just another morning here

The first camping trip of the season and I left Steve to pack everything. Well, I didn’t have much choice; I was at work and he wasn’t. Actually he did a grand job of organising the trailer and doing the bits and bobs that needed doing before towing it again. The kids packed their own clothes anyway, we chucked the contents of the fridge and some pasta in with us (what else does one need to eat on holiday?!) and left home just after 4.30pm on Friday. Not bad going. Forgot shower gel, shampoo, and a teatowel, but took 6 sleeping bags and 9 pillows for the children!

We arrived at Bracelands around 7pm having queued to get in, a popular destination, obviously! Spotted the Portico family and set up camp with them. Had dinner, opened the first bottle of wine, and sat around for the evening.

Saturday morning saw us doing the first of many circular tours – this one a walk led by Mr P, was a tour of the trail … around the campsite! Decided to have lunch and try again later.

Second circular tour of the day was Steve’s drive around Ross on Wye trying to find a supermarket – he was convinced there would be one on the outskirts. We eventually found one (after I’d got cross and convinced him to actually stop the car so I could ask someone!) in the centre of town.

Back at the campsite we read/napped/played and then later on went out again, managed to find the path down to the river this time! Nice walk down the path to Biblins Bridge.

After that came dinner, washing up, playing, chatting, wine, beer, bed. All much nicer with friends to share them with.

In the early hours of the next morning there was a huge rainstorm with thunder right overhead. All finished by the time we wanted to get up, although it looked threatening again a couple of times in the morning.

We decided to take a scenic (as it turned out very scenic!) drive to Hay on Wye and mooch around bookshops. Great suggestion, we had a nice lazy day including lunch outside a pleasant cafe, lots of looking at books and other shops too, then headed back via another long and winding (not sure if it was quite circular!) route. Can’t remember what it was called so I need reminding please!

Stopped to admire the scenery and the energetic people went off to climb a hill … but didn’t make it all the way to the top as there were rumblings of thunder and they didn’t want to be stuck up there with no coats!

Back to the campsite for more dinner, washing up, wine, beer, reading new books, playing, chatting, and eventually bed!

This morning was just a slow end to the weekend with breakfast and packing up. We were home in time for a late lunch and some sorting out this afternoon – homework, pets, washing, etc. Now catching up with Dr Who before the kids have an early night; they are really tired! Abbie particularly enjoyed meeting Dylan, while the other two cited the day at Hay on Wye as their best bit of the weekend. I enjoyed all of it

It rained. Horrible wet drizzly rain. I stayed in bed for hours, can’t remember the last time I did that without a hangover! Steve and the children played cards, everyone coloured doodle patterns, I finished all my books (so did they, I think!), and then the kids went out to play despite the rain, getting wet and sandy and muddy in the process!

During the afternoon Steve and I popped to Carrefour on a secret mission; Steve had been hoping to pick up a small tv/dvd combi for the caravan at some point anyway, so we figured we’d do it sooner rather than later, hoping that we had the right sort of leads/sockets/adaptors to make it work! We found exactly what we’d been looking for, came back, and got it working which was fantastic, Josiah was thrilled to be able to watch his Spiderman DVD that he’d bought in Amsterdam the week before!

The rain stopped briefly over dinnertime so the kids rushed out to play, but then had to come in when it started again later. We cleaned them up (a major operation!) and had stories, then Steve & I watched the first couple of hours of 24 (season 1) which we’d picked up really cheaply in Carrefour – only 5 years after the rest of the world, but we hadn’t watched any of them before – really enjoyed it!

We had to be off one site by 12pm but supposedly not arriving at the next until 4pm so we ambled around for a bit in the morning, went and found a supermarket and did some shopping before coming back to pick up the trailer. Said goodbye to the hustle and bustle of Camping Zeeburg at almost exactly noon, and travelled down to Turnhout and Baalse Hei. We were there by 2pm, and they were happy about that so no problems there.

It felt like a huge contrast between the two sites – Baalse Hei was in the middle of the countryside, very peaceful, and the site itself was fairly empty and quiet. In our small camping area only 3/10 of the pitches were occupied at any one time, and this was mid-August, we were really surprised. Plenty of space for our palace this time, and we were thrilled to see a little play area in the middle of the field, which our kids had to themselves for 99% of the time!

After we’d set up we went for a walk and explored the site, sat and had a beer in the bar while the children played in the big play area, the length of the lake away! Felt as though we were going to have a lovely relaxing week, and we did

We set off early this morning, having packed pretty much everything the day before. I love getting up early to go on holiday, it makes you feel excited before you’ve even gone anywhere because you have to whisper and creep about as you leave the house, and usually we eat a strange breakfast as well (hot cross buns on the A303 in this case!).

Got to Dover early and asked if we could go on the next available ferry, which we did. I realised that I had forgotten my watch, so bought myself a trendy looking Swatch from the shop, as I absolutely can’t stand to be without a watch on my wrist!

The driving through France/Belgium/the Netherlands afterwards seemed to take a long time, punctuated by the different phone companies sending Steve and I service texts every time we crossed into different territory! The children were impressed to have been in four countries in one day.

We arrived at Camping Zeeburg around 5pm local time, and the place was absolutely heaving. It was a bit of a culture shock, I must admit. The site is a very busy city campsite, and was full to overflowing, mainly with young people backpacking their way around Europe, or so it seemed! There were lots of motorhomes too, big ones, that came and went every couple of days. The site itself was more rough and ready than your average Caravan Club site in the UK as well, and the pitches were small!

When we were shown to our plot we immediately realised that it wasn’t really big enough for our awning to go up – well, not as well as keeping the car near the caravan anyway. Given that it really was busy and the car parks were overflowing in any case, we decided to shove the awning in the boot of the car and manage without it for the week. We knew we’d be out and about a fair bit anyway. In some ways it was quite nice not to bother with putting it up!

Having said all that, Camping Zeeburg was well run/organised, ideally situated for exploring Amsterdam and environs, and we had a great time there. They had a small pet enclosure with a few goats and chickens in it, which kept Abbie completely happy for the week, and the kids all enjoyed scootering around the site. The children’s play area was as good as useless as people were camping in it, but I don’t think our kids even noticed it was there!