Saturday, 5th April
Annie was first awake, and we’d slept well, although I’d woken up a few times in the night. Note to self and fellow overnighters – don’t forget to take shower gel and shampoo with you, because you don’t get it on the boat. You can, however, take drink on board, but don’t forget the glasses or mugs or a bucket.
After a healthy cereal breakfast (I got a ‘dream on’ look when they announced the full English breakfast in a different cafeteria), we read for a while, and then made our way back to the van, ready to disembark.
Now used to waiting on these ferries, the half hour sat in the van staring at the rear end of a huge German coach passed like it were mere moments. But then we were off, and setting tyre onto Dutch soil for the first time. The TomTom was already programmed for our first overnight stop – a small CL-type campsite in Lisse, which is a short cycle ride away from the Keukenhof gardens.
I had driven in Holland before, but always at a break-neck speed, trying to make an almost impossible appointments schedule set by my boss, and I’d never had time to appreciate the environment. First impressions were of countryside with space, an interesting line in modern architecture, clear road signs and markings, and cleanliness. Like Belgium, the Dutch design their buildings with panache and flair, and if they want a wall with a square hole in it, then by God that’s what they’ll build. There was a centre for design which had a huge body sculpture which made one end of the 4 storey building. Absolutely impressive, and a shame we didn’t get a picture.
The TomTom got us there, exactly, although we didn’t really believe it. There was no sign for camping amongst the group of business signs at the side of the road, although the address matched that of the entry in the Caravan Club “Caravan Europe 2” book, which is pretty much our bible when we travel in Europe. The entry did warn of an unmade track, so we turned in.
The track was good tarmac, although narrow, and we got to the end (about 200 metres from the road) and again, not a sign for the campsite. Annie got out, documents in hand, to find that we were at the correct location, but that they were fully booked. So much for my “it’s not the season yet, we’ll find places easy” remark of a couple of weeks ago. I was a shame as the site looked lovely.
Although the nice man (perhaps the only person in Holland who didn’t speak English) told us where a campsite was, we pored over the book and prodded the TomTom, and headed for a campsite listed as a POI (Point Of Interest). We headed back up the track, along the road, up the motorway a bit, down the road, and found the campsite. It was a site of static caravans and bungalows. No sign of touring pitches, nor at the next one along the road. Time for a rethink.
We went back to the book, and found a couple at Noordwijkerhout, which was near the coast, and not too far from Keukenhof. Back up the road, back along the motorway, off the motorway and around a few bends, and again we found a site full of bungalows. However, there was another one 100 metres down the road, with touring caravans and motorhomes, so we dived in. I wasn’t in the mood for driving round and round trying to find a campsite.
The rather perfunctory lady on reception relieved us of 57euros for 2 nights’ stay, which was a bit expensive, but the site looked nice. We pitched up, had some lunch (a lovely mix of cheese and salad and pickle brought from Brighton) and then got the bikes out.
The aforementioned receptionist had told us the way to the Keukenhof, and had remarked that it wasn’t far by bike.
We cycled, and we cycled, and we stopped at a map outside a youth hostel (Stayokay), and I saw that this wasn’t really the right way at all. We made it as far as a roadside bulb stall, and Annie managed to buy a few Amyrillis bulbs, and we headed back, mindful of the dark clouds floating around.
We took a detour up a track towards the beach and across some beautiful sand dunes, and were rewarded for our efforts with an amazing view of the North Sea and a lovely sandy beach, but the strong winds put paid to a walk and we cycled back.
We had a couple of surprisingly cheap drinks at the onsite bar / restaurant, and retired back to the van. We’d frozen a few meals in anticipation of this trip, and we enjoyed a home made quiche with potatoes and carrots. And some beer and wine.
I did some jiggery-pokery with the laptop which enabled us to lift some music I’d backed up from the computer at home and put it onto iPod, which we then listened to via the el cheapo Logic3 speaker system. Excellent!
