Dwti Draig

Here it is; the last post of the holiday, written from the Dutch side of the Dutch/German border. We are sat at an idyllic little campsite. In fact, we think it might be the most perfect little camp site. It is only 80 odd miles from our ferry at the Hook of Holland. It has easy access into it. It can take large vehicles (we are not the biggest vehicle in here, which is rare!) It is totally chilled, with no designated pitches or rules; arrive when you like, depart when you like! It is right next to 3 lovely swimmable lakes and a restaurant that does the best frozen cappuccino on a terrace overlooking one of the lakes. It is surrounded by miles of walking/cycling paths. It is peaceful, and full of friendly people; we had the best neighbours, Michael and Tom and their absolutely gorgeous dog Milo. Best of all? It only cost us 11E a night; an absolute bargain. We have loved our time here, and will definitely use it again as our pre and post ferry stopover. Hopefully we will meet up with our neighbours again too. 

We have totally chilled for the last 3 days, which is much needed before we get home and face the real world again, and grass that has not been cut for 6 weeks. We have used the time to chat, read, swim and walk, with the odd frozen coffee thrown in. We had planned one of our walks to walk the 10km around one of the lakes. On our way around, however, we came across a sort of self propelled ferry across the lake, where you pull the cables to take you across, or wind wheels from the lake shore. We met an interesting character on our journey across the lake who uses it as his main form of exercise; he travels there and just pulls the ferry across and back. His record is 90 crossings, which took him 6.5 hours straight. Impressive. The terrain was very different the other side of the lake; the path back around was made up of quite deep sand, which made the walking tough, especially in the 28 degree heat. I was glad to get to the restaurant, but thoroughly enjoyed the beautiful lake. It was so still, with gorgeous reflections of its tree-lined banks. 

We got into the habit of walking to another lake to watch the sun set over it, and one night I indulged in a sunset swim. It was another swim where I had the whole lake to myself, and just utter utter peace. 

We usually end up reflecting about our holiday at the end of it; and I think my biggest take away from this holiday is that I absolutely need some breathing spaces of peace within it. If I can combine those peaceful spells with water then I am a very happy bunny. Luckily this trip has given us plenty of lakes to walk around and swim in. The lakes we stayed at in Poland, Germany and the Netherlands have been life-savers, especially in the heat. Lyn has found his form of escapism in being able to get on his motorbike and have some solo ride-outs to feel the breeze on his face and explore some of the countryside. The countryside we have travelled through has been absolutely beautiful, despite being in densely populated Northern Europe. Germany, in particular, has some of the vastest fields I have ever seen, which usually appear to be planted full of rye. Rye is a staple grain in traditional German food culture, they do love their rye bread, and it’s also historically been used in its beer brewing. Germany is, in fact, the world’s largest producer of rye, followed by Poland and Russia, producing over 3 million tonnes a year. The fields are just beautiful to look at, both from a distance and close up. The stalks are so golden and uniform in height. We have also seen huge fields of poppies and sunflowers. We also drove on the motorway in Germany through a vast wind farm, where you could see wind turbines stretch to the horizon in every direction. We can see why Germany leads Europe in onshore wind power. We also drove past huge reddy coloured pyramids by the side of the motorway, which I found were salt waste heaps from potash mining in the area. Potash is a potassium rich salt used mainly in fertlizers. It blows my mind that it’s mined from ancient seabeds that solidified underground over millions of years. We’ve stayed by lovely canals, and seen huge rivers, and visited the lovely cities of Strasbourg, Wroclaw and Prague. 

When I look back on it, it’s so easy to focus on the negative bits that happened; the crowds at the Allrad show, the hideous heat, the smashed window, anxiety, stress, the traffic jams on motorways, the low bridges and weight restrictions. Instead I am trying to focus on all that was good. We are still pretty new to this Overlanding business, and each trip provides plenty of learning experiences. I think we are getting better at honing in on what makes us happy, and trying to make sure we incorporate them, and also to stay in places for longer. It is tempting to make trips a tick box exercise of cities seen, but we have realised that is not what makes us happy. If you tell me I can either go back to Prague for a day, or my Polish lake for a solo early morning swim, I would have no hesitation in choosing. I think we need to constantly remind ourselves that it is very difficult to be “on holiday” for 6 weeks straight. We don’t have the money for that, or the energy. Every day can’t be eating out at nice restaurants or sipping cocktails with a lovely view. Sometimes it’s about sitting outside in the evening sun with our kindles, and having a beer and a sausage. Other nights it’s about playing cards inside the truck rather than cocktails at a rooftop bar.. It’s connecting with camping neighbours and almost abducting their dog rather than getting dressed up to go out. 

Quite simply, it’s about choosing to do what makes us happy, and that usually boils down to the simple things in life, whilst accepting that we are living our real lives, and not our best holiday lives, and that will invariably come with pressures and stresses, but those too will pass. 

So that’s a wrap on our Europe 25 holiday, a  we board our ferry tomorrow, to come home to prepare for our Autumn trip to Spain and Morocco. Watch this space!