Off to the continent

Well, it was a hectic day and a half after returning from the Hebrides. Myself and Tim got back to Linlithgow at about 2:15 which was good, so we quickly unloaded the bikes, saw Tim on his way and I flew round to the primary school expecting to catch up with Joyce and Callum seeing around the place and meeting his teacher. Callum is missing his induction days due to us being away but the school had organised a visit for him. So it was a bit disappointing  to find them already out. The visit was over.

So we started the final packing of the van for our trip. Joyce had been very busy loading all the food and clothing for her and the boys so all that needed doing was a couple of last minute cupboard mods, finalise the tool kit, load the beer, pack some clothes and that was it.....not!! A neighbour who's husband is ill had a heating issue, a new bike for Callum needed building, and various other bits and bobs got in the way and less was completed than expected. Never mind we had another day........plenty time......not!! I had a lump on my leg which had gotten bigger this last couple of weeks so a trip to the docs was required, an emergency appointment was gotten and that didn't solve the issue as be recommended it was further investigated and leaving it the length of time we will be away was too long......was this trip going to get off the ground? We managed to secure an appointment at a private hospital in Edinburgh later this evening, so we continued as if we were going. We spent the whole day loading the bikes (tricky) and generally getting things ready and after a seriously hurried tea I left for my 7:15pm appointment. Of course this wasn't straight forward either as a bad accident on the bypass meant huge jams around the west end of Edinburgh, typical!! I made it just in time and to cut the story shorty lump was nothing too serious and was frozen with liquid nitrogen.... We were good to go next day.

This delay meant we hasn't said last goodbyes to parents who all wanted to see us off, so we got up sharp with the hope of being on the road for 8am. We wern't too bad and left Linlithgow  at 8:15 and after visiting my Mum, and Joyces Dad and Isobel we were ready to rock. We left Polmomt at 9:15am..... I omitted to visit Kenny to pick up a Gopro cable which I had decided not to use anyway, later to find out this was a mistake as he had also gifted us a nice wee notebook, a pritt stick and pen to document our travels, aargh!! What a lovely thought from a good mate.


 We made good time south and had a couple of short stops, the roads were trouble free all the way to Hull and we got there about 4.40pm after filling up with diesel near the terminal. I like to have a full tank so we don't need to worry about that when we are getting used to new roads. We had decided not to have dinner on the ferry as it didn't sail until 8.30pm so
we hunted around for a fish n chip shop nearby expecting to be able to buy it and then eat in the ferry queue after checking in. It was a bit of a surprise to find no queue and after checking in we drove straight onto the ferry, so we ended up eating our tea in our cabin. Chesters fish and chips shop near the terminal does good food, and this was soon polished off. We got sorted and went to check out the ferry, have a coffee and a few beers and relax. It had been a long day for the boys so Callum and Logan watched a Toy Story film on the iPad while myself and Joyce enjoyed a drink and chilled out. There were a surprising number of already drunk people on the ferry clearly heading away to sample the delights of Rotterdam or Amsterdam.

Soon myself and the boys headed outside to watch the crew untie The Pride of Hull and cast off. it takes a wee while as its a big boat but soon we were edging away from the jetty. The sail down the Humber estuary is interesting with plenty of sea related industrial enterprises going on from a massive wind turbine construction site, petrochemicals, to coal and other industries going on. The sunset as we sailed out and it was quite a spectacle, bright pink sky illuminating the sky whilst boats came and went. There was a singer entertaining some of the passengers and he was very good, as we left he sang Snow Patrols Chasing Cars so we had to wait till that was finished. We got the boys bedded and soon they were snoring away while I had a last beer and started the blog. We were woken by the tannoy at 6.30am to announce breakfast so we jumped out of bed and sorted and went to fill our bellies. Fuelled up were were ready for the road.

The boat was soon sailing up the estuary toward Rotterdam and we got back to van and ready to disembark. Its a bit rushed as they want you off the boat quickly but we were ready, cleared passport control and soon on the A15 and A4 motorways making our way north east towards Amsterdam, its a very busy road system and a bit confusing getting used to the road sign, and driving on the right (wrong) side of the road. Its cool when you approach Amsterdam as you pass Schiphol airport, it is massive with loads of planes taxiing beside the road, even crossing the road over a bridge and taking off in all directions. Schiphol is the 3rd largest airport in Europe after Heathrow and Charles de Gaul. After Amsterdam we crossed the massive Ijsselmeer dam which was completed in 1932, it created the Ijsselmeer (Issjel Lake) which until then had been a tidal bay. Now it is fresh water and provides for agriculture and drinking supplies. We stopped at the monument part way across and climbed the tower for better views of the construction.

After this we carried on and headed for the coast at Holwerd, a little village close to a ferry terminal which ferries people and vehicles out to Ameland, one of the islands in the Wadden Island chain, we timed it well and saw the ferry battling its way up the very narrow inlet chain against both the current and the wind. Extensive mud flats surround the channel on all sides, it looks an interesting excursion to some of the islands, the whole area is a Unesco World Heritage site but its a visit that will need to wait till another time. Its the biggest natural intertidal zone in the world and continues to evolve pretty much undisturbed by human intervention. It would be a great area to explore further. We had decided on a camping area just north west of Gronnigen at a little port called Lauwersoog


























We are in a cool wee campsite on the shores of Lauwersmeer, another area of sea that has had a dam built creating a freshwater lake rather than tidal zone, we had tea and then went for a walk to check out the area across the road which faces out towards the Wadden Sea, the fishing harbour is busy with big boats and it looks like a nice place to have a better look around and cycle. Depending upon the weather we may do this tomorrow as the boys have endured a couple of pretty big driving days with not too much outdoors exercise to run off some steam-and its showing!!