Bye Bye The Netherlands

Ok to begin with an apology; once again the blog is delayed and once again the bad workmen (Phil and Toj) blame their tools. The internet is a slippery beast, a little like the soap in the shower; it is tricky to pick up and even harder to hold on to. Not to worry though we have it in our hands, so here is what we’ve been up to since we last spoke. Please read the Amsterdam/Zandvoort/Haarlem blog first.

Day 28 - SNEEK

The following morning was windy (in the gale force sense of the word) and rainy (in the torrential sense of the word). A very excited Toj and a very disgruntled Phil sat in the cab of the van, ready to return to Zandvoort for the F1 experience. It seemed Toj was intent on keeping his promise to the Dutchman and Phil was less than pleased at this display of solidarity. Now to say we went to the race, in fact to say we got near the track would be an exaggeration. This did not affect Toj’s good mood. Apparently noises and a sign that said ‘Welkom Race Fans’ was enough to quench his need for speed, they were not enough however to improve the mood of a very wet and cold Phil. At the time his words were “I’m cold, I’m wet and I hate cars!” (love the van, but hate cars).

After our Formula 1 fun we were heading to Frisland, a northern province of The Netherlands, famous for its cows, its water and being quiet. To get there we had to drive across the water and with the wind and the rain we feared for the van and ourselves. Lucky for us the industrious Dutch had built a big dam, with a big road on it so we were ok. In our madness we rightly stopped on the dam, in the rain, for the delicacy that is – ‘stolen’ hostel sandwiches.

Our first destination was Sneek and it is safe to say this is a place that lived up to Frislands quiet reputation. After checking into our hostel we soon realised that the place was only populated by a German family and ourselves. The following morning we took a look around this quiet town and saw a bit of The Netherlands that English tourists rarely seem to reach. In fact through out this part of Europe the question most people seemed to ask is ‘why are you here?’ And at that point we tell them all about Genesis and the campaign.

Travelled = 1046 Miles (we hit 1000 Miles on route at 12:50 on the N242 around Alkmaarseweg)

Day 29 - LEEUWARDEN via HARLINGEN

From Sneek we ventured further north and further east toward Leeuwarden. On route we decided to stop for lunch in the port town of Harlingen. After eating more sandwiches (also they liberated from the hostel’s breakfast buffet) by more water, we trucked on and arrived in Leeuwarden late that afternoon. Leeuwarden is a modern university town and the capital of The Frisland Province. Here we found another sports centre and another free car park for the night. After we had chosen our spot we headed into town, to sample some of the student orientated watering holes. At this point another life lesson is about to be learnt.

If you arrive in a town after Tourist Information is closed and you don’t have a street map, the least you should do is make a note of where you’ve parked; an address or perhaps the name of the sports centre would have been helpful. This however we did not do and after enjoying a few of Leeuwarden’s bars, our decision to head back to the van was hampered somewhat by not knowing where we’d parked. Don’t get me wrong, we had a vague idea but the exact coordinates were a little hazy. Under normal circumstances loosing your vehicle is bad news; it is particularly bad when it’s also your home for the night. As luck would have it after an hour and a half of wandering we found a few familiar landmarks, namely a big sports centre and the van was safe and sound where we left it. Well you can guess what we said as we fell through the doors and into bed.

We woke to a beautiful sunny day and the incredible odour of what we like to call, Van Tang. Van Tang is a unique smell created when two (unwashed) lads sleep in a van that suffers with a minor condensation problem…mmmm, Van Tang! Slightly alarmed by this fragrance and in need of a little revival we decided to go for a swim and a shower at the sports centre, which had kindly put us up for the night. After a few lengths, a Jacuzzi dip, a ride on the slide and a good wash later, we were back on the road, this time to Groningen.

Travelled = 1103 Miles

Days 30&31 - GRONINGEN

Groningen was our last stop in The Netherlands and a nice place it was to. It is Frisland’s biggest ‘university town’, with a young and modern atmosphere, thrown into relief by a backdrop of old Dutch architecture. We had decided to make tourist information our first stop in order to find some accommodation with electricity and a shower, (we had begun to fear the Van Tang fumes were affecting our health). We found a cheap hostel on the outskirts of town, so it was time to extract the van from the multi-story car park where we’d squeezed it and move to there.

The van and the multi-story car park have a troubled relationship. Unfortunately in this instance they came to blows. As we descended the helter-skelter to ground level there was a section of car park ceiling that was lower than the 2 meters promised by the entrance barrier. From inside the cab we heard a crunch, which resulted in a series of swears that any van man would be proud of. From outside, the van appeared to be stuck, which resulted in another series of swears that no one could be proud of. Panic is the word we’d use, shear panic. Then followed some deep breaths, a bit of gently, gently driving and the removal of some bits of concrete that were hampering us and we were on our way again.

This ordeal resulted in the van suffering minor physical scars and Toj suffering major emotional scars, mainly because he could not bare the thought of having hurt the van… he loves the van.

When we arrived at the hostel we arrived at a strange place. Located in the back of an old paper mill, this hostel was a cross between army barracks and Biker Grove. With approximately five people on reception at all times and signs in every room saying acts violence were against the rules the place was secure enough. Unfortunately none of the five receptionists could give us any information about Groningen itself, so we explored it for ourselves. One final point about night in this hostel; when we came to go to bed the room was filled with an over powering smell of smoked cheese, ten times worse than Van Tang… oh the irony of it all.

The next day began with a huge success. We found a place that sold bacon butties as big as your head. This is a particularly tricky thing to come by in Europe and secured a smile on our faces for the rest of the day. From here on the rest of the day was committed to ‘business’, as we had found a café with free internet. We returned to the van, which was parked outside of a very swanky furniture shop, to drop our bags off before going out for the night. We had purposefully chosen a car park which was locked over night for extra security. What we had not banked on is that two executive members of staff would come parading out of the shop, trying to retrieve their own cars from this lock down. We were in the middle of sorting out our beds and other trivial matters such as getting changed. They looked at us strangely to say the least and we tried to look like were just the owners of a normal van. After a bit of high quality acting on our part the men eventually retreated to the shop and we took the opportunity to leave, hoping for the best.

Everything was fine when we returned from our night out, the men and their cars had gone and another vantastic night’s sleep was had by all. In the morning we decided to make use of the stores amenities. We paid for a coffee and got a toilet to use and a place to brush our teeth for free. We also got horrified looks from the two men we’d seen the night before, who happened to be having a meeting in the same cafe.

Travelled = 1163 Miles