16th August Stayed on free Carpark, Voeren, Belgium. No services. 50.7565,5.76001
We left Enchede before eight in the morning, we don’t normally get up so early and set off. Our destination for the morning was Winterswijk because it has the largest and best camping shop in the Netherlands if not Europe. We didn’t buy much but had fun browsing and getting ideas. To go through all the halls it takes hours and they have a cafe and restaurant so you can have breaks. We had other things to see and do so we only stayed an hour and a half.
We entered Germany and headed for Duisburg. I had read about a disused steel factory that had been converted into a park. Parking was not a problem as there was acres of places to park in. The place is free and covers 180 hectares (that means big). The place was abandoned in 1985 and the site has been cleaned up and made into a park. It has cafes, restaurant, skate park, rock climbing walls, gardens and lots of places to explore. Photographers are everywhere taking photos in all different angles. I did take a lot of photos on my small camera. At the end of the blog I will show some of them. You could climb up the stairs through some of the old factory and then walk underneath other parts of it. A few hours well spent.
Emscherstraße 71, 47137 Duisburg, Germany
Three countries in one day.
In the morning we started in the Netherlands, then into Germany and we finished off the day in Belgium. We spent the night in a town called Voeren in Belgium in a carpark with several other motorhomes.
17th August stayed overnight in Arlo, Belgium. Behind the fire station, water and electricity all free. 49.69 , 5.81903
Another milestone
We have been getting up early and on the road at about 8.30. Our first stop was to get some shopping and we soon found an Aldi. We only needed some basics but always see other interesting things to buy. On the road our speedometer ticked over 200,000kilometers. When we bought the “Bunyip” back in 2009 it had 68,000kilometers on the clock. It’s not doing too bad for its age. This is our 10th trip, Helen and John have used it 3 times, Sam and Sue once and Luke and Karen once. It has definitely paid for itself many times.
Bastongne
We arrived in Bastongne at first went to visit the memorial a couple of kilometres out of the town. It was a wet and so we didn’t stay long and drove into the town. The town provides free car parks for motorhomes but does not allow them to stay overnight. We walked through the town to a place we haven’t been to for 40 years. We do remember the tank in the square and we had pork and chips in one of the cafes.
6600 Bastogne, Belgium
Apart from the fact that Bastongne was the centre for the Battle of the Bulge in WW11 it is an ordinary town with not a lot to see. The weather did not help either, wet and dreary. Our spot for the night was in the town of Arlo in a motorhome parking area behind the fire station. We got exited as we even had free electricity, strange as we really don’t need it as everything was charged. A quiet night despite the rain pattering on our roof.
Glad to see you back on the road. 10th trip! Wow! Just love the places you find…just goes to show that there is always something new to discover in areas already visited. Have fun. Cheers. Mark & Mireille