The Owl & The Pussycat: Zipping Through Benelux

A couple of geeks all dressed up for winter in Benelux

Benelux, otherwise known as Belgium, Netherlands (Holland) & Luxembourg earned its name when they joined Germany, France and Italy to form the European Coal and Steel Community, then the European Economic Community and today the European Union. We start our tour of Benelux in Shwebsange in the far south of Luxembourg and spend a grand total of three nights in Luxembourg travelling just 95 miles from bottom to top. The first night we spend wild camping in a marina on the Moselle River, a busy waterway that sees row boats, fishing boats and tug boats passing up and down at all hours of the day and night. We take a walk to Wellenstein, the next village along, a busy agricultural area that used to be popular for wine production. The locals have kept a lot of the old grape press machinery as focal points around the main square. The main road into the village is lined with allotments housing all sorts of vegetables carefully guarded by giant rabbits and guinea pigs. The village offers an interesting mix of houses, some coverted from old farming buildings and others modern blocks of marble with floor to ceiling windows making it an interesting walk. The locals certainly make the most of their land, selling homemade jams and preserves, wine and fresh fruit & veg at the end of each drive. There's a real sense of independence here and certainly no need for a village store, they have everything they need right in their back garden. Or their neighbours.

The following morning we are woken early by two men repairing and cleaning a boat right next to the camper, not that it matter as we intend to head into Luxembourg City for the day. We eventually manage to find a car park without height restrictions and Jac, after a few attempts negotiates the van into a rather tight spot before we skip off into the city. Its a bustling city centre like many others although here the streets aren't lined with delicious smelling cafes and restaurants and people aren't meeting socially to chat over coffee like many other European city's. Here the atmosphere is serious and professional and we are carried in a sea of business men and women heading to and from work with bulging briefcases. Strangely, at times I kind of miss the formality.

We walk to Luxembourg Central Station and along the high street fighting temptation all the way from one end to the other. The high street here, like most others is lined with shops all advertising a sale and I just cant help myself. I whizz in and out of a few looking for a new coin purse after I managed to loose mine at Oktoberfest, thankfully Jac had managed to spend all of the money in it prior to this. Jac manages to drag me away and we leave the high street to get some sight seeing under our belts. We cross the Passerelle Viaduct over the Petrusse River Valley and head for Place Guillaume where a large food and flower market is held every Wednesday and Saturday. There are stalls upon stalls selling local produce and an impressive collection of fresh flowers is on offer. After making our way through the old town we come across the Houses of Parliament linked to the Palace of the Grand Dukes. The whole place is patrolled by armed guards pacing up and down along the perimeter, some of which barely look old enough to be out of school. Further along our route we reach the Luxembourg City History Museum, the entrance is lined with metal bollards and these are dressed in brightly coloured knitted woollen warmers as part of the current exhibition.

Shwebsange, Luxembourg

Passerelle Viaduct

Luxembourg City

Place Guillaume Market

Palace of the Grand Dukes

Luxembourg City History Museum

We head back to the camper and out of Luxembourg towards Belgium. We cross the border and its noticeably different, firstly the quality of the roads are much better here and somehow driving a 22 year old van suddenly isn't so bad, Jac even likens it to a Range Rover (it's the little things). They also take great pride in the appearance of their houses here which has us both gawping out of the windows. 99 km later we reach our first stop in Belgium and our first opportunity to try actual Belgian chocolate. Being avid chocolate eaters this is pretty exciting.

Bastogne, a Walloon municipality of Belgium located in the Ardennes, a region of forest and rough terrain around the Ardennes mountain range and the Moselle river basin. Bastogne is best known for its WW2 history, something which we have learnt a great deal about in the last few months. Bastogne was attacked by German forces when Hitler was looking for control of the Ardennes, it was later liberated by English and American allies, evident by many memorials placed around the town. We leave our wild camp (a car park in the centre of town) and head out on a walking tour that takes us to 17 points of interest around the town. The tour takes us around an hour although we struggle to understand the significance as all the information is in French and German. We pass the 101st Airborne Museum, the Bastogne Barracks and the Bastogne War Museum before taking a slow bimble around the numerous chocolate shops the town has to offer.

Our next stop is Barrage De La Gileppe, otherwise known as Gileppe Dam. An arch-gravity dam on the Gileppe river built in the 1870's to supply water to the wool industry in a nearby town. We consult the map and agree on a 3.2 km walk around the National Park. We spend a couple of hours walking through the forest before heading back to the camper for lunch. We hadn't planned to stay here overnight but after seeing the dam and exploring the national park we decide we'll walk here again tomorrow and settle in the car park for the night. After an incredibly quiet if not eerie night in the national park we decide to head off to another in search of some more dried leaves for Oscar to roll around in.

105 km north we reach the Hoge Kempen National Park, the first in the Flemish Region in Belgium. The park opened in 2006 and covers 5700 hectares of woodland and heathland, just about enough space for an adventurous, disobedient little Beagle. We embark on a 7.7 km walk which takes us though woodland, farmland, equestrian land and a couple of quiet residential areas. This walk is a sure sign autumn is here, the ground is thick with golden brown leafs, the air is crisp and the sun is doing its best to shine. The warm cosy feel of autumn is soon shattered as we make it back to the camper just as the heavens open. We pay 5€ for water and electricity and spend the rest of the evening shouting over the torrential rain which makes being in the camper sound like the inside of a baked bean can.

Another day another nature park. In case you haven't realised, at this point we are living on our last few euros for the month and are awaiting a care package containing the next months budget from home. We stop at a recreational park in a town called Boom 16 km south of Antwerp. The park is home to the Tomorrowland Festival, the largest electronic music festival in the world. Since the start of Tomorrowland there have also been other editions of the festival created in America and Brazil. Arne Quinze, a Belgian modern artist created a bridge in the park 600 metres long with a central statue symbolising freedom. The bridge is imprinted with thousands and thousands of messages from Tomorrowland festival goers so we spend a considerable amount of time here reading them whilst Oscar waits impatiently.

WW2 memorial, Bastogne

Barrage De La Gileppe

Always making friends

Even Oscar is feeling the cold

No.1 priority, keep warm. Even if you do look like a red grape!

Tree warmers, Boom (Tomorrowland)

Boom, Belgium

The Arne Quinze Bridge

After a week of outdoor activities, cheap food and free accommodation we head into The Netherlands and our first campsite in a long time. We spend two days in Oosterhout making our way through weeks and weeks of dirty laundry and enjoying hour long showers. After a couple of quiet days we begin to make our way north towards Amsterdam. We make stops at Oud Beijerland, Vianen and Huizen. Four days later we check into a campsite in Amstelveen 10 km outside Amsterdam. Later that evening we catch a bus to Schipol Airport to meet my mum and Sophie who have booked last minute flights to spend a week with us.

The following week is spent making almost daily trips into Amsterdam city centre, we do a crazy amount of sightseeing, eat a disgusting amount of fast food and spend a silly amount of money considering our aim is to see as much of Europe on as little as possible. There is far too much about Amsterdam to fit into one post so I'll make it short and sweet and summarise the best bits.

We arrive for our first morning in the capital, the streets are crawling and the smells are amazing. The pavements must be 8 people deep for a far as the eye can see and we run the risk of losing someone. Probably Sophie, at 10 years old she is far wiser and more aware than I ever was. its worrying and I hold her hand so tightly she asks me to let go. We make our first mistake by stopping for lunch at a pizzeria. Next to the Amsterdam Sex Museum. Sophie is unable to eat due to her hysterical laughing fit so we quickly finish up and head on. Next we reach Dam Square lined on three sides by the Royal Palace, Madame Tussauds, Nieuwe Kerk (15th century church) and THE largest H&M I have ever seen. Dam Square is popular with street performers drawing large crowds, we arrive to a brass band and stand taking it all in for a few moments before heading down to the Anne Frank House.

Conveniently Sophie is doing a module on WW2 at school so she is desperate to see the Anne Frank House. After queuing for around two hours we eventually make it inside. We spend hours making our way around each room reading all of the information and watching every video guide there is. Sophie answers every question I have and I can tell she is feeling pleased with herself for being so knowledgeable. Next we head to the Amsterdam Cheese Museum leaving mum and Jac in a bar whilst Sophie and I try every kind of cheese known to man. Sophie pockets a few squares and saves them for Oscar.

We decide to take a boat trip along the North Sea Canal. We pay 8€ each and excitedly jump on to find our seats. Sophie's half term homework is to research a waterway in England and another elsewhere in Europe. Naturally she choses the River Amstel so this is fitting. This is more of a field trip than a holiday!! The boat trip lasts around an hour and we are shown the smallest house in Amsterdam (2 meters wide), the smallest canal in Amsterdam, the dancing houses of Amsterdam, the Mayors House, an entire street of houses owned by one wealthy Italian family and the Seven Bridges.

Amsterdam is probably the most vibrant city we've experienced yet. The 'aromatic' coffee shops, the X-rated window displays and the availability of absolutely any kind of food you could ever wish for puts it first on my list of places to revisit. We've been invited to visit extended family in west Germany so after waving goodbye to Mum and Sophie we begin our drive to Wachtberg, 268km east of Amsterdam.