A travellers dream, Wilma and Martein.

Day 16, Tuesday, Someren-Heide, 17^th May.

A travellers dream, Wilma and Martein.

My hair is amazing. After an amazing shower that cost 50 cents and using my new amazing hair conditioner, I feel amazing.

This morning we were unsure whether to move on orlook for work, a man Bob met in the toilets had told us about the asperges farm, so we asked the cleaning lady on the campsite if she knew of any farms, she asked another man who I believe was the gardener, who told me that the largest Asperges farm was just around the corner and that there was a campsite right next to it. We packed up faster than ever before, excited about the prospect of work and more excited about such a short journey to get to it. He was right, his directions perfect. At the farm we were told that there would be work once the sun came out but we needed to obtain a sophie (?) number to work in the Netherlands. Okay, this was promising, so we drove the whole 20 meters to the camsite. Martein met us at the gate and said he would get ‘the wife’. Wilma came out just seconds later and told us that the camping was free! A travellers dream, a dream which was cut short when Wilma told us that the mayor of Someren has banned people who live in caravans from working and that if we had jobs, we couldn’t camp. As we didn’t have jobs and a free campsite is nearly as good as having a job, and after promising Wilma that we wouldn’t get jobs or she would be fined 5000 euro, she led us through the gate onto her pristine campsite. I was expecting to be getting the porte pottie out on a free campsite, but no, there is electric which you pay for what you have used when you leave, water points, free hot showers, toilets, an incredible looking bar, atmospheric with a duke box, native American memorabilia, fake bears heads and cow skins hung all over the walls, this was brilliant!

Wilma made us milky coffee and we chatted about their place and where we had been and were going and discussed the state of the roads in Belgium. Wilma thinks we will lose the caravan in a pot hole when we reach Poland as apparently the roads are even worse there. Wilma and Martein were the most welcoming people ever, they have 2 horses, 2 dogs and 9 cats, one of which is pregnant. They told us they sometimes have parties in the bar, and sometimes they just sit and people come, the duke box has ‘lost its memory’ so doesn’t work but I love that they still have it as a piece of furniture.

I think we are the only ones here, there are 2 other caravans without tenants and many more in storage in one of the barns. The area is beautiful, there are hundreds of cyclists, two of which are soon to be Bob and me and just miles of asperges and strawberries and wholesomeness.

What an amazing day, its amazing how amazing conditioner and an amazing couple can make al the difference,

Goodnight Someren-Heide, je taime tout, x.