Category Archives: Baby Steps

Day 57 – Hot for Home

It felt like just the right way to end our trip. The sun was out and the kids were playing. There was only one last push to be made to get home – all motorway and for now with no major incidents along the road forecast. So we did as you do – slowly.

We soaked up as much sun as we could and broke camp at a very, very measured pace. It was fine, though. Today was a public holiday in both the Netherlands and Germany – a day off for all of us. So we let the little ones roam free and explore. Number 3 tried for some jumping on the trampoline – but that will still take a bit longer to work for him.

Sneaking away, we would often find Number 3 behind some wheels…

We said our goodbyes and wished our friends well in all of their upcoming adventures. Thanks again for camping with us – from the Horizons Unlimited meetings we know how hard it feels to pack up the tent when home is so close.

We did manage to get on the road before lunchtime. The plan was to have Number 3 get in some sleep, eat and finish the rest of the trip with a bit more sleep. As it turned out, sleep would not be a problem. The wee one developed a bit of a fever during the morning and was flat out for 90% of the drive. Lunch was had at the customary crappy fast food franchise, something we managed to stay clear off for the last eight weeks.

At home, Flo’s sister was waiting for us to give us a hand. She had been keeping an eye on our flat for us. As it turned out, she did more than that – our whole flat was spick and span! That only added to the surrealness of the situation. It just feels weird to … have a house, things … a milk foamer.

That’s when catastrophy struck (at least a little bit). We managed to go thorugh the entire trip without any disaster, which started to make me itchy. In the very last moment, a second before falling onto the sofa with a cup of tea, Murphy reared his ugly head one final time. In the hustle and bustle of getting everything unloaded from the car and the little one entertained, my sister steam boiled her right hand over the kettle while trying to get a cuppa ready for us. So instead of the sofa, it was a trip to the ER that rounded out our day …

Sneaking away, we would often find Number 3 behind some wheels…
His companion loved driving as well
Both of them enjoyed their go on the trampoline…without actually managing to jump
Here, you can see the different approaches to the trampoline
I, again, missed the official sign for Germany so here is one for the federal state that we entered
Frankfurt appeared on the signs! We were close(ish)!
Carrying everything back into our flat. We have a flat. And like a roof above our heads while we sleep. So odd!

Day 56 – Slow paced

Today, the weather seemed to be okay. No more tent attacks were anticipated.

We got up and somehow, breakfast just went on and on while we decided if we have enough energy to move. Or just to make plans for today, really. It was very nice just to sit and watch the kids.

Around 11 am, we’d decided to go on a short walk through the nature park today. However, with lunch and kids’ naps coming up, we pushed it to the afternoon.

Both kids were fascinated by the horses next to our campsite

Flo made another round of his silky scrambled eggs for lunch and then, it was bedtime for a few of us. Number 3’s nap was rather short with 45min but Mini van Bartang slept well over an hour and a half.

Afterwards, it took two cars to transport four adults and two toddlers to the sand dunes in the natural park near Harskamp. The landscape was surprisingly similar to the Schwanheimer Dünen back home, probably as they are both relics from the ice age.

There is a restaurant close by where we headed for a drink after the walk. Well, a “drink” turned into a piece of cake for me. XD We spent a good hour there just chatting while the kids explored or munched on some raisins. And from here, we also went straight to our restaurant for dinner. 🙂

The kids were really quite hungry so we opted for this early dinner. Flo and Peter both chose the three course menu so we enjoyed dinner and I even got a dessert that I didn’t order…ice cream with stroopwaffel.

Back at the tent, when both kids were asleep, we still sat and talked until the sun had gone down. What a great relaxed Sunday full of food and friends. 🙂

It’s a good way to spend some time 🙂
Both kids were fascinated by the horses next to our campsite
Horse with foal
Seats with a view
…keeps the hunger away
Waiting to be picked up for a walk
Thirsty Number 3
“What could this be? Looks like a small one could ride it!”
My drink after the walk turned into something more solid…
Going for the prawn cocktail
And then, Number 3 found a steed
Once the kids were in bed, we talked until the sun was down

Day 55 – Unjustified attacks

First order of business, breakfast, went pretty smoothly. We slept in late a bit – given that Number 3 had not had the best of nights. That came out just right, as packing for camping after a bit of a break can always be a little struggle, especially with new gear added into the mix. Nontheless, we took it slow and ate until a bit of a break in the rain seemed like the perfect opportunity to complete our little camp.

Our friends joined us for breakfast with fresh bread and a great attitude. Since Peter is running a shop aimed at (adventure) motorcyclists, he will be opening up today. Still, we had at least a good chunk of the morning for a couple of things.

Our full set up with car, tent, tarp and friends’ tent

Leonie, Peter and Mini van Bartang have a new, enormous tent. What nobody told me was that it was also a bit aggressive. Just when we thought it might actually be a good idea to peg it down before getting the rods in, it decided to viciously attack me with one of the metal loops (i.e. a gust of wind threw a corner at my head). I managed to turn a bit, but the impact left quite the bump, just sort of a cut. No baby was hurt though and this was the last bit of trouble while setting up.

Peter left for the shop around lunch time, leaving us to catch up with Leonie and sit out a good bit more of the bad weather. It was a wee bit too chilly until the sun came out to make it real cosy, but good company made up for it.

After the midday sleep for the kids, the winds picked up just before the weather got better. After 4 or 5 times of putting back single pegs for the awning tiedowns after a gust of wind we switched to soft soil pegs to cope with the wet and sandy pitch. All of this did not save me from a particular strong gust taking out the entire awning and sending one of the poles full speed into my head. This was the second tent attacking me in one day. This time, I was a bit dazed for a minute or so before we decided that it might just be too windy for the awning that afternoon. It was time for shopping anyway.

Later on, picking up Peter after he closed down the shop, we went out for dinner. Even though the Dutch are maybe a bit less enthusiastic to come up with veggie options for Nina, the result was great for all nontheless.

To round off the evening, we all sat down with a bunch of (non-alcoholic) beers. Other travelling friends we know came by to show their newly converted T4 camper and have a good old chat. All in all, this seems like just the right place to let out trip fade out …

Our full set up with car, tent, tarp and friends’ tent
Breakfast was great so it just got longer and longer…
Two babies in a box
…turn out to be a bit heavy
If that isn’t a picture perfect ad for camping in the Netherlands…
So cute!
Mini van Bartang being cute in his high chair
Number 3 trying the spreads
Dinner table
Busy dads
What a spot to return to!
More travellers visiting in the evening

Day 54 – A hell of traffic jams

The last thing of our trip dawned on us: Drive to the Netherlands and visit dear friends of ours for a couple of days before returning to Frankfurt in one go. Thus, today was a driving day. We wanted to get from North-east France through Belgium and into the Netherlands.

The sat nav told us that it’s about 400km which is 50km more than we did on long driving days so far. Better to get going then!

Despite the grey, low hanging clouds, we managed to pack everything dry. We had another hour to go in France which left plenty of opportunity to stop at one more Intermarché and buy some more pain au chocolat. In a combined effort we even got Number 3 to stay awake until we reached the supermarket so he could roam around before passing out in the car. So far, so good.

We made good progress until Number 3 woke up and it was about lunch time anyway so we stopped at a motorway rest. Having our own bread-and-cheese lunch felt slightly odd but it was definitely tastier than the McDonald’s option of the rest stop.

Things started to go slightly wrong from here. Back on the road, the ring road around Antwerp, we were instantly in the first traffic jam. What had been an 8 minute delay because of roadworks before we stopped for lunch was now a full blown jam, probably with an extra accident thrown in just for fun. It took f.o.r.e.v.e.r. For the next 45 minutes, we drove maybe 15 kilometers. The sat nav found other ways for us, off the motorway, but these started to clog up quickly as well and they also had roadworks. Baby was not amused with the whole situation and started screaming on top of all the other stress we already experienced.

Finally, finally, we were through this blockage and back on the road. However, Belgium had two more traffic jams for us and the Netherlands one small one. If you are wondering, why we were in so many of them…yes, traffic around the big cities is usually bad. However, we chose the Friday before a long weekend for our longest driving day so really, we should have known better.

Instead of arriving around 4pm, we met our friends at 5.30pm, dead tired and stressed out. Things got a lot better from here on out. We spent most of the evening at out friends’ flat, meeting their little boy (to be known as Mini van Bartang) and just generally catching up and eating pizza. Back at the camp site, we set up in record time and were in bed by 9pm.

There was a storm warning for this part of the Netherlands for the evening and night. Just in case, we left it to the tent and storm cover, planning to set up full camp tomorrow.

Did we get lost near Hogwards?
welcome to country #2 for today …
Motorway reststop
Yeah, better than McDonalds
nompf
Ah, Europe. Country number #3
Great shop from real adventurers
I think they might get along
Storms? Are they also lost in traffic?

Day 53 – vive la France!

Our last real day in France – and last rest day before we shift gears one more time. Oh, and also 75^th anniversary of the invasion of Normandy. Glad we did not take that route 😉 – security procedures must be a nightmare. While the world leaders played politics with remembrance, we had much smaller goals for the day.

Actually, apart from taking a final breather, there was really only one thing: To organise bread for lunch or dinner. Everything else would fall into place. So I brushed up my limited French to work on the owners and find out how we could get some bread without taking the car. My idea was to go on a very small hike to a restored old mill and bakery nearby, but that one it turned out only opens twice a month. The 45 minute walk into the next village seemed a bit much, so I tried for bicycles instead. Once I finally had communicated the reasoning for all this questing, I got the offer to get some bread from the lady of the house and save me the trouble. Fine by us!

Weather is still a mixed bag, but for most of the day it stayed dry, even sunny at times. It still took until the afternoon to get comfortably warm outside. So much so in fact that my winter coat that I took as a last minute addition got dusted off once more by Nina (who from there on out had a big grin on her face and said something about walking around in a blanket …).

That was it, really. By the afternoon, we had the campground almost to ourselves. Once the lawn mowing and hedge trimming had stopped, we got to fully soak in the tranquil and beautiful place all around us. The day slipped by and we soaked in the last bit of sunshine and afternoon warmth with another cup of tea / coffee.

Oh yeah – and I got a sunburn. Ridiculous, the rainiest day in a long time, but that’s what we whiteys get for skipping the sunscreen.

everything sagging a bit, but overall ..
… camp took the rain well.
Number 3 played for an exceptinally long time by himself …
… indulging in his love for pebbels
with this view, we did not mind much

Day 52 – A bit more of France, vive le déjeuner!

Number 3 didn’t ruin yet another set of clothes while we packed. 😉 Luckily, the morning weather was fine again so that we didn’t have to pack our things wet.

Today was another short day, as in only 200km to the next camp ground. Flo had found another rustiek kamperen close to the Belgian border where we will spend our rest day if it is nice. I’ve decided against camping in Belgium for one night…somehow I wasn’t mentally prepared for yet another country (and thus another post card to Aaron. It’s important to keep one’s promises) and I really wanted to take advantage of French patissieries and boulangeries longer.

The road was much less pleasant than yesterday, way more like a regular motorway. However, Number 3 had troubles staying asleep so we stopped at a rest stop after just an hour on the road. Given how he’s walking around with the zipper of his jacket in his mouth, the new tooth can’t be that far off anymore. Flo wasn’t so sure what to do with today, as we would arrive on the camp ground at lunch time if we kept going now. So we looked at the map and realized there was at least one more town called Abbeville we’d go to (well, mostly around) so I suggested eating out for lunch. French food is almost always a good idea.

Flo checked online for an eatery and found “Chez Mel” which was added as a destination. We arrived about 10 minutes before it opened so I got to go to a bakery and buy sweet treats for the afternoon tea that we planned to have on the camp ground. French bakeries are heaven. Or really close most of the time. Even Flo found treats to his liking and he doesn’t even have a sweet tooth. So we left with a bag of four treats and a hungry toddler who had pointed on almost every treat in the shop, making chewing sounds.

“Chez Mel” turned out to be a creperie. I went for a savoury one with goat’s cheese, honey and walnuts while Flo chose the decadent meaty version that was rolled up, dunked in creamy sauce and then put back into the oven with cheese on top.

We all enjoyed the meal and being somewhere dry when the rain returned. Now we just needed another short stop to pick up fresh bread before heading right to the camp ground. We arrived there before 3pm. It’s a tiny camp ground with maybe 15 spots all in all. The owners, a lovely French couple, were like “oh non, la pluie” and “le bébé” and just really a bit flustered that we wanted to camp in the rain. They spoke literally no English. But, they gave us the prettiest camp spot we could have asked for. With a little pause in the rain, we set up everything dry and then cuddled up in the tent for a bit. But Number 3’s mind of an explorer couldn’t be contained for long so he was dressed in his rain coat and wandered around in the rain however much he liked.

Oh, we even had time to tuck into those treats … the French, they got pastries right down …

So hard to choose…
Pretty despite the rain
Our own lawn
Looking towards the village

Day 51 – Avoiding revolutions

Once again, we started the day with a bit of indecision about the immediate next steps: Stay and spend our rest day here? Move on? No rest day but super short days instead? It actually took us all of 10 minutes of pulling off our chateau camp (so no rest day today) to make up our minds.

I briefly brought up the option of visiting Versailles. Paris we wanted to avoid for several reasons, but maybe a one-day sightseeing stop the day after tomorrow? In the end, we decided against it – the weather was the biggest factor – I had seen it once in the rain, only a sunny day would do for making a detour worth it. Plus, avoiding Paris’ traffic and potential Gilets Jaunes disruptions was definitely a factor.

Lacking a good target in the area we wanted to end up in tonight, we took sort of the best path avoiding Paris on a northern route and aimed for a “regular” campground with good google ratings.

We were really quite pleasantly surprised by the route we ended up on. It really had this road trip feel to it, where making distance is sort of first priority, but the landscape zooming past is part of the experience. Rural France can be quite enchanting. The N-routes took us past most villages, but through enough that it had far less of the sterile feel of toll motorways.

A great but slightly too sunny lunch spot was easily found just by the road – a little artificial lake. Same goes for our coffee break at 2, just stopping in a picturesque village square and dropping into the local café for a bit of a booster and some local colour.

barefoot saves shoes, but he sat down in the puddle to find other ways to make us work for it

The campground was nothing to write home about – but it had a picnic table ready for us, saving some time. The real event of the evening was the thunderstorm hitting us right after arrival, with just enough time to set up the tent and get the storm cover, literally seconds before a good old summer storm hit us. Number 3 was a little scared in the beginning but it got better fairly quickly while we all cuddled in the tent.

It even got a bit sunny after that and Number 3 managed to wear through two sets of clothing jumping into puddles and exploring before the sun came out again. He finished his day off with a round on the playground, impressing us once more with his motor skills and fearlessness. Early bed time it was for us. With little happening today, it still felt like a good day. Just the three of us, in tune with the road and ourselves.

“I can sit everywhere now!” – “yeah, but breakfast is back here …”
bye bye, almost cliché France
tree lined driveway leading up to the place — trés posh!
“I’m hungr .. zzzZZZzzz”
Bigger Chateau diplomacy
Picnic tables are superb climbing terrain …
who the boss here?
Stuff happening in the skies
cool tower in cool town, names are all a blur
first time we tested out the storm cover – did it’s job!
exploring in puddles
barefoot saves shoes, but he sat down in the puddle to find other ways to make us work for it
he used the bobble thingies for the first time on this trip – now he has them figured out
“you call this an obstacle?”
“ok, this is a bit scary now”
“no, never mind … wheeee”
he sat down in the end … RIP pants #2

Day 50 – Maintaining …

… velocity, direction, purpose & gear.

Today was all about keeping it up. A steady pace north-northeast. Chipping away at the last 1100 km to our final “sight”. I think we mentioned that we will round off our trip with a visit of dear friends and fellow travellers in the Netherlands. We managed to sort the details out last night as well, so the goal is set: To the camp in the Netherlands by Friday night – spend a long weekend camping with friends and then swat down the last 350km home in one go on Monday. All we need to do now is fill in the blanks in between.

Our first idea: push and rest, was less to our liking than we thought. So today, we changed tack a bit and only tackled 250km to the next campground. We are not planning on any more sightseeing in France, but try to find nice campgrounds instead to make this more than a just a drudge to get where we are going.

[and this is where I (Flo) realise that I am writing for the wrong day. So off to Nina, I do day 49 now. This is what you get for letting the Blog slip]

We left the camp ground to make our way to another rustiek kamperen later on tonight. 250km is really just half a day of travelling. Nothing of note happened before lunch when Flo found a lovely little secured place where we unpacked the chairs and dug into food. Number 3 explored a bit more; he really likes to walk around after sitting in the car for a while.

The drive after lunch wasn’t even long enough for Number 3 to fall asleep. We arrived at 3pm, set up and had coffee and tea respectively. This camp ground was on the “lawn” next to a small “castle”. It’s a really pretty sight with slightly less space and privacy we’ve had the night before. We used the extra time on the camp ground to exhale, enjoy the sight and plan a bit further. Unfortunately, the weather seems to turn for the last couple of days as more rain and thunderstorms are forecast.

[oh, and Flo did some GPS stuff and “fixed” his shoes]

Number 3 exploring the roadside lunch spot
He would come a bit when called …
… but is easily distracted
Side road off a side road off a side road somewhere in rural France
Also, very rural France: Chateau!
Mate’s dead set on helping with dinner …
it was … a bit too slow for Flo’s pace
Seems easy right? A stirr …
… a taste …
… you have a lot to learn, young padawan!

Day 49 – Adios

That was it then – with our lovely riverside camp in the mountains, we felt like we had our fill with Spain for now. A brief debate whether to go for one more round of sightseeing in San Sebastian or take more time on our way back was quickly settled in favour of the latter. Anything but a rush now.

So off we went. Right away, we have to re-learn the doing distance part again. Fuel is a lot cheaper in Spain and the car was in dire need of a bit of a rinse after a bunch of dirt roads had left their dusty mark. So we stopped, before the border, not even 45 minutes in. So far so good, but Number 3 had already fallen asleep and his uncanny butt-sensor detected the stop right away. The rest of the pre-lunch drive portion was therefore a bit less quiet than we had hoped for. Oh, and I fumbled and got the wrong fuel (98 octane), so the whole saving money idea did not work out either. Thus, we left Spain.

So happy when he is allowed behind the wheel

Lunch was a nice change. We stopped in Bayonne and found a good spot near their fortifications not 5 minutes off the main road. We were at that point still on the “avoid toll roads” setting, which lead us through a lot of densely settled areas. But the spot was good, a lot of green for Number 3 to run around and get some pent-up energy out of his system.

After that, we gave up and opted for the 10 € toll to get us to Bordeaux – there is just no good alternative route. We went past and finally turned off to more rural highways to find our camp for the night. Another Rustiek Kamperen site, this was right up there again. It felt more like camping in a park, with trees dotted around a nice lawn and a distinct lack of fencing.

To top the night off, a Canadian overlander turned up on his 1200 GS. He gave me a good reason to open that bottle of Rioja that we picked up in the last Spanish supermarket and have a pleasant bit of shop talk.

The border here as right in the middle of a town so I missed the sign with the European flag
Lunch spot in Bayonne right next to the moat of the castle
Number 3 wandering off on his own to explore
So happy when he is allowed behind the wheel
Our spot for the night
Chance meeting with another long distance traveller

Day 48 – Last of Spain

We got our little revenge on the Frenchmen in the morning. Number 3 woke up at 7am, punctual as always. There is no such thing as “keeping quiet” when you have a toddler. The Frenchmen however didn’t even show their faces before we left at 10 am.

The Rioja valley got a bit more of our attention before we will wave goodbye to Spain tomorrow. LaGuardia was only a short, but lovely drive away. Too early for lunch, a bit too expensive for coffee. Walking around the narrow alleys, looking into doorways with heavy doors and amazing spaces inside was a good way to spend time here though. It’s a very pretty, walled little town. To get through the remaining time until lunch, we had another little treat in a bakery.

From Laguardia, we drove on to Logroño, the next bigger town. Lunch here came recommended by our guide book, still it was too early for it. The Spanish opening hours around 1 or even 1.30pm really get to us. So we went grocery shopping before finding a parking spot in a central garage and headed into town. The first place we went to was smack in the middle of everything. Now, I could tell that it was Saturday: Town was full of people enjoying food, even a couple of hen and stag dues, I think. The menu looked as if not a single vegetarian thing was offered so Flo made us turn around and try the next place.

The next place was literally called “Umm”. Despite the odd name, it was a great place! I went straight up to the counter to ask for vegetarian food and the second waitress (the first one didn’t speak English) came up with an option for me. It was a mix of caramelized onions, pickled onions and peppers and it tasted great! In the pintxo version, it had a piece of meat but it tasted great on its own.

This was the sophisticated shot from the restaurant

Flo tried two of the daily pintxos with fish, I had their version of patatas bravas, then crème brulee, then Flo ordered one more pintxo from the kitchen (fried pig’s ear, by our guesses) and we had deconstructed cheese cake and coffee in the end. XD And all of that for 23€. Gotta love pintxos and small sized portions…you get to try so many different things!

With this great success under our belts, we left the Rioja valley and turned our faces towards France. We won’t reach it today but it’s the general direction here on out. The camp ground was about a 2 hour drive away, up in the hills. Number 3 and myself fell asleep on the way there (food coma in my case…) but woke up before we arrived at the camp ground. The last 20km or so were windy roads up the hills, right next to a small river. It made for a picturesque drive and then our camp ground was right next to the river as well.

When we explored the place a bit after “coffee”, we found an access to the river where all the kids from the camp ground were playing in the water. Number 3 looked like he wanted to go where all the kids were and started to walk right into the water in his sandals. Thus, Flo took off his shoes and prepared Number 3 for contact with water. One of the older girls came up and said something about “muy frio”, just when Flo put Baby’s feet into the water. The expected scream of protest didn’t come. Huh? Instead, Number 3 kept walking forward, deeper into the water. Soon, his diaper and body were almost in so Flo quickly picked him up. Now there was a scream of protest. Huh? Flo had confirmed that the water was really rather cold and Number 3 was a wuss even in the pools on camp grounds but now he wanted to go swimming in a cold mountain river? The answer was yes. What was lacking every time Flo tried the pool with him was available here in abundance: Older kids doing all sorts of interesting things with toys and tools. Number 3 was ready to get up to his neck into really cold water for that. We didn’t let him get into it that deep. Luckily, some of the older kids took pity and showed him what they were doing in the shallower part of the river. They had small nets and caught fish into a Barbie bucket. The oldest girl even got one of the fish out to show it to Number 3.

In the evening, some of the kids went to the camp ground’s playground so Number 3 had even more chances to absorb them. I thought he’d sleep well after all the input but he woke up again 30 minutes after he went to sleep. Probably his teeth again. He seemed to really be in pain. That last molar is taking its bloody time.