Nick W expressed a wish to have a chill out day at an aire he found which is right beside the Rotterdam shipping channel so we check out of the campsite, join the busy motorway system for a few miles before arriving at Maasluis. There are only three camper places and all are occupied, but a hippy-like French couple in an ancient ‘been-everywhere’ truck tell us they are preparing to leave. A few minutes later we have fitted both vans in, ours in the camper p...

The camperstop in Schiedam is free on Sundays but charges again from 09:00 Monday morning so we and most of the other vans are leaving before the deadline. In the rain, and out onto the motorway in Rotterdam’s rush hour. We only have 10 miles to travel today but as we are going to a campsite we cannot arrive too early so at the first rest area we pull in and indulge in cooked breakfast of duck eggs, mushrooms, tomatoes and bubble and squeak with lardons. The...

As per last night’s plan we are up and ready to leave before 10:30. As we leave Middelburg it turns grey with showers and rain. The A57 road crossesflat grasland before starting across long barrages. We are driving only a few metres above the sea, with long rows of sluice operation gear flashing by on our left. For twenty odd miles we are either on these dykes or spits of land with dunes and shellfish farms. The industrial mass of Rotterdam looms ahead and...

For the first time this trip we don’t need the heating this morning. As we start our walk into town it’s bright and beginning to feel warm as we wander through quiet streets remembering to keep out of the way of bicycles. The Dutch appear very orderly with perfect gloss finish on the woodwork of houses, simple potted flower arrangements and tidily decorated windowsills with net curtains. We arrive in the abbey’s square just as the clock chimes start; a l...

At last a day starts with blue sky and sunshine. We loop around town, first to dump some rubbish then to get fuel before heading out to the eastbound motorway. It’s busy but free flowing past Dunkirk, with lots of trucks and mostly industrial sprawl to look at. Once we cross into Belgium the traffic thins out, the road is beautifully smooth and the scenery returns to the same as the flat Somme we saw yesterday. Near Bruges we stop in a rest area for lunch a...