A good story needs an interesting life……
April 18th means we are in the second half of April, which is well into Spring and we would have thought it would be a bit warmer by now. So when I stepped outside early in the morning, I was a bit taken aback to find myself slipping on the ice on the step stool. The grass all around Eileen was crispy crunchy and sparkling with ice crystals, so I made it a very quick dash to the chilly bathroom and in my haste didn’t notice that the sky was the most lovely clear blue, not a cloud, not a raindrop, just blue.
It took us about an hour to get from Camping Hof van Eeden near Aarschot, to Waterloo, just south of Brussels. Yes I did sing a little Abba song en route. We thought we would spend a couple of hours wandering the area made famous for the Battle of Waterloo, a.k.a. the Battle La Belle Alliance. But there is now a brand new, huge, interactive Wellington Museum, complete with 3D movie as well as the old ‘Panorama’, which meant we found ourselves spending over four-hours there. The ticket did include the five-minute shuttle bus ride and entry to Hougoumont, a farm, which was in the centre of the main battle in June 1815. We also puffed our way up the 226 steps to get to the top of the Butte du Lion, while a party of young children bounced their way down, counting every step as they went.
Just as we got back on the main road south, we were pulled over, again; this time by the Belgian Gendarmerie; we’re beginning to wonder why we look so suspicious to the European law enforcers…? Ah well, after all the awful terror attacks of late, we would rather they were overzealous. After our papers were all checked, the friendly uniformed chappie sent us on our way with instructions on finding the Napoleon Museum, a “must see” he said, but we were a bit overloaded with history by then and put some mileage under Eileen’s belt , finally stopping for the night at Camping Spineuse near Neufchâteau, close to the Luxembourg border. It was a nice campsite, good showers and a delightful arrangement of more rabbits and ducks than campers.
Tuesday was another ice crystal morning, even the rabbits looked like they were hopping a bit higher to avoid getting frozen tails. We didn’t waste time, we got on the road again and crossed into Luxembourg and within an hour drove out of Luxembourg into France. We’ve only been going six days and already left England and gone to the Netherlands, Belgium, Netherlands, Belgium, Luxembourg, and France; not bad, eh?!! Oh, but I’ve just realised we’ve been in and out of Belgium and forgotten to buy any Belgian chocolate, how very silly of us.
A curious fact: I have seen more Shetland Ponies in the Netherlands and Belgium, than I have seen in a lifetime. One theory we have is that because the land is so flat here, you can spot them more easily…..
We had no interaction with police today, although when we spotted a policeman on a motorbike approaching us at a petrol station, we both did a little nervous twitch. Just after 3pm we picked camping De L’Ille in Mulhouse for another overnighter and tomorrow morning we’ll cross into Switzerland.
