Into the Netherlands we go, country #20 – our last on this tour!

We are in the Netherlands – our 20^th country in the past 11 months and our last before getting the ferry back to UK.  After all this time we still can't get used to not going through border control checks of countries in the schengen.  You just come across a sign that lets you know you are in a different country or province (Gelderland, a province of the Netherlands) and the 'rules of the road' and you just keep going!

Sonny (the motorhome) is enjoying living it up on a campsite at Winterswijk (N51.95201 W6.73674).  We were last on a campsite in Prague,16 days ago.  So, a new country means it is time to put another sticker on the back of Sonny - the last this tour.

We’ve not seen many motorhomes over the last month and no Brits since leaving Croatia (1½ months ago), so we were surprised to find 14 motorhomes parked up on the Bad Suzachen Aire – all German. Talking to one of the German motorhomers, we found out that they all come to use the thermal salt baths in the town.  Looking around, we noticed that nearly all the plots had reserved stickers on for December – apparently the baths are very good and popular.  We had a flash back moment to when we were in Lenti (Hungary), when we used the fantastic thermal baths there.  The sun was shining that day and it was very hot as well – it seems so long ago, although it was only just over a month ago!  Bad Suzachen is a great Aire and we think one of the quietest we have been on.  As you come on to the Aire there is a barrier (which was up) and a sign detailing the cost of the Aire as €7.50 and €2.90 per person tourist tax.  However, there was nowhere to pay and nobody came to collect our money so we enjoyed a lovely freebie – thank you Germany!

The Aire at Bad Suzachen

Leaving Bad Suzachen we headed for Warendorf and parked up last night on an Aire at the side of a river (N51.95447 E0799904).  Last time we were this easterly was on a Sosta in San Remo, Italy and the last time this far north was in the UK 11 months ago!  All facilities were free, with metered electric.  It was a warm night and we had plenty of gas, so we didn’t bother with electric and that meant another freebie for us!   

The town of Warendorf is renowned for its horse breeding and training and they proudly have plaques on the bridge leading into the town showing what medals they won in the Olympics - from 1996 to London 2012.

And metal/plastic horses all around the town and outside shops.  All a bit weird - Neigh I hear you say!

Mel's favourite  was the O2 horse- not that we are horsey people!

Town square and cathedral

Usually, if we enjoy a free night in a town we like to put something back but It turned out that nothing opens on a Wednesday in this town, so we just had a quick stroll around and a walk down the river.

Loved this piece of graffiti (or maybe it's art) of a cat in space down at the river

Looking across the river to where we are parked up - Sonny is hiding behind the trees across there somewhere!

It has been a strange couple of days.  Usually we know where we are going, what we want to see, etc etc.  However, since leaving East Germany and heading over the Hartz Mountains into the west of Germany we have just been finding stop over places to get to the Netherlands.  We catch the night ferry from Amsterdam back to the UK on 21 November but have planned to meet up with some Dutch friends we met whilst traveling around Sicily before then.

We have been doing a lot of reminiscing over the last couple of days of countries visited, amazing sights and places we have seen and visited and how many places we have stopped on – 152 to date!!  Also, for a bit of fun we did a comparison rating of countries based on:  scenery, architecture, motorhome facilities, friendliness, cleanliness, value for money, safety, road conditions, food, wild camping, campsites.

10 being high and 1 being low.

Top country was Morocco, followed by Slovenia, Austria, Greece and France.  Sadly, Italy was at the bottom – let down by its roads, cleanliness and safety.  As we have just come into the Netherlands, it isn’t fair that we rate them yet!

Travelling from Warendorf, there was another trip down ‘memory lane’ for Mel, as we stopped of at Coerde  (near Münster) – Mel’s first posting in the Army.  He was with a transport regiment that transported the Lance Nuclear Warheads for the Americans.  Portsmouth Barracks Münster is now a housing estate for the Germans – a very built up area of flats

Portsmouth Barracks - then and now

So, we are looking forward to spending the next 4 days with our Dutch friends Richard and Carla.  Last time we were both in the Netherlands (Holland) was in 1986!

Sally x