There were talks about visiting Bruges on the way back but we all agree it would be better left for another time. If we are to head for France then a return to Middelburg, where we started our Dutch odyssey 4 weeks ago, is a good option. There is some not too busy motorway until we are south of Rotterdam then we get onto scenic roads across the waterways of Haringvleit and Grevelingen. At Zierikzee we take the Zeelandbrugge, or Zeeland Bridge, across the Ooste...

We’re early risers this morning and the sun is shining. Ali and Grete walk into town to see the Cheese Market, traditionally held in Gouda most Thursdays. Rows of cheeses are lined up in the town square forming a yellow aisle from the Town Hall to the Weighing House. Horses and carts [known as briks] arrive as do a gang of boys ready to load them. Girls in traditional dairy maid outfits handing out tasting samples then the buyers, [in clogs, blue jackets, n...

A bright and sunny morning at last. There is a long queue at the service point and we are behind a fastidious Frenchman with a small bore hose that takes ages to fill his tank. Just when we think he’s finished his wife passes out a dozen plastic water bottles to fill. We’re finally on the road at 11:30, driving alongside the river and cycle route we walked back on yesterday, and past the entrance to Kinderdijk. Again it’s crowded with a rivercruiser moo...

Heavy rain again through the night but once we are up it eases off. We are all ready to leave around 10:15. As we drive away from the camperstop some fields are waterlogged. The motorway is very busy, long convoys of trucks and streams of cars as we make the hour long drive to Alblasserdam and check in to the waterside parking area. After a quick coffee we take the short walk to the waterbus station and watch barges steaming past while we wait for our boat to...

After a quiet restful day on site again yesterday we awake to rain, take things slowly and set off around 11:00. The route we planned takes us through Oosterbeek and the edge of Arnhem and over the motorway bridge which gives us views of the famous John Frost Bridge, scene of the repelled allied landings in 1944, up river. Because Arnhem has low emmission zones the detour to cross over ‘a Bridge Too Far’ would be longer than we want. Soon after leaving Arn...