Belgium 2009
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Belgium 2009
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| Bruges | Blankenberge | ||
2009
Day sixteen 21st June
From Mont Saint-Michel, it was back on the road, followed the way we came, back out to the D456 and north, to the D875 and A84. At Caen we took the southern part of the ring road to the A13 then left onto the A29, then A28 to the A16 into Belgium where the road name changes to the A18. We followed the A18 to a right onto the A10 and then N973 into Bruges. Turned right onto the ring road the R30 and round to the N9, then followed the signs to the site, although we did know the way. Only one small mistake getting on the ring road, at a set of lights, I got in the lane for straight on instead of turn right, but I thought it would be ok to turn right anyway. Do you know how scary it is, to turn right at the light and have two lanes of traffic coming towards you.
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Bruges Camping Memling Veltemweg 109, 8310 Brugge |
Got checked, in parked up and walked into town all before six o'clock, the first thing we did there, was to have a beer in Charlie Rockets on Hoogstraat. After the beer we continued to the main square, where we got chips from one of the vendors below the belfry tower (Belfort). A tip if you do the same is, when you ask for mayo or ketchup or whatever, ask for just one squirt, or your chips will be swimming in the the usual amount they put on. I had to throw away the last bit away as the chips were in about half an inch of ketchup.
We continued walking until I wanted to sit and have a beer, I was tired from the long drive and couldn't be bothered to do anything else. We went into the first bar we came to (De Kuppe on Kuipersstraat), a bar that clamed to have 100 different beers, I asked for the barman to recommend a beer and had the featured beer of the week, a Gentse Tripel, very nice After that we moved on and sat outside another bar (Bar Des Amis on Eiermarkt), for a Vedett Extra White but later moved inside as it was cooling down outside.
We took a roundabout way back to the campsite following one of the canals and admiring the evening views and reflections, we even stopped for another beer before leaving the centre (it was really for me to use the toilet), for the proper walk back.
As we got close to the campsite we could hear a brass band playing in the distance, I bet Dot that they would be on our site, they were. A German band, all parked close together in matching motorhomes, were playing oompah music and drawing quite a large crowd to watch them. I just hoped it didn't go on for too long, to me its like bagpipe music, you either love it or hate it and it is not for me. They stopped about 11.
Day seventeen 22nd June
Woken by a lone bugler at about eight, very considerate of him, by the time I got ready and went for my shower the band was already gone and the womenfolk with then were having their breakfast in peace.
We got into town about twelve, I did have to walk part of the way back when remembered we had forgotten the spear batteries for the camera. We had also popped into Aldi to check out the beer and got food for lunch while we were there. As it was dinnertime and as we now had a picnic with us, we walked along the canal until we found a nice spot for us to sit and have it.
The spot we found was at a canal T junction, next to the vertical lift pedestrian bridge, a great place for watching the boats passing by. Where we sat, looked like it had once been the site of a swing bridge, anyway it was a nice sheltered place for our lunch.
After lunch we turned right and followed the canal into town along Predikherenrei, a walk we had not done before, it was very pretty and very quiet. When we came to another T junction in the canal system, we followed the canal to the left along Groenerei, all the time taking photos of the canal and bridges as we went.
Then, we did something we have been trying to do for three years, yes today, we eventually went on one if the canal trips. We did get to see bits of Bruges centre we hadn't see before and I took too many photos but I will only post a few here.
After the boat ride dot had an ice-cream and we had a sit in one of the old squares surrounded by pretty old building and watched the world go by.
Then it was time for a beer, we went into B-café, at the rear of 2be Foodshopping Brugge, it was not open the previous night and we thought it must have closed down but there you go it was open and had been improved. Gone were the stacks of beer grates, replaced by glass cases full of beer bottles and matching classes, a very nice display. Anyway back to the beer, I got the worst beer I have had in my entire life and I am going to have a rant about it, so here goes.
Rodenbach is horrible beer, very sour and vinegary, not nice at all, it tastes like Cameron's Strongarm when the barrel has gone off, why produce a beer that you can not tell if it is off or not. I have been drinking beer for 42 years and did not know there was such a thing as Sour Ale, it must be an acquired taste but one the majority of us will never get, the sour, acidic taste made my throat sore but I did finish it.
Luckily they did have plenty of good, nice beers to take the nasty, nasty taste away, so I had a couple of them to take the taste away. We moved from the canal side, as the breeze was quite cool, and moved into the courtyard next to the beer displays, where the sun was shining and it was much warmer.
By now it was time for food, we set off walking towards a part of town we hadn't walked before (seen from the boat) and popped into a cafe offering beef stew and chips as the days special. We had it with a bottle of Bruggs and although the food was basic, it was very good and very cheap.
We continued walking to Wijngaardplein, the place where the horses from the many horse carriage rides go to rest and have a drink. There was a gated community there (Begijnhof Van Brugge), a square surrounded by houses around a green, I think it was a religious place but no photos were allowed so we did not go in. There was also a silence please sign in there but, there were car parked all around inside, what did they do, push them in.
After another walk we got money form an ATM and went for a drink to a the nice bar, Cafe 't Klein Venetië, I did look for a bar we had been to before, Cafe Terrastje, but could not find it. We had a couple of beers there before the walk back, it was our last night in Belgium before the over night ferry back to England tomorrow. We got back to the site about 8, I was surprised that the Oompah band had gone.
Day nineteen 23rd June
Dot got a shock on her way back from the showers, when the couple in the caravan adjacent to us asked her, if her name as Dot. Dot assumed that they had seen her in the shop back home and read her name tag but it was because, they had actually read this website. I was not sure anyone actually looked at it, I was impressed but Dot was embarrassed by it. Now here goes my useless memory for names again (see About us) but I think they were Roy and Ann from the Peterlee area of Durham (if you read this, please email me if I am wrong).
Same procedure as the last two years, packed up and drove to the four supermarkets on Maalse Steenweg (the N9), to stock up on unusual beers and some usual beers. First we went into the Carrefour where we met another couple doing the same as we were, we also met a rep from a brewery filling shelves, who did a very good job of selling his wares to us.
Next it was Delhaize where we also filled up with diesel, and met the same couple, like us buying more beer and coincidently, a big man stocking the shelves, heard me telling the couple how bad a beer was. And proclaimed, "what its the best beer in Belgium, its my favourite", so I thought I would give it another go and bought a four pack. Well he was wrong and I was wrong for listening to him, it is by far the worst beer in the whole world (see above). Next we did Aldi and Lidl.
Then we set of for a day in Blankenberge, from the N9 we turned right on to the R30 ring road, anticlockwise to the N9 on the other side of Bruges and N31 to Zeebrugge. Where we tuned left onto the N34 and parked up on the side of the road just outside Blankenberge. We followed a path through the sand dunes and walked into Blankenberge along the beach, there was a bit of a breeze that made it feel cold in the open.
Blankenberge looked like many other English seaside resort, only in Belgium, it was also very busy for a Tuesday afternoon. There was a pier, beach huts, amusements, ice cream and a promenade, I liked it but Dot wasn't too sure, she preferred De Haan, where we usually go on our last day in Belgium. I do have to admit that De Haan is nice, smaller and less crowded though.
We walked along the promenade and here sheltered from the wind it was a lot warmer than the beach had been. Before we got to the far end of the promenade, we decided we should start to make our way back towards the van as it was getting late but we did have a quick look into town first. Then a quick hot walk back to the van and straight to the port about a mile away.
On the boat, Dot opened the door to our inside cabin, only to find someone else's bags already in there, so I wandered back to the purser to find out what was going on. To cut the story short (as this took quite a long time), someone on a return daytrip was already using the room and apparently the computers should not have allowed the room to be allocated to us at the check in. All the time this was being sorted, I kept insisting that I didn't mind if they found us an outside cabin, until eventually, I was asked if we minded moving to an outside family room, that will be acceptable, I said. This sounds better than it actually was, as the four berth cabin is not that much bigger but we did have the window and it was quieter than the cabin we had outbound.
Then it up was on deck where I took some photos, then back to the cabin for supper and a film, before touring the bars prior to bed. There seemed to be several school trips onboard and at times, it got quite noisy. We did get a wonderful sunset though and I tried to get a good photo but to no avail.
Day twenty 24th June
My tip from last year was, if you can wait for breakfast, get it at the Humber bridge visitor centre cafe, it was good, cheep, not crowded and served by friendly staff. Plus you can have longer in bed on the ferry.
So we though we would make another visit to the Humber bridge for photos and breakfast, the car park at the visitor centre was practically deserted again when we arrived, so we parked next to the cafe. The sign on the door said the cafe would not open until 09:30 but it was already open just after nine, so unlike last year we got a full English breakfast before we walked to the bridge. This time we followed the path through the trees. down to the river and then walked under the bridge for a change.
