Drachten to Hengelo

Wedneday 22nd June  – Ewout blog

On Friday we left Martins house and drove to the north of Holland. The new radio works great and soooo easy to use. The sound is much better than the old one and having an ipod jack means no more trying to tune it into a station.

On the way north we went to Lelystad where the Batavia replica ship is. In 2000 we went there with the whole family and they were building the “7 Provinces” ship.

Unfortunately they had a fire and the ship burnt down, but they have stated again.

Next to the shipyard is a new retail outlet village where we had a look around and I (Ewout ) bought a pair of crocs, very cheap as they were seconds 14€. We then headed to a caravan park just outside of Drachten where we were going to spend the next 3 nights. The campsite was on a old farm and very quite and peaceful, not that we spent much time there as it was only a place to sleep while we visited with Hilly , Oena and their family. After we had dinner Hilly and Oena came the caravan park to visit, and it didn’t seem like it was nearly a year since we saw them.

In the morning we were picked up by Oena had coffee at their house before being split up for the day. Gerla [their daughter] is getting married and the women Jenny, Hilly, Marian and Gerla went to Assen to get the wedding dress fitted. The men Oena, Sebastiaan, Weiber and I (Ewout) went to see some rally cars in action as the college where Oena teaches has 3 rally cars. We met later in the day and we all went out to the Wok Restaurant in the centre of Drachten. The food was great and so was the company, we had a really nice day and a very enjoyable evening. On Sunday we were again picked up from the campground and we had lunch with the family before we were taken to jail!!!!. Well a Prison Museum anyway. Situated in a village not far from Drachten. The museum in the Drenthe village of Veenhuizen shows the history of the prison system from 1600 to today, how prisoners were treated and the various punishments that were carried out. It was an interesting place to go, and as the weather was rather wet that day we spent it being educated about the Dutch penal system from the past to the present. We also went on a bus ride in an old prisoners bus through the local town and countryside with a guide who explained everything in Dutch, so for Jenny who couldn’t understand his rather fast and unusual dialect she found it a warm and cosy place to take a nap.

We then went back to Hilly and Oene’s for dinner and enjoyed our last meal with them before being taken back to the camper for bed.

We had a great weekend with them and it was sad (again) to leave but they have to work and we had to move on.

Jenny taking over blog:

The next morning started out looking a bit grey but we decided to check out a big camping supplies shop that we had been told about by Hilly & Oene. It wasn’t far out of our way and we had decided to buy another roof light/vent for the camper and thought it would be great if they had one then we wouldn’t have to visit the other camping store much further south. Without going on about it, we enjoyed looking at all the stuff, but no they did not have the one we wanted and after our shopping trip we headed north to the town of Dokkum in the far north of the Netherlands. We stopped on the way for lunch by a large canal and by this time the weather had turned to sunshine. We arrive in Dokkum late in the day and found a carpark next to the local library, so we unloaded the bikes and went for a look at the town. Ewout’s cousin Jeanette had recommended it so we were looking forward to seeing what she was impressed with. Setting off on our bikes we found it to be a very interesting picturesque old town surrounded by canals and built as a fortified town, with 2 windmills sitting prominently on the old ramparts of the town. It ended up being a lovely sunny afternoon and it was evident that the other visitors to the town were enjoying the sunshine too as many people on their boats were sunbaking while they could.

After a look around we decided to leave lovely Dokkum and head east towards another town on our “to do” list. Well maybe not so much a town as a shop, we were after new foam for the seats of the camper which is also used as a bed. The foam had got so soft and thin after 14 years that we thought it time to replace the old with new. We had an address on a piece of paper from a man who ran a bedding shop in a previous town we stopped to do some shopping at.

But it was getting late and we needed to find a place for the night, looking in our trusty camping guide book we found a place quite nearby and headed for it. Arriving at the campground we find the office closed, which seemed strange as it was only about 6pm, so Ewout is looking at the information and seeing what to do, 2 young women come out of the office and explain they are closed and that we should just go and park ourselves until the next morning. So that is what we did, though not where they suggested, we decided that closer to the ablution block was a good choice and no one was there to tell us any different then it didn’t matter for one night.

We found out the next day that it was not only a campground but a large holiday park, set beside a large lake the “town” was all holiday accommodation. The buildings were built to look like and old dutch town and situated by Lauwersmeer National Park.

The houses are built in Old Frisian style as well it has dozens of modern homes and a marina. There is an open waterway to the Lauwersmeer where you can go on boat trips, swim or enjoy the nature.

So after a quiet night we headed off to get our foam cushions and after driving past and not recognising it for a shop, we stopped and asked at the hardware store who then directed us back to the old farmhouse and we were fixed up with what we required. So Ewout now has a nice firm bed to sleep on and our bottoms don’t hit the board anymore when we sit at the table. win win.

Then it was on to Hengelo to visit Ewout’s cousin Mike. We arranged to meet him at his shop and luckily found a carpark right out the front. (no easy task in the motorhome) He welcomed us and offered the usual dutch drink (Coffee) so we sat in his storeroom/kitchen and caught up with all the news before going to the hospital to visit Uncle Eddie who hadn’t been well then we drove into Enschede to have dinner with Mike and his girlfriend Laura. We had a nice night sitting in the town square watching all the people coming and going while we enjoyed our meal. Later we had a walk around the town and coffee/tea in another café.

We spent the night in a carpark next to a botanic garden where we had stopped the year before and found it to be a quiet out of the way place to park.

Wednesday morning found us back on the road heading for another campingshop south of Enschede and where we had bought our last roof light/vent. The camping shop sells everything you could want, clothes, tents, caravans, all sorts of equipment, and everything you could want to repair or make your own camper, or caravan.

We found the skylight we wanted and a couple of other things and headed back to Martins house to have a couple of days with him and do a few things to the camper,

But that’s can wait for the next instalment.

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