Beautiful Bruges

Mon 4^th

We enjoyed a very relaxing, easy drive across to Bruges in the sunshine. We found the aire which is literally a stones throw from the medieval town centre. It is alongside the canal and boat marina which sounds great – what wasn’t so great was the very tight parking spaces marked out. Sardines! There was only just enough space between the vans to open your door. We struck lucky and got a space beside a small grass area which made it slightly more bearable. There was also 3 Carthagos parked in a row. Safety in numbers?

3 in a row

The cobbled streets of Bruges were lovely and lived up to expectations and more. What a lovely city that certainly deserves the description “ The Venice of the North”.  We wandered about exploring the streets leading up to the main square. Wow – what brilliant buildings and a lovely atmosphere as the many horse drawn carriages clip clopped by.  All the buildings were well preserved and being enjoyed by lots of tourists from all over the world.  The beer museum was very popular.

lovely Bruges old town

well earned snooze

That evening we enjoyed a meal sitting outside right by where some of the horse carriages stopped to rest and feed the horses. Interesting to watch all the mainly female drivers dash to water the horses before they got their mobiles out to furiously text away.  Nice place.

lots of these around

Tues 5^th

First stop Auchan in France to stock up with beer and wine to leave in our container back in the uk – we were having a quick pitstop back home to get the fridge properly sorted and also have the handbrake cable replaced. Of course it would also allow me to have a quick blast on my KTM motorbike.  J   after a quick shop we headed along the coast to find a site for the night – what a frustrating experience. All our normal places were full or very busy. We ended up staying in a very nice carpark just above Escalles with at least 10 other vans. This would mean that we only had a 10 min drive to the Eurotunnel at 6.30am the next morning. Yikes – the earliest start for 4 

months………..

Escalles carpark for the night

viewed from above

Brussels and Waterloo

Fri 1^st August – sun 3^rd

Our next destination was Brussels to stay with Tina’s cousin Ian, the roads improved as we travelled further north. Ian later told us that the Flemish speaking part of Belgium generally had better roads but didn’t work very well with their neighbouring commune. He described the ridiculous outcome when one side of the road was resurfaced and left 2cm higher that the other lane! All to do with funding…………..

We were given a warm welcome and soon settled in to drinks and lots of chat as we caught up. Laurence, Ian’s wife had a wicked sense of humour and had us in stitches.

Ian's head just visible!

We caught the very convenient metro into the city centre and immediately we were into the city “buzz” with lots of tourists filling the streets.  It was much bigger than I expected with lots of restaurants spilling out into the streets. What a choice of food! We strolled into an amazing shopping gallery full of the most spectacular chocolate shops. Of course there were also lots of beer shops – most were incredibly strong brands with monks / monasteries featuring heavily as brewers!

chocolate heaven

We walked to the fish market and were treated to a brass band marching past with giant puppets being twirled around – never did find out what this was all about. Our next stop was the to be the Royal Palace but we were distracted by another band playing in the gardens. On closer inspection they were marching about before they performed in the band stand. We joined the audience and sat and listened to them for 20 mins. Very relaxing.

very tall puppets

The Royal Palace was well worth visiting. The rooms are huge and I have never seen so much gold in my life – walls, lamps, chandeliers, door frames and much more. Too much in my opinion, I had no idea that the Belgian monarchy lived in such OTT splendor. King Albert the first was much loved but unfortunately died in a climbing accident in 1934. There was a very good display of photographs and films depicting his life.

amazing ceilings

gold & more gold

Next day after another enjoyable evening of eating, drinking and talking with Ian & Laurence (including teasing her about Brussels trying to impose stupid laws on us – she works for the EU commission) we decided to visit the nearby Battle of Waterloo site. We scooted over and eventually found the site despite the absence of road signs from the main road. Initial impressions were poor as it resembled a building site! The centre is under going major improvements including a hotel.  The tour included 2 short films which very clearly told the story of the famous battle that changed European politics for ever on 18^th June 1815. 

looking over the battlefield

217!

butte du lion

The sheer scale of the armies and men involved was breathtaking. We of course had to walk up the 217 steps to the top of the Butte du Lion ( lion’s mound) which was constructed to commemorate the location where William II of the Netherlands (the Prince of Orange) was knocked from his horse by a musket ball to the shoulder during the battle. It was ordered constructed in 1820 by his father, King William I of The Netherlands, and completed in 1826.

Brussels bound

Mon 28^th

After 2 great weeks together we went our separate ways – C & L heading for Verdun, we were Belgium bound as we were planning to be in Brussels on Fri or Sat to stay with Tina’s cousin Ian. The weather had broken – cloudy and a bit of rain. A good driving day. We parked up for the night at Nisramont right by the Barrage D’Ourthe in the Ardennes region.  Nice complex but it looked a bit unkempt. The walk around the lake was a bit lacking in views of even the lake. Trees, trees and even more trees.

Nisramont aire

BBQ - but too damp for us to use!

Tues 29^th

Rain overnight so a bit of a damp start as we headed for Charville – Meziere just over the border in France. Did I mention how appalling the Belgian roads are? As bad as the Italian ones at least. Shame as the route through the Ardennes into France was very picturesque passing through some lovely villages on the river. 

Once into France the villages were greyer and a bit shabby. This was possibly to the large amount of industry based on metal working.  The aire at Bogny Sur Meuse was rated as “beautiful setting” in the All the Aires France guide book so we arrived to be rather disappointed. The aire was right on the river –good. The views were okish of old tatty buildings on the valley side opposite but the very noisy main road on the other bank and rumbling factory unit directly behind us made us move on. 

Next aire was 12km south in Charville – mezieres. Good decision as it had a nice setting by a marina. We got the last free slot beside a French van that had a large bird cage on the dashboard with a lovely parrot inside. Different.  We walked into the centre of town to find that the very elegant Place Duval had been transformed into a summer beach area of sorts. Lots of activities for the kids and adults.

the summer beach

huge marionette clock

Weds 30^th

We introduced ourselves to the owners of the other Carthago on the aire, owned by Norman & Marion a lovely pair of fellow Scots. Our trip felt very tiny when they told us that they had sold up years ago and had been fulltiming for 12 years!! I hope I have got the numbers correct. Their van was much bigger than ours and contained all their worldly possessions. I liked the compact twin tub washing machine stored in what was the gas cylinder locker. After a cup of tea and a chat with them we waved goodbye and headed north into Belgium.  What a lovely couple who were a pleasure to meet.

Charville aire

Norman & marion

 First we stopped for lunch at Nismes to investigate this lovely little town. The recently developed gardens behind the town hall were amazing.

Nismes town hall

funky bridge

lovely landscaping

Our hour drive took us to the Lacs L’ eau  D’heure a series of lakes created in the 70’s by hydropower. now offer a whole range of leisure activities from sailing to golf. The aire was at lac de l’eau d’ heure the largest of the lakes with the huge Plate Taille dam close by. Interesting to be in a really busy carpark that emptied at night apart from the 17 motorhomes.

great cycle paths

aire in the distance

 Thurs 31^st

Lovely quiet night with sunshine to greet us. After brekkie we cycled around the lakes on the excellent cycle path. The shade provided on some of the paths was welcomed by Tina. They really have organized the lakes well with watersports such as jetskiing and water skiing given their own lakes to use which avoids the usual conflicts. The facilities at each lake are very good with clubhouses and cafes. The main lake where we were also has on the northern end a classy holiday village with modern eco friendly chalets. Definitely different from Butlins. A very relaxing place with lots to do and see. 

dare to be different?