Antwerp
I left Brugges on the 23rds Dec at about 110am and headed up to Antwerp arrivng 1.30pm ,Iparked on a road on the outskirts for some lunch and to check outthe parking situation..It was very busy traffic wise so just riding about looking for an aire was out of the question so i consulted laptop and motorhome list had a reference to a parking on the quay.(ref N 51.21325 E 4.39016) so i headed down there and found a spot right on the river and only a ten minute walk into the centre.
Amsterdam
Dec 24rd on the road for 6.30 for the trip up to Amsterdam and arrived at Camping Zeeburg in Amsterdam.I was disappointed with the campsite ,going off the previos years website xmas was off season but they had now jumped on the bandwagon and had now changed the holiday period to high season which amounted to 20euro for 24rd and 24th and then 26 euro for dates up to new year.I booked for 2 days as site was only a short trip to centre.Double check directions as i spent 4 hours on bike trying to find centre and gave up first day and ended up getting the bus in at the night time.Xmas day i ventured out on bike again and this time took right route and ended up at main station in 15 mins so did get to spend a few hours in the city.Back to site for xmas lunch via the windmill brewery for a few pils.Asked site if they would do a deal if i wanted to stay another couple of days but was told no it was high season and the would be busy(THERE WERE 2 VANS ON SITE ME AND AN ITALIAN VAN.) So decided that even tho' i would have like to see more of Amsterdam i was not paying 26 euro and on top of that you had to pay for showers and water.
Left Amsterdam on 26th which was a friday so headed off to Aalsmeer to have a look at the flower market as is the largest in holland and the place all flowers are exported from ,the problem ifound when i arrived was that apart from being a holiday they were not open until monday.The market itself is possible to overnight and is as big as an industrial estate.Set off back to Belgium via the scenic route so non motorway and calling at Rotterdam and Ghent and then on to Antwerp for the night.One piece of advice for Ghent is check you have left enough roon for the trams to pass you if you park roadside as i parked in a layby about a mile out of the centre and luckily as i was checking map out a tram came up the road and couldnt get past me ,dont know what would have happened if i had locked van and walked into centre.After a day of sightseeing in Antwerp decided to make my way back to Dunkirk with a day in Ostende as the temperature was dropping drastically and also having problems with water pump.Ostende i found a dedicated aire just off the roundabout next to the marina (down the road from the main railway station) with acces to a country park across the road,which would have been a fantastic spot if the temperatures had been a little higher.
pot cafe
Amsterdam
windmill brewery
Ostende
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