ManVanNoPlan Sets Off To Tour Europe Again

ManVanNoPlan sets off to tour Europe again and visits Gouda, Urk, Meppel, Minden and Hamelin
It is coming up for a year since we were travelling on European soil but that was about to change as we prepared to leave home in late August 2024.

Sunday 25th August.
Ardrishaig to Carlisle (54.924188, -2.950962)
It seems that every time we head off in the van its in a monsoon and today was no different. The thought that we are heading south, both in the UK, and then Europe, gives some hope that the weather will improve. At least it can’t get any worse than today’s weather.

Yesterday was ok, and by ok I mean it was mostly dry, dry enough for me to wash Otto and for The Navigator to load our clothes and food for the journey ahead. Although the rain was lashing down as we left Argyll today the journey was uneventful until we left our pitstop at Bothwell Services when, as well as lashing rain I had to contend with a side on gale until Carlisle.

Our first overnight stop was, as ever, the Kingstown Industrial Estate which is usually quiet but tonight was more so as it’s a Bank Holiday weekend so the surrounding works are closed for the weekend.

Monday 26th of August
Carlisle to Newark via Leeds (53.091084, -0.785852)
Who would have thought that in an industrial estate miles from the sea that seagulls would waken The Navigator up in the early hours of the morning but that’s what happened. I then got blamed for her lack of sleep by getting up to the toilet and immediately going back to sleep where The Navigator lay awake until 7am when she got up to make breakfast and prepare to move on!

True, we had a bit of a drive ahead of us but not at 7am! The weather was a marked improvement on yesterday with bright sunshine and a quiet M6 to get us on our way. That is until we were approaching Shap where a side on gale, thick mist and torrential rain made the drive a bit of a nightmare. We were heading for Leeds to drop some things off for Emma and Google Maps took us over the A65 which, given the high wind, was a better choice than going over the A66 or M62.

We made it on to Brownhills at Newark by mid afternoon and had a walkabout the showroom to kill some time but resisting the temptation to buy another van this time!

Tuesday 27th of August
Brownhills, Newark (53.091084, -0.785852)
Today Otto was having a Habitation check, hence the reason to be back at Brownhills. As expected it passed with flying colours with no issues detected which was comforting given we were about to head off to foreign climes for two months.

The other good news we had today was a visit from friends Garry and Carol who we haven’t seen for a while. They are about to head off in a few weeks for their annual winter break so it was great that our paths could cross again and another bonus was that they brought tons of brochures for one of the cities we will be heading to in a few weeks time, as well as talking us through where to stay and what to see.

Wednesday 28th of August
Newark to Cross Vale Farm CL, Dedham (51.943282, 0.992609)
One of the benefits of buying a van from Brownhills is that you are allowed to return and spend twenty nights a year on their customer parking area with all the facilities for free. One of those facilities was put to good use this morning before we left – the jacuzzi and swimming pool, and it was a relaxing start to the day it must be said even though I don’t swim a stroke!

We have three nights to kill before getting the ferry at Harwich on Sunday morning without much of a plan of where to stay after leaving here this morning. First port of call was Currys to try and get a power cable for my laptop as, silly me, I forgot to bring it with me! No luck! Next stop was Aldi to top up on groceries for the next few days until we can raid the Lidl in Gouda.

The final mission was to top up on diesel at the next door Esso for my Nectar points before we set off. By this time it was 1.30pm and the pangs of hunger forced me to pull into the first big lay-by on the A1 for lunch. Suitably refreshed we headed to Cross Vale Farm, a Caravan and Motorhome Club CL near Dedham and we arrived in bright sunshine and a temperature of 82 degrees, a huge difference from Ardrishaig on Sunday.

Thursday 29th of August
Cross Vale Farm CL, Dedham (51.943282, 0.992609)
This is Constable Country and the famous mill that John Constable painted in 1821 is only a few miles away and it would have been interesting to visit the site but the prospect of getting Otto parked there was slim so we settled for a lazy day sitting out in the warm sunshine. The highlight of the morning was watching dragonflies fly about, including an unusually orange one. I had ordered a power cable from Amazon to be delivered here and it arrived this afternoon, but as we are on a pitch with no electricity I’ll have to wait until tomorrow to make sure it works.

The afternoon was rounded off by having the first barbecue of this trip and delicious it was too.

Friday 30th of August
Cross Vale Farm CL, Dedham (51.943282, 0.992609)
Today we are moving all of two hundred yards from the tranquil corner of the field to be beside the farmhouse to plug into an electricity socket to top up the batteries and allow me to do a few things on my laptop. Before I moved the van The Navigator set off to see if she could top up on her chestnut collection from a huge tree on the edge of the field. On their recent visit our granddaughters quizzed granny about her bowl of chestnuts and granny related the old wife’s tale about chestnuts warding off spiders.

After searching the internet, as you do, to check this story, unfortunately, there’s no conclusive proof that conkers repel spiders. The story goes that conkers contain a noxious chemical that spiders avoid, but no-one’s ever been able to scientifically prove it. There’s hearsay that if a spider gets close to a conker it will curl its legs up and die within one day. Eilidh and Callie took some back to Belfast to try this theory out as they frequently have spiders in their house.

It’s another glorious day weatherwise and the only sound we hear is the pigeons cooing in the bushes next to the van and the odd private plane flying directly overhead. We can see planes making their approach into Stansted to the south but they are too high and far away to be heard. We have really enjoyed being on the corner of this farmer’s field as it has been so relaxing and we have benefited from it. The last few months has been stressful for The Navigator and the next two will be mostly hectic, so it was good to have a relaxing break in the middle of it all.

Saturday 31st of August
Cross Vale Farm CL to Harwich (51.942256, 1.290725)
There was no hurry to leave the site so we had a relaxing morning, the highlight of which was watching two squirrels jump about on the nearby chestnut tree. One of the features of this site has been the abundance of apple trees with many different varieties ripening and almost ready for harvesting.

After servicing the van we headed five miles into Colchester to pick up some AdBlue from Halfords as we have a warning light randomly coming on telling me the reservoir needs topping up in the next 800 miles, so better to do it in this country. Aldi was in the same row of shops so we bought a few fresh items before heading for our usual seafront park-up in Harwich. It was blustery with occasional showers and a strong wind blowing in from the sea when we arrived on the seafront. Due to the inclement conditions we hunkered down and didn’t even manage out for a walk.

There were quite a few other vans parked up here including another Auto-Trail F series along with some Dutch and German motorhomes, all drawn to this spot for a free night before heading for the ferry in the morning, a mile and a half away.

Sunday 1st of September
Harwich to Gouda (52.010999, 4.717075)
We were both awake before the alarm went off and after breakfast we headed to the port to board the Stenna Britannica, the massive ship that took us effortlessly over to the Hook of Holland for the princely sum of £ 147.00 This crossing is an absolute bargain, and although it is one of the longer ones, to the continent, it works out much cheaper than Dover to Calais and you get a mini-cruise thrown in for good measure to set you up for the trip ahead. Lunch was slightly more expensive than last time but was excellent none the less and afterwards we settled down to relax for the afternoon.

As we waited in line to clear customs and immigration a dragonfly landed on Otto’s arial and perched there until we had to creep forward.

Monday 2nd of September
Gouda (52.010999, 4.717075)
I’ve described the Klein America motorhome park-up on numerous occasions in previous blogs and suffice to say it was packed when we arrived. There seems to have been an event on in the nearby city centre so a lot of the designated motorhome spaces were taken by cars so we managed to squeeze into a space to within six inches of a Belgian van but he came out for a chat in perfect English and said he didn’t mind. About an hour later the car sharing our space left so I could re-position the van into the middle of the pitch.

It was a scorching hot morning but when we opened the blinds I could see a lot of vans had already left so I moved to get on to a better pitch and connect to the power, all still for € 8 (£ 6.70) a day. The first full day of the holiday threw up a major problem! The Navigator, thinking that we were heading into winter, only brought one pair of (white) shorts and had already slittered something on them so they had to be washed already…

We had a leisurely walk into the city centre but a Monday is not the best day to visit Gouda as a fair proportion of the shops were shut with Sunday and Monday being their two day weekend. Our favourite Kibbling fish shop was also closed which was a disappointment so we made do with fries smothered in sate sauce, which was no real hardship.

Back at the van we sat out in the shade of Otto and we’re joined by fellow Brits who parked beside us. We had a long chat with them and found out they were living in their van full time, something The Navigator will not contemplate.

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Tuesday 3rd of September
Gouda to Urk (52.66008, 5.59943)
Hands up everyone who has heard of Urk. I thought not, but to be fair neither had we, but it was not too far off the direction we were heading in so we decided to stop there for the night night. After stocking up on a few of our Dutch favourites at Lidl, we set off from Gouda and the journey took about ninety minutes and was fairly unremarkable.

Urk is north east of Amsterdam and is not in a touristy area of the Netherlands, but wow, what a find. The Navigator has a mantra, one that dictates we get up early and get to the next park-up before lunchtime, and to be fair to her logic worked well on this occasion as there were only a few spaces left when we arrived at 11.30am. The site has twenty spaces at a marina and has all the facilities for € 18 (£ 15.17) a night and The Navigator, who can be a hard task master where facilities are concerned, gave them a glowing endorsement so we booked in for two nights.

We sat outside until the early afternoon under blue skies, but with darker clouds on the horizon, and later had a walk around the marina to see the wide range of craft on display from fishing boats, to sailing and motor yachts and fishing craft. There were a few multi-million pound superyachts which took the eye too. There is a part of the harbour given over to ship repairing and a couple of boats were on the slips being worked on. In another area there is a world renowned ship repair and restoration yard which specialises in superyacht and expedition yachts.

All in all a very interesting port but after we had completed a lap of it the dark clouds started to deposit some rain on us so we made our way the short distance back to Otto. It rained all night!

Wednesday 4th of September
Urk (52.66008, 5.59943)
It had stopped raining this morning but it was overcast but still warm so we headed out for a walk around the town and very pleasant it was too, however, after an hour or so drizzle turned into proper rain so, once more, we headed back to Otto. The twenty pitches were all taken last night with many vans turned away but there were only a handful of vans still here on our return.

After lunch we ventured out again, heading along the quayside in the direction of the lighthouse which is a national monument in the Netherlands. A lighthouse has been on this spot since the 1600s when Urk was an island but this one dates from the late 1800s. We sat and took in the view and saw dozens of wind turbines as far as the eye could see but they were not contributing much to the electricity grid as there was hardly any wind at all.

In the marina part of the harbour there is a large replica of an Orca as according to old history tales the name of the fishery town of Urk comes from the name Orca, therefore a model of an adult orca is prominently placed in the middle of the current marina. It even spouts every once in a while.

Another feature of this area was a statue of a woman in local costume looking in vain for a loved one to return from the sea and what makes it all the more poignant is the scores of names of all the local fishermen lost at sea down the years, from nine to ninety years of age. Thankfully none since 2019…

It was late afternoon by this time and decided to treat ourselves to a portion of kibbling as, when we leave here tomorrow morning, we will not see the sea until we board the ferry to take us back to Blighty. It was delicious, as most kibbling are, and well worth the wait since we had some last year. Living on the coast in Scotland we are no strangers to a good fish supper but the Dutch use a different batter which gives kibbling a unique taste. Not better than a fish supper, just different. It was still overcast and a few spots of rain could be felt but it came to nothing.

This Dutch fishing village of Urk is possibly the most devout Christian community in the extremely secular Netherlands. More than 90% of its 20,000 residents go to church and the Dutch Reformed Protestant stronghold has more churches per capita than most European towns.

Although we left home on the 25th of August and had been in the Netherlands a few days, it was in Urk when I felt that our holiday had really begun. It was a combination of being in a new place to us, eating ‘foreign’ food and getting into the rhythm of motorhome life again.

Thursday 5th of September
Urk to Meppel (52.696209, 6.181073)
Nope, we had never heard of Meppel either but decided to head there as it was kind of on our route towards Germany. We serviced the van before leaving Urk as we had no idea if the next destination had any services at all. The drive took less than an hour and was a typical drive in rural Netherlands, varying from agriculture to forests with impressive pristine towns and villages, and, of course, views of canals of all sizes in sight every few minutes.

Our first impression of Meppel was a surprise at the size of it and the thought that without satnav no one would ever find this Camper Platz. But thanks to Google Maps we did find it, arriving just before lunchtime in accordance with The Navigator’s mantra of getting to the next destination in the morning which again proved to be spot on as by early afternoon all the spaces were more or less taken. There must be about thirty pitches and we managed to get on a prime pitch facing the canal, and, as it happens, beside another British van and what a pair of miseries the two of them were, not venturing more than the customary ‘hello’. Mind you they hardly spoke to each other so no surprise there and we left them to their own devices.

We were blessed by a beautiful warm, bordering on hot, afternoon so after lunch we sat outside and read our books, which is a bit of a novelty for me it must be admitted. This site is part of a canal marina and the facilities are, once again, exceptionally good, especially for € 16.50 (£ 13.96) a night. It was so warm that we sat out until the sun set and were entertained by the activity of small boats on the canal, but also walkers and joggers passing on the tow path directly in front of us.

Friday 6th of September
Meppel (52.696209, 6.181073)
Yesterday we made no effort to walk into the centre of Meppel so today we were going to explore this town we know nothing about, apart from the fact that a tornado struck the town on the 24th of August this year and there are a few YouTube videos showing the scale of the damage.

The fifteen minute walk into the town centre started along a canal, not unsurprisingly, and past a historic windmill before we arrived at the main shopping street.

Meppel is a fairly prosperous town, as most provincial Dutch towns seem to be. It had the usual Dutch high street retailers but also a good mixture of independent shops as well. We wandered about for a couple of hours before resting our old bones at a coffee shop in the little square in front of the main church, which was closed today.

Suitably refreshed with our tea, coffee and apple cake smothered in skooshie cream we set off exploring again until it was time for lunch which was frites smothered with sate sauce (moi), and frites with mayo for The Navigator. We were sitting outside the cafe under an oversized red umbrella, when, out of nowhere, it started to rain very heavily accompanied by thunder and lightning (very very frightening) as Queen sang all those years ago. In a bit of a lull we headed back to the van in a marked manner and were confined to barracks for the rest of the day.

Saturday 7th of September
Meppel to Minden (Germany) (52.286593, 8.924286)

We have been to Minden before on our way through Germany, Poland and on to the Baltic States last year so knew exactly where we were heading to, a huge motorhome Stellplatz on the banks of the Weser River. This spot is busy at the best of times as there is a huge car park where people come to barbecue, relax and swim in the river. After an uneventful drive of two and a half hours, we arrived at midday in scorching hot weather, a contrast from the misty damp morning in Meppel. We managed to get a good pitch, one of the few with an electric power connection and ate lunch outside in the shade of Otto. We were lucky as whoever used the socket I plugged into had left so much credit that we never had to pay for the two days we were here.

As we had explored Minden last year, coupled to the fact the temperature was in the mid-eighties, we decided to relax and take it easy for the rest of the afternoon with an ice cream from a visiting van. A barbecue duly followed accompanied by some of Lidl’s finest (cheapest) vino.

Sunday 8th of September
Minden (52.286593, 8.924286)
The Navigator, who is our resident weather forecaster informed me that it was going to be increasingly showery as the day progressed so we should go for a walk before it started. I didn’t have a problem with that but there was something happening down at the river that would need investigation first.

Yesterday the park was about eighty percent populated by what could be described as ‘ethnic minorities’ but this morning it was a few hundred white people congregating beside the river. Even The Navigator was intrigued so we went down to investigate and could see it was some sort of religious ceremony, but one we had never seen before, and in a language that was not German.

What was further fascinating was that there were some adults dressed all in white who seemed to be the centre of attention, and after asking a teenager who spoke some English, it turned out we were watching a Russian Evangelical christening of the aforementioned people in white and after some singing and bible reading, they were ceremonially dunked in the river.

Our curiosity satisfied we headed for a circular walk over the two bridges and back then sat outside to have lunch and as I write this at 2pm it still hasn’t rained but by 5pm the rain was lashing down so its a good job we packed everything away earlier as we’re moving on tomorrow anyway.

Monday 9th of September
Minden to Hamelin (52.095949, 9.358289)
Everyone has heard of Hamelin (haven’t you?) and the children’s story of the Pied Piper of Hamelin.
“The legend dates back to the Middle Ages. The earliest references describe a piper, dressed in multicolored (“pied”) clothing, who was a rat catcher hired by the town to lure rats away with his magic pipe. When the mayor and citizens refused to pay for this service as promised, he retaliated by using his instrument’s magical power on their children, leading them away as he had the rats. This version of the story spread as folklore and has appeared in the writings of Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, the Brothers Grimm, and Robert Browning, among others. The phrase “pied piper” has become a metaphor for a person who attracts a following through charisma or false promises.”

It was dull but dry this morning as we left Minden for the journey of less than an hour to Hamelin. On the way out of Minden we had the choice of a Rewe, Netto or Lidl and we chose the latter as it had the largest car park and we are used to the Lidl offering.

Duly stocked up with a few necessities we headed off on rural roads with the odd stretch of dual carriageway to allow overtaking. Due to pilot error (I put in the wrong co-ordinates for the Stellplatz) we did a couple of laps of Hamelin before arriving at the correct Stellplatz beside the river Weser. It was about half full when we arrived and the big decision was which pitch to choose as most were on a slight slope.

The pitch that was the best we could see was actually next to another Scottish van from Fife and we had a chat with them later in the afternoon. The site was cheap at € 9 ( £ 7.53) a night with electricity charged at € 2 (£ 1.67) for 8 hours but the issue was that it all had to be paid in coins which we managed to do. Just! Although we have euro notes with us, we tend to pay for everything abroad with a Revolut Visa card hence we have very few coins. We would find out later in the trip that coins are a necessity for paying at some Stellplatz locations and especially for metered electricity and water.

It takes about 10 to 15 minutes to walk into the centre of Hamelin from the Stellplatz along a part of the river Weser.

On arrival in the city centre, you are immediately struck by the number of immaculate historic buildings in pristine condition, many from the 1500s. We wandered around for ages, following a route signposted to show off the best of Hamelin, and impressive it was too, a mix of historic buildings with one very modern shopping mall on three levels. We’ve been to Germany many times and have our favourite shops and one of those is Tchibo, an odd mix of coffee shop, clothing items and quirky household things you don’t really need but are interesting all the same.

The Navigator had a latte and I had a tea as we shared a slice of apple cake (again) but it was a bit of a disappointment. At 3.35pm we headed, along with all the other tourists in the town, to sit in front of yet another impressive building from the 17th century to see the famous glockenspiel depicting the story of The Pied Piper. Unbeknown to me, my camera had a fault, so my pictures of the display were not captured, but suffice to say it was one of the better glockenspiels displays we had seen on our travels. Although looking as though it had been there since the 17th century, the glockenspiel was only added to the building in 1964.

Although a very famous children’s story, which has been retold down the centuries by versions spread as folklore in the writings of Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, the Brothers Grimm, and Robert Browning, among others, it is actually a chilling tale of the mass kidnapping of children who were never to be seen again, if the tale is to be believed!

We wandered back to the van, compared travel notes with our Scottish neighbours, had dinner and a relaxing evening as there was a two and a half hour drive in prospect tomorrow.

The journey taken on this Blog Post.

COMING SOON ON THE NEXT BLOG…

The next blog will see us driving further into Germany with every destination new to us, which should be fascinating.
PS. Spoiler alert. It is…

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