Sert Day 4

Sun, Sea and Sand...

Schiedam - Ouddorp - Aartlesaar (Antwerp) - Bastogne

Distance: 253 Miles

Before we set off, late morning, we took the time to grease the window runners and install the door trims and window winders, which we had packed in the realisation that we were not going to get them fitted before we left.

Our biggest loss of the trip occurred as we drove down past Europort. The high speed and buffeting from the constant stream of artics we passed was too much for the slightly last minute and ad-hoc mounts for the passenger door mirror, last seen dissapearing under an artic on the N-15. Oh- well, nothing precious, I'll just have to buy a new one with the correct mounts..

The sun was blazing hot and the open roof gave us the best possible views as we drove along the dykes and over the miles long sluice gates regulating the sea level "In-Land". We made a quick stop for provisions in Ooudorp and found the nearest beach, a long and fantastically sandy one. The cold waters and mild swell of the north sea provided welcome cooling before we headed onwards towards Belgium. Here's a quick in car shot from the A-58 on Zeeland.

Our next planned stop was Nova Tech in Aartlesaar just south of Antwerp. During my time in England I had worked closely with these guys, sometimes under tough situations but the times I was visiting them and when they were in England we always had a good laugh. When I made my surprise call that morning it was good to speak to one of the guys but sad to hear that two of the others were out of town.

By the time we had run out of petrol 4 Km from Novatech (I cadged a lift off a very kind Belgium man to the nearest petrol station and had to walk the 1.5Km back) we arrived much later than planned.

After an hour of remminissing, some coffee, some Dutch cheese and biscuits, we set off at about 7:30 p.m. towards our final destination of Bastogne, but not before our French speaking friend had helped us book a B&B.

Our route took us around the Brussels ring and onward through the heart of the french speaking part of Belgium. On the way there were more than a few one horse (or is that one whores) seedy towns, with a worrying quantity of red lights... We did not stop.

We finally arrived at the grand old farmhouse that was our B&B at the late hour of 10:30 p.m. Our room was large and very fine complete with on-suite divided by just a curtain.