On the 5th September 2024 we started our first road trip to mainland Europe since getting kicked out in the middle of the UK’s first Covid lockdown. Also a first for us we took the motorhome on the train through the Channel Tunnel, which was amazing.
We did the journey south from Hinckley to Folkestone over three slow days, the first to Essex where we stayed at our old favourite Little Henham Hall Farm Camping and Caravan Club Certified Site, here we bumped into Lynne and Geordie (Dave) with whom we spent a very pleasant evening. The second day we went on to Maidstone in Kent via an old school friend of Sue who we have not seen for some while and whose Dutch husband is sadly not well, but our calling in at least enabled us to wish him well and pass on our best wishes for a speedy recovery.
The third and last day saw us completing the last few miles to Le Shuttle Folkestone station.
We had originally intended to travel all the way down on crossing day so booked a late afternoon train, when we arrived at the fully automated check in, where a camera checks your reg number and displays your booking on a screen, our booked train was shown plus any other trains available, we were delighted to be offered a place on a train leaving a full hour and a half before that we had booked. When we got to the waiting area we saw that our train was boarding in 18 minutes and a staff member suggested “make your way down now”, so we followed the signs to where our passports were checked by UK customs and we were directed to an “inspection bay” where someone checked our gas cylinders were turned off and we then proceeded to French customs where our passports were date stamped. Just 13 minutes after the auto check in we were in line 14 waiting for our train and just 50 minutes after check in we were boarded and on our way under the Channel. If we thought getting on the train was easy getting off was easier still. We drove off the train at 4:30 pm, local time, just 1 hour and 45 minutes after check in we were driving towards Belgium.
How quick and easy was that? We didn’t have to stop at all on exiting the train just drove out of the terminal straight onto the A16.
Not having been in mainland Europe since 2019 I had forgotten how easy it is to drive over here, and just 1 hour and 23 minutes after leaving the train we were at “Camperautoterren Gistel” our stopover for the night.Short reviews of all the sites/aires can be viewed by clicking here.
No roadworks, no traffic queues, no aggressive driving – easy, peas
Sunday was another easy day, a drive of just under three hours travel along non-motorway roads that, despite being busy, we were able to toddle on with cruise control set for mile after mile without traffic jams, road works or broken down vehicles to “Polderhaan” a motorhome only site just outside Utrecht. Costing €25 (around £20 at todays exchange rate) this small 25 pitch site should be something all site owner should aspire to.
Monday we were planning to reach our destination at Assen where we had booked into a site on the west side of the town just 15 minutes cycle ride from where Dirjkie lives but, horror of horrors, we got caught in a traffic jam, it was however a very different experience than a traffic jam in UK. Driving a large vehicle I joined the traffic jam in the inner lane and soon noticed that the outer lane was travelling, although still very slow, at a consistently faster rate than the inner where all HGV’s were required to stay. A quick flick of my offside indicator and some kind Dutch person gave way to allow me out, we then travelled around 5 miles or so to where a single gantry displayed an arrow indicating all traffic in the outer lane should move to the inner lane.A flash of your indicators and a gap would appear allowing (generally) a single vehicle to merge and by the time the red cross appeared on a gantry a kilometre later the outside lane was vehicle free, not a single BMW/Audi trying to get past just one more car before forcing it’s way over, a few metres after the red cross was a trailer with a large arrow indicating the inner lane only. No miles of cones to be seen and the traffic went sedately past a gang of road workers repairing/replacing central reservation Armco another kilometre and all clear signs allowed the traffic to speed on it’s way without drama.
The remainder of the journey was uneventful and just after 2.00pm we arrived at “Camping de Ommekeer’ in the northern town of Assen, our home for the next three days. only
We spent those days visiting a friend Dirkje, who Sue first met when working in Africa many years ago, culminating in a dinner at “The Ponderosa”, a Romanian restaurant where we enjoyed a very good meal
Time to start heading home we retraced our steps and tried to book into “Polderhaan” again unfortunately it was full but the owner directed us to another site a few miles away that she knew had spaces free, we went and it did. “Campersplaats Niue Vogelzang“. We intended to stay here just one night but a little research showed that there was a large supermarket in the nearby town so we chose to stay another day and stock up our very bare cupboards. It was a lucky stay as that second day was Holland’s “Open Monumentendag” or Open Monument Day held every second weekend of September when thousands of historical buildings and sites (about 4.000) are open to the public free of charge. Besides opening their doors, many locations also organise on-site activities like exhibitions, musical performances and guided tours. Each year around 80 to 85 percent of Dutch municipalities participate in the Open Monumentendag. In recent years around 900,000 visitors have participated annually, making the Open Monumentendag one of the Netherlands’ premier cultural events. I have found a YouTube by a Dutchman that shows and explains Montfoort much better than I ever could so I have included his video below, it is worth a look”
Since that video was produced the funding was raised and the mill put back into operation and on our visit we would have seen flour being milled as part of our tour but the winds were, although strong enough to turn the sails not strong enough to mill flour. The mill is now owned by a charitable trust but still produces flour of several types for customers including the big chain supermarket directly behind it and several local bakeries.
Sunday morning and we are moving closer to Europoort for our ferry home today we are planning to go to a large all singing and dancing campsite on the coast near The Hague, or Den Haag as the locals call it. We didn’t leave Campersplaats Niue Vogelzang until nearly 1:00pm but were still at our home for the next day or so, Vicantiepark Kijduin, before 2:30pm and that included a stop for lunch. The traffic, although heavy, was again free flowing and we were amazed at how complex some of the road junctions were, despite which, the signage and road markings made them very easy to navigate. While talking easy to navigate there are roundabouts in Netherlands that signs indicate which lane you should be in for each particular exit then as you enter the roundabout kerbs feed you round and out of your chosen exit. If you start in the wrong lane, tough, you cannot make changes once you enter.
Vicantiepark Kijduin is the antithesis of what we look for in a campsite, we are on pitch number 266, goodness knows the total number, pretty well all seemed occupied. In the centre of the site is a swimming pool, kids club, restaurant, supermarket, alfresco bar and seating area, kids play area and a stage which, when we went for a wander, was occupied by two young girls (late teens/early twenties) singing and dancing for a crowd of screaming kids. The kids were having a great time while their parents were enjoying a ¿quiet? drink at the alfresco bar – pandemonium reigned 😁.
Despite how busy the site is the evening was quiet and the night peaceful.
Monday morning we went for a wander along the biggest beach we have ever encountered. It was low tide and the sea was out a very long way indeed.
Tuesday, time to go home. Our ferry does not depart until 10.00pm but we have to leave the campsite by 11am – eleven hours to complete a thirty minute journey! After some shopping and carrying out other time wasting tasks we got to the Stena Line check ins at 1.05pm and went to the check in window to ask the best place to park till the evening ferry sailing. The young lady said “If you want I’ll try to get you on the 2:00pm sailing” sadly we were at 8m too long for the space available so we will have to wait in the motorhome/caravan lane until the checkin reopens at 7:45pm. While we got there nine hours early a group of young Romanians arrived nine minutes too late, their ticket said the ferry left at 2.15pm “ . . . and it is only 1:50pm . . .” I explained you had to arrive an hour before sailing. There was no problem transferring them to the next sailing but as it was a night crossing it was necessary for them to have cabins, that cost them another €250 odd euros extra – nightmare, still they were transferred free of charge.
The time slowly passed until 6:45pm when the check in reopened and we were booked in and issued with our cabin keys, bits of paper with a code embedded that gave access to our Captain’s Class Cabin. There was little bureaucracy after check in just date stamping our passports, and then we waited while they loaded the freight trucks. and we boarded ship around 7:30pm a full 2.1/2 hours before departure. whichI missed completely, I had laid on my bed and was watching TV, next thing I knew Europort had disappeared and there was only water to be seen from the window. Oh well I got undressed and into bed, Sue was already asleep. All we had to do now was get up around 7.00am have a quick shower in time for a projected 8.00am disembarkation.
We were awakened by a very cheerful lady telling us that it was 5:30, breakfast would be served for the another 45 minutes and disembarkation would commence at 6:30am – hells teeth what happened to 8.00am?? We disembarked at 6:29am, we had been looking forward to our full English breakfast at the Morrisons on the port approach but they don’t open til 8:00an so we ate fruit and cereals in a lay-by on the A14, and were back home at 11:30 having detoured firstly to fill the gas bottles, they took 8 kilos between them costing a total of £15.21 which equates to a 6kg bottle for £11.29, Calor rrp is £32 per bottle, and secondly to The Cowshed Butchery to get some tasty goodies for the coming weeks diners.
For the statistic lovers we were in the motorhome for 13 days went through, however briefly, three countries France, Belgium and The Netherlands. visited seven sites, including two in UK on our way down to the tunnel. Drove 1035 miles while consuming 155 litres of diesel giving an economy of 30 mpg, I’m pleased with that as the previous owner(s) only managed 27 mpg.
We now have 13 days to get ready for our next adventure to Spain and Portugal for around 70 days – Hurahhhhhh!!