Where was Bertie? He spent the night at the Aire at Harelbeke, where he has stayed quite a few times before. It's still €5 per night including electricity, water and wifi.
Weather: Sunny but a full 10 degrees cooler than the recent high temperatures, only reaching the low twenties.
Bertie on the campsite at Houyet, with Christine's tent alongside. The lack of immediate neighbours (a good thing!) was because we had chosen the cheaper option of a pitch away from the river.
A few weeks ago, I enjoyed a mains water shower at a public swimming pool. However, that was in a busy communal shower room. Yesterday I revelled in my first 'proper' shower since 8 June (i.e. mains water in my own cubicle). It was gloriously powerful with a full 7 minutes of hot water. Upon hearing my reports, Mick fully intended to go and experience the phenomenon for himself, and was disappointed about eight hour later to realise that he'd got sidetracked and forgotten to do so. Never mind, we'll be home on Tuesday where we'll soon tire of such conveniences and be itching to be on the road again*.
Just after returning (sparkling clean!) to Bertie, Christine came and joined us for breakfast...
The third course of Christine's breakfast of champions: cheesecake and ice-cream.
...whereafter a few more hours of tea drinking and chatting ensued.
Eventually she had to conclude that her walk wasn't going to walk itself, so we bade her happy travels and waved her off. We would then have left the campsite ourselves, except the reception desk had just closed for lunch and we hadn't yet paid.
Over our own lunch I perused the map and gave Mick the options for where we could spend the night (they were: 1) the place next to the boat lift; 2) the place where there may be prostitutes in the bushes; or 3) Harelbeke. We've been to all three before, so these were meaningful descriptions!). Harelbeke was his preference and at around quarter past three we arrived.
Having been there more than a couple of times before, I expected there would be space on a Sunday afternoon, and so there was. However, within an hour of our arrival, it wasn't just full, but another six vans had driven away disappointed.
Having had barely any exercise all day, my priority after getting settled was a walk around the nearby lake. Gosh, that was busy! We've circuited that lake many times before (both walking and running) and have never seen even a quarter that number of people as were there yesterday.
The first time we were here and walked past this windmill the pond had overflowed, covering the path. The water must be 8-10 feet lower at the moment.
The lake
(*It's a wonderful thing that we can have a shower in Bertie any time we want (albeit with half an hour's notice if we want hot water), but whilst the 'water on - water off - soap up - quick rinse' process may keep us clean, it feels gloriously indulgent to be able to just stand under hot water for several minutes every now and then.)
Weather: Sunny but a full 10 degrees cooler than the recent high temperatures, only reaching the low twenties.
A few weeks ago, I enjoyed a mains water shower at a public swimming pool. However, that was in a busy communal shower room. Yesterday I revelled in my first 'proper' shower since 8 June (i.e. mains water in my own cubicle). It was gloriously powerful with a full 7 minutes of hot water. Upon hearing my reports, Mick fully intended to go and experience the phenomenon for himself, and was disappointed about eight hour later to realise that he'd got sidetracked and forgotten to do so. Never mind, we'll be home on Tuesday where we'll soon tire of such conveniences and be itching to be on the road again*.
Just after returning (sparkling clean!) to Bertie, Christine came and joined us for breakfast...
...whereafter a few more hours of tea drinking and chatting ensued.
Eventually she had to conclude that her walk wasn't going to walk itself, so we bade her happy travels and waved her off. We would then have left the campsite ourselves, except the reception desk had just closed for lunch and we hadn't yet paid.
Over our own lunch I perused the map and gave Mick the options for where we could spend the night (they were: 1) the place next to the boat lift; 2) the place where there may be prostitutes in the bushes; or 3) Harelbeke. We've been to all three before, so these were meaningful descriptions!). Harelbeke was his preference and at around quarter past three we arrived.
Having been there more than a couple of times before, I expected there would be space on a Sunday afternoon, and so there was. However, within an hour of our arrival, it wasn't just full, but another six vans had driven away disappointed.
Having had barely any exercise all day, my priority after getting settled was a walk around the nearby lake. Gosh, that was busy! We've circuited that lake many times before (both walking and running) and have never seen even a quarter that number of people as were there yesterday.
(*It's a wonderful thing that we can have a shower in Bertie any time we want (albeit with half an hour's notice if we want hot water), but whilst the 'water on - water off - soap up - quick rinse' process may keep us clean, it feels gloriously indulgent to be able to just stand under hot water for several minutes every now and then.)
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