Where's Bertie? He's at a Camperplaats 2km outside of the village of Vessem (NL) at a cost of €13.50 per night (includes 2x hot drinks at the cafe, wifi and service point). Electricity, showers and use of a private bathroom are all available for small extra fees. Exact location: 51.43989, 5.27918
Weather: Lightly overcast morning, becoming increasingly overcast with the threat of rain as the afternoon progressed. Up to 18 degrees.
After another walk across many national borders in Baarle this morning, we stopped at a cafe in the 'square' (which isn't really a square, in that the main road cuts right through it) and over drinks and some excellent apple cake*...
...I did a bit more reading about the history of Baarle, trying to find out how and why such a bizarre border situation could arise. We had assumed it was relatively recent arrangement (particularly having read that the borders weren't finalised until 1995), but it transpires that it goes back to 1198 when one duke gave some parcels of land to a mate. One of those dukes was part of the royal family of the Netherlands. The other was from the south of the country and when that area gained independence and became Belgium in 1830, that duke's successor became the monarch of Belgium.
Leaving Baarle, our next destination would have been Eindhoven, except that I realised yesterday that the motorhome parking there doesn't have a service point. We could have made the toilet last until Sunday, and bought a bottle of water to tide us over, but wanting the flexibility to spend a couple or three days in Eindhoven if the fancy takes us, we needed to visit a service point today. The problem is that whilst the Netherlands has plenty of Camperplaats, the vast majority seem to be private enterprises (like UK certified sites, but with far more pitches). I'm sure that most would allow you to just use the service point for a fee, but a few won't, and we didn't want to drive out of our way to meet with refusals. I spent far too long looking for an answer to this problem before the obvious occurred to me: we don't *need* to be in Eindhoven until 0830 tomorrow and a whole choice of different camperplaats(es?) lay along our route. I chose this one on the strength of its reviews, even though the next one along our route apparently has free laundry facilities. What we didn't know until we arrived is that the fee here includes a couple of hot drinks in the cafe:
Caught scoffing the cake that came with the drinks. I had a choice of teas, all served as loose-leaf. I went for Dutch breakfast and enjoyed it.
The drink-on-the-house thing worked out well for the café. As we sat there we realised it was knocking on for 2pm, that we'd not had any lunch, that we don't have any bread in, and there's no shop nearby. This was the result:
Weather: Lightly overcast morning, becoming increasingly overcast with the threat of rain as the afternoon progressed. Up to 18 degrees.
After another walk across many national borders in Baarle this morning, we stopped at a cafe in the 'square' (which isn't really a square, in that the main road cuts right through it) and over drinks and some excellent apple cake*...
...I did a bit more reading about the history of Baarle, trying to find out how and why such a bizarre border situation could arise. We had assumed it was relatively recent arrangement (particularly having read that the borders weren't finalised until 1995), but it transpires that it goes back to 1198 when one duke gave some parcels of land to a mate. One of those dukes was part of the royal family of the Netherlands. The other was from the south of the country and when that area gained independence and became Belgium in 1830, that duke's successor became the monarch of Belgium.
Leaving Baarle, our next destination would have been Eindhoven, except that I realised yesterday that the motorhome parking there doesn't have a service point. We could have made the toilet last until Sunday, and bought a bottle of water to tide us over, but wanting the flexibility to spend a couple or three days in Eindhoven if the fancy takes us, we needed to visit a service point today. The problem is that whilst the Netherlands has plenty of Camperplaats, the vast majority seem to be private enterprises (like UK certified sites, but with far more pitches). I'm sure that most would allow you to just use the service point for a fee, but a few won't, and we didn't want to drive out of our way to meet with refusals. I spent far too long looking for an answer to this problem before the obvious occurred to me: we don't *need* to be in Eindhoven until 0830 tomorrow and a whole choice of different camperplaats(es?) lay along our route. I chose this one on the strength of its reviews, even though the next one along our route apparently has free laundry facilities. What we didn't know until we arrived is that the fee here includes a couple of hot drinks in the cafe:
The drink-on-the-house thing worked out well for the café. As we sat there we realised it was knocking on for 2pm, that we'd not had any lunch, that we don't have any bread in, and there's no shop nearby. This was the result:
(*We asked the waiter where he came from as he spoke perfect English with a London(ish) accent. Turns out he's from Baarle and has never been to England in his life.
**Last night in Baarle was close to car-park-kipping perfection. Absolutely quiet until on the dot of 6am the HGV tow truck, that had pulled in next to us at about 8pm, started its engine, ran it for a couple of minutes, then left. If we weren't intent on being in Eindhoven tomorrow, I would have happily stayed there another night.)
I've been reading backwards anxious to find out how you have gone on with Bertie's repairs. I'm glad to read that it is sorted.
ReplyDeleteWhilst I'm not delighted to be having such wet weather at the moment, it does have the benefit of confirming that Bertie is keeping the water out.
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