Europe by van day 2

I took Stugeron to ward off any seasickness which meant the North Sea was very calm. We slept well, had a big breakfast in the restaurant and by 9.45am we had docked at Ijmuiden. The lorry deck was off first so it was 11.15 before we got off. The passport man remarked on how many visas we had but found a place to stamp us into Europe and reminded us of the 90 day rule. The temperature is 28 so we are thankful for the aircon.

It was a bit complicated sorting ourselves onto the right 6 lane motorway around Amsterdam but I had downloaded enough google maps so didn’t need to be connected to my data.

After getting off the ferry we saw no UK vehicle till we were approaching Germany when a motorbike overtook us and beeped. He had a Saltire attached to his box and had noticed ours - we waved to each other. I hope it works as well when we go further east.

The motorways in Germany were very busy but we made good time till we hit Bonn. A couple of U turns were needed to get to Aldi too. Now we are no longer in EU we are not allowed to bring in dairy products so we got some milk, yoghurt and cheese. I also got a €3.29 bottle of white. #2 daughter said it was ok - I’ll give it a try.

The camp site on the banks of the Rhine is lovely. We took a pitch under the trees but we get the throbbing of the river cruises going past. We pushed our boat out and bought a couple of Dunkels €11.20 total to relax with at the bar. Blipped with Schloss Drachenburg across the Rhine.

We had no lunch so it will be an early dinner. This is just a pit stop en route east but we’ll be on The Romantic Road tomorrow so will stop for a wander in a pretty town.

I must remember to give Katy and Alison the sponsor money for their WI skinny sea dip in aid of the hospice. It made BBC local TV news.

I got my EE data Roaming for £15 a month. Then a text came through to say it goes up to £25 a month on 12 October.