Bumpy bumpy bumpy roads.

Day 13, Saturday, Herselt, 14^th May.

Bumpy bumpy bumpy roads.

We woke this morning feeling like crap. Either too much sleep or not enough? Groggy. We decided to hit the road to Venlo, although not all of the way in one trip, my 3 hour rule was definitely in place. After 3 hours we would stop.

 4 ½ hours later, after driving on the most frustrating roads ever, bumpy, potholed, diversion after diversion, well not even diversions, just piles of sand in the middle of the road, one not one, but three of the roads we wanted to follow.

Stressed, not knowing where we were and hungry we found a campsite we had spotted on the map, it was by a river so I had taken a liking to it. It appeared closed, and when reading the sign, it would have been too expensive at 20 euro a night so we wouldn’t have stayed there anyway. Another fifteen minutes away and over some more bumps and into some more potholes we reached another campsite. Yippeee, at 12.50 euro a night it seemed cheap! Although it isn’t really. A nice site though, old fashioned and relaxed, there was a rabbit, who we named Francis who seemed wild and trusting, and many dogs of all different sizes camping with their owners.

There also appears to be a resident British couple in a tiny caravan with many canvas out houses. On returning from the shower the man of the couple, in his sixties with long grey hair was oil painting and listening to opera, he waved as I went by. I want to photograph him, maybe tomorrow?

I decided to make a proper tea, so made pasta with wine and courgettes and garlic bread. Yummy. Then it was laundry time as Bob has been pant-less for at least two days. It is not drip drying in the cold evening. It is much colder in Belgium than in France. It isn’t as pretty, the towns remind me of lego land and the streets lack signs, and then there is the bumpy, bumpy, bumpy roads. I have already lost 3 tea cups and a teapot to these roads, je suis un appy. I would like to like Belgium more, but the stresses of getting around I think are tainting my thoughts. The Belgians are extra friendly though which makes up for the frustration of being on the road here. Tomorrow we are going to cycle and explore some of the surrounding area we drove through earlier in the day, it looked quite interesting and quirky, and and un-plastic.

Goodnight Francis, goodnight Bob, x.