Nav and Meryl's map reading skills. It lay outside the city in some woods. For a one night stop it was fine.