After a good night’s sleep, where the temperature dropped to surprisingly low 14 degrees, we were the first ones to get up at the campground. Everything was covered in fog. Our new neighbours on the pasture were hard to spot but their young ones had breakfast at the barn and they delighted our kids.
The calfs get some good hearty vegetarian breakfast too (small bugs not counted)
Even after breakfast, we were the only ones moving around the campground so we tried and failed to get the kids to be quiet. I feel like this is going to be a thing on this trip, especially with the Agent of Entropy. Either she’s going to be asleep, or she will get out as many words as she possibly can. Given that her repertoire is limited…that means a lot of repetitions.
Though we took a bit of time, we hit the road nice and early. Arrival at the Atomium in Brussels was 11am, but we hadn’t booked anything, not for the restaurant or even going up the tower. All the people there plus the queues convinced us to put “Belgium” on the list for a shorter holiday some time else and just look at the Atomium from the outside today.
it will take you more than a few moments to realise that he is not actually looking at any part of the structure
An overpriced grilled sandwich later, we explored the nearby park a little bit while walking back to the car. So far, we’re still in the pre-planned, getting-to-Ireland stage of the holiday and don’t have as much leisure as we’d usually have. Another 2 hour drive was looming for the afternoon to get us as close as possible to Calais as we’d booked the le shuttle through the eurotunnel for tomorrow morning, our best shot to get through the channel quickly.
Number 3 fell asleep in the car but since the Agent had already slept in the morning, she was wide awake and sang “Happy birthday” for about a 100 times.
Shortly after 3pm, we stopped at a cozy little bakery. Flo had googled a nice place for us to get coffee time treats as well as bread and a quick up-and-go breakfast for tomorrow morning. We all opted for pain au chocolate which will still be delicious, even a day old.
The campground this night is called “al la plage” and while I can’t see the beach from here, Flo and the kids have gone to explore how close you can get to the sea.
An hour later, they came back. Dinner was made from things we brought from home and we progressed into the evening routine.
Rise and shine, brekkie time
The calfs get some good hearty vegetarian breakfast too (small bugs not counted)
The way to and from the hilltop camp – lovely drive
Her favourite plushy, Roary, watches over her sleep
view from the nearest charger
Some silly fun with art under the site
it will take you more than a few moments to realise that he is not actually looking at any part of the structure
worth going for a haircut just before leaving
Lovely and cool in the shade of the park
AOE was strong enough to pull herself up, but not tall enough to reach 🙂
demonstrate …
… recreate
Ugly stop, overpriced ice cream. Building anticipation for french pastries …
don’t fail us, we need those pastries
you have to trust us. It was so good that we failed to take even a single photo of the goods …
Big brother leading the way – they are growing into an amazing team
that hat – a new treasure of his
Sometimes, they are just the cutest
Number 3 and the Agent of Entropy proudly present the sea
Cooking dinner with meat replacement products from home
Hey – here we go again. Nina and myself are still not sure if we have the engergy to go for daily blogging again. No other way then trying. So I will give it a shot!
What trip kind of trip are we on this time? Well, its still with Puru Hiko, still with the roof tent and the whole family. We have 5 weeks, so we were looking for something a bit further off to make use of the time and enjoy some of that late-covid freedom. Our choice fell on Irland this time, with some light Brittany as a pallet clenser on our way back.
off we go, another adventure
Everything until Belfast is pre-aranged, sailing on the 3th of August. A bit of a rush, but some slight post-Brexit resentment made the choice of dashing through England much easier. Then we have 24 days on the Island of Irland, until we get on another boat from Cork to Roscoff.
Day one was, dare I say, much of the usual. Packing drags on a bit, but we managed to leave before noon. Some crappy food and broken fast chargers later, we managed to make it to Aachen for a late coffee break. Nina wisely proposed to keep the first day on the shorter side, so from here on its only a short 30 minutes to the first campground.
Greeting our new neighbours
Aachen, the short hour we spent there, was lovely. Number one had seen a bit about the cathedral on the “Sendung mit der Maus”, so we got him to buy into a tiny bit of sight-seeing after the massive piece of strawberry-cream cake. On our way back to the car (parked at charger try number 3) he even insisted that we must come back again as it was “soo nice”.
The last 30 minutes had both kids fully amped up, talking seemingly without even taking a breath in between. The camp ground is perfect for us, single field grass pitch attached to a small farm. No hedgerows, no permanet placements. Out on a lovely hill overlooking a few towns in the Limburg region of the Netherlands. A simple dinner with fresh bread, tent up, car charging. Let’s get this things started …
leave the house clean and return with a smile
off we go, another adventure
Nom nom number 3
whee. kinder-coffee 😀
Aachen cathedral octagon, see what the mouse has taught us
blink-and-you-miss-it border crossing
Greeting our new neighbours
quick. eat the photographer!
Dutch version of mountains 😉
the world is best explored on bare feet
She needed to let me know about the spray-bottle, from 50m away. Urgently …
fruit as desert reward still works with our kids 😀
Good for us, Leonie is a champion of planning ahead. She had a few great options for us to avoid the “we should really not sit on our bums all day” trap ready last night, but we intentionally left the last choice between a fun park and a petting zoo-type place open until breakfast, so that Number 3 could give some input. Interestingly, he went for the “farm animals” option over the playground.
Good morning from the rooftent window
After a very nice and leisurely breakfast we still had time left to sort the kids out and let them go through some of their morning routines. Of course as always, I ratcheted the stress level up a notch. Instead of going in the two cars of our dear hosts, I thought it a great idea to finally show off puru hiko to someone else. That meant breaking the tent down – something that did not sit entirely well with Nina for a little while …
We got over it, though – and I got to both show off how quick the tent can come down as well as the fun to be had with an EV. Peter and our kids were with me, while Nina went with Leonie and their two rascals. Off to the Kinderparadijs Malkenschoten.
Goats who stare at Men
A bit of sunscreen and we were starting with some sheep and then straight for the petting zoo full of goats. Number 3 has a love-hate relation with them, this time apprehension won out for the most part. It has been over a year, to be fair to him.
So we made our way, leisurely, from enclosure to enclosure gazing at sheep, ponies and the odd chicken. All the while, we took the time to stop in between to give the kids time to explore the playgrounds and equipment along the way.
Unfortunately, around lunch time, we had to adapt a bit more. One of us felt quite unwell, and we hustled to get food into all the kids and get them moving towards the exit. The magic phrase was “go look at the donkeys” – since we knew they were near the entrance of the site. There was a bit of severe discomfort, to which I could thoroughly relate after having joined the 10% of people with this particular chronic ailment about two years ago.
The kids played so well together <3
Given the need for rest and the excitement for our little team of adventurers this morning, we all retired to an extended nap-time into the early afternoon. I took the tent setup as another challenge and had it up and ready for bedding before our hosts had their front door unlocked 😀
The rest of the day was pretty much perfect for what we expected out of a visit like that – the kids were mostly good, playing well together. Everyone felt much better after naptime and there was plenty of time to catch up and feel comfortable around each other. Even though we all communicated in our second or third language, there is a closeness we feel to Peter and Leonie, based on shared similar experiences, that is quite unique. It turned out it only incresed in the last few years, with all of us going through the experience of having two kids still sort of in the aftermath of our “big trips”.
Evening talks with good friends
The day closed out with lovely cold (non-alcoholic) beers and way too much Indonesian food. We were delighted and might have gotten carried away with the order, but it is really hard to come by Indonesian food in Germany (even though this batch was Chinese-cooked). We have fallen in love with the Indonesian cuisine on our “Home to Home” trip and tucked in until there was not room for a single extra bite.
We sat outside, enjoying the mild summer evening until the last light had set behind our tent. Thank you Peter, Leonie – what an excellent way to end another (little) adventure.
Good morning from the rooftent window
Making the most of their time with the tractor
Morning playtime
Number 3 playing construction site with real sand (!!!)
Right behind the entrance at Kinderparadijs Malkenschoten
That glow in her eyes – enjoying that gives us back the 10 years we lost over lost sleep with them 😉
Goats who stare at Men
Momy, are you seeing this!
Ok – you first. If they don’t bite your hand off …
… maybe it is safe enough. But only the little one!
They had humongous chicken and also tiny ones …
two and a half little engineers … we could have left them here for the next hour, I think …
bit rusty, needs some help
Proud engineer, proud dad 😀
this photo is misleading – I lived in new zealand, I am not afraid of sheep … 😀
big enough to serve as a compfortable mount, if she tried
therese were quite magificent – and pretty tall for ponies
just a backup, he did not need any intervention
he dared the mighty creek – legs crossed and go! mighty proud of him
Childlike Flo on a zipline with the Agent in the carrier on his back
Trying to feed the Agent
The Agent of Entropy munching on a cheese bread roll
Number 3 had to have ice cream before we could leave
All of the kids loved watching the turtles
Turtles in a pond
Both big boys on a tunnel adventure
There was a tiny calf in the cows’ enclosure
Of course, Number 3 also gave it a go
Flo on the tree stumps balancing and the Agent is almost in the midst of things
Look, the donkeys also had a baby!
The donkey enjoyed some pats
Number 3 looking at and patting tiny lambs
On the way out
The food arrived. O.O Indonesian rice table for two persons
Preparing for dinner. The kids had to be fed first
It only took one afternoon and one morning to make our flat look like a whirlwind went through. No matter, we’ll be back in a couple of days and can clean up then.
Number 3 and I managed to go to the farmer’s market to buy cherries as a road snack and fresh bread at our local bakery.
Repacking was easy as we hadn’t unpacked a lot in the first place. So by 9am, we were back on the road. The distance to our friends’ place in the Netherlands isn’t too bad at 340km, but with two small kids, you have to time everything just right.
The Agent slept and Number 3 was pretty good, which made things easy. Also, he can be distracted by audio books if push comes to shove.
brand new and cool charger – but it did not take my charge card. 5 minutes delay for the call but then for free …
Finding a fast charger was surprisingly hard this time. Only because we started to be a bit picky and also because we wanted to stop next to the autobahn before we got to the sprawl that is the start of the Rhein-Ruhr area marked by Cologne. In the end, we stopped at an e-on charger. Flo couldn’t get the charger to work with his charge card. After calling in to report the issue, they activated it remotely and we charged for free.
Again, there was no shade to be found. Plus, the actual rest stop was still closed on this side of the autobahn. Now we had the choice between a bench in the shade and a toilet at the fuel station or a walk across the autobahn bridge to the open rest stop. We chose to stay and eat our delicious bread and cheese.
With all the kerfuffle in the beginning our stop ended up one and a half hours long, more than enough to fully charge the car again.
Summer holiday!
This time Number 3 fell asleep while the Agent was awake for a while. We managed to get to the Netherlands before Number 3 woke up and immediately started to complain that he had to live his life in a car and never wanted to go by car ever again. It was quite a long way for kids, we understand that. Once there, we planned to stay put for at least two nights.
As it was, the last 30 minutes dragged with me trying to keep the kids from screaming. And then just like that, we were there. 🙂 A house, a big yard and garden, shade, kids, something to drink and the world looked brighter again for Number 3. Both our kids went off to explore and we had time to talk to our friend Leonie which we hadn’t seen in way too long.
She cooked a yummy veggie meal for us and Peter arrived before we all sat down to eat. All four kids demanded attention to get them fed and ready to sleep. By the time we had our two in bed and asleep (which didn’t take long), the others also were asleep. So, we had until 11pm to talk to Peter and Leonie before I had to fall into bed as well.
The one spot with shade – not in frame, the polish van driver just behind me cooking his dinner o.O
brand new and cool charger – but it did not take my charge card. 5 minutes delay for the call but then for free …
this is the final country for this trip
good that our host’s big one was still asleep 😉
Number 3 learned to use pedal power within the hour – the Agent though she could do it, too
he was allowed to pick the flavour
I dont quite remember the topic, but I am sure we were geeking out 😀
like the pipes of an organ, a german saying goes
All four of the little rascals in one shot. The two big ones get ice cream
Since Number 3 loved the tractor it was very high on the Agent’s list 🙂
Summer holiday!
Outside seating for a dinner for eight people
Getting ready for bed. A last round on the tractor, a last try of getting to the bubbles and me taking down the blinds
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!
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
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…
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.
Yea, better than McDonalds
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.
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