Well, that was a great summer, was it not…? Lots of hot weather almost all over the UK, but for some it was rather too long and sometimes too hot, with drought conditions declared in many places. Del had some work cancelled, but still kept busy with others, and managed some good-quality time at home. We managed to get out on the river a few times on our kayaks, camp in Jess on the island, take part in Cowes Week and spend some time with our regular friends on the island, as well as welcoming H’s “bezzie” to stay with us for, what is always a hectic week.
For a while, Del has been transcribing H’s fading, hand-written diaries from our boat years and merged them into this blog site. Back in 2003 we packed up in the UK, bought a boat and sailed a good chunk of the Med. We have made those diaries available here to share, but more importantly we now have the diaries in digital format, basically immortalising that whole section of our life. That time of our life can be found here.
Back to the present day, and we are off on a short three-week trip. Our thinking is to do Belgium and a bit of France. Thanks for joining us. We are not selling or endorsing anything here; this is just our daily life on a van in Europe that we are sharing with our friends and family, as well as keeping a journal for ourselves, before age gets the better of us and we forget!
Monday 26th October 2026 – Home to Calais, France – 181 miles
We have not been in Europe since our last trip to Spain in the spring, so we have decided to have a little autumn tour on her, just a short one around Belgium and France. Of course, when we booked this trip, the diesel price wasn’t as high, there weren’t 2 named storms passing through and there weren’t riots in Europe, but it wouldn’t be one of our trips without something going on to make it tricky.
This year we have changed the storage area for Jess to one that’s a little further away, but is much better serviced and much more secure, so we now have to drive 20 mins to pick her up. Luckily the field she’s in isn’t boggy despite the recent heavy rains, but it’s a miserable morning of wind and rain this morning when we go and pick her up. This weekend has seen 2 storms pass through and this looks like the tail end of it today. It’s very soggy…
We get Jess back home and pack her up quickly to try and make an earlier ferry all to no avail.
It’s chaos at the Wightlink ferry port in Fishbourne with hundreds of cars waiting to board. This is the lag from the weekend’s weather disruption. Never mind we have a cup of tea and wait it out.
Our ferry leaves late and the Solent is still quite choppy, but after 45 mins we are off and on the road to Dover in the pouring rain. It’s a dull, dark, rainy drive. We are trying to see if we can get on an earlier ferry. Irish Ferries put us on the 17:20 ferry, but this fails to leave until 19:40…
We are back to where we started time wise.
After a rather choppy and rolly ferry, we arrive in Calais, chugging our way around the roadworks to arrive at 10:45pm into a Calais aire. It’s been a long day. We are quite tired.
Tuesday 27th October 2026 – Calais, France to Proven, Belgium – 50 miles
We had quiet a comfy night last night in Calais. We have a tasty breakfast and plan to go for a walk to the beach but the clouds roll in and soon it’s pouring down. Bleak.
We pack up and start our busy day: lots to do today, we have go to the supermarket, get diesel, get LPG, buy a replacement Belgian beer glass and check our tyres. We drive to a supermarket in Dunkirk where there are many groups of shifty looking men hanging about the car park, some are actually clutching life vests they have just purchased. (Wonder where they are going?)
Del stays with Jess while H does the shop. She bags a few tasty goodies and then it’s onto Belgium for a €120 diesel fill up! It is €2.25, which is 70 cents a litre more than on the last trip 6 months ago. The Trump surcharge…
It’s 4pm by the time we get to our most regularly visited campsite – Stal t’bardehof, and we head straight to their very basic, but well stocked, bar for a beer and to plan our route for the upcoming week. This will be, mainly a Belgian beer (and chocolate) tour, the last bit of our three weeks will be in France for the ferry from Dieppe back to Newhaven. Tonight we start with a St Bernadus Abt 12 and a Kapittel. Nice and tasty, but creeps up on you rather fast, if you get our drift?
We intend to visit all the Trappist beer towns in Belgium – 5 in total (there used to be 6 Trappist beers in Belgium but Achel had its status removed when the last monk left). So what makes a trappist beer? Well, it has to be brewed within the walls of an abbey, supervised by monks and the proceeds of which go towards the upkeep of the abbey or to local charities. Not a bad ethic that. After a couple of beers, and a game of darts, possibly not a good idea, granted, we stroll back to Jess and have a light dinner. Early night tonight as we are both nodding off by 9pm.
Wednesday 28th October 2026 – Proven – Ypres, Belgium – 8 miles
We wake up to a lovely sunny, bright, crisp day. Del has been out photographing the local area while H has a light breakfast and coffee. There is a Commonwealth War Cemetery near by, so he is up early to get the sunrise. We pay the campsite lady and say our goodbyes – H’s favourite goat is here but she’s shy now after the installation of an electric fence, and she ignores H much to H’s disappointment. It would seem that the poor goat has had a few shocks, and is now staying away from the public.
Our first stop is the nearby Abbey Sint Sixtus, which is where we will buy our first of the 5 Trappist beers on our trip. The Westvlereten 12 is the rarest, and supposedly, the best beer in the world and is strictly only served and sold here in the cafe shop and the abbey next door. We bag 2 small boxes and a couple of glasses and head off towards Ypres.
At Ypres we are given a friendly welcome at the campsite and get pitched up near the reception.
We take the longer scenic walk along the water that surrounds the town and then into the centre to visit the In Flanders Fields’ WW1 museum. The surrounding areas here were the sites of many long and bloody battles.
The museum is fascinating and very well presented. It’s inside the spectacular Cloth Hall building, which dates back to 1300. Last time we came here, everything was being renovated and was closed. The cathedral next door is also rather spectacular, with impossibly high ceilings.
The main square is beautiful, surrounded by the old Flemish-style buildings. Being in Belgium, the other ‘must buy’ is chocolate.
We find a Leonidas chocolate shop and buy their special offer of a selection of chocolates. Leonidas is considered to be a very good Belgian chocolate, one of many of course.
We head back to the van for a light dinner of salmon and salad, and will return to the town at 8pm for the last post at the huge Menin Gate.
But first we share a small bottle of the Westvleteren 12 in our new glasses. For beer fans, this is a dark ‘quadruple’ beer, very rich with tastes of caramel, dark chocolate and dark fruits. Its strength is 10.2%. (This beer, and the very similar St Bernardus Abbot 12 beer, are currently our favourite beers.)
The Menin Gate is a memorial for the missing British and Commonwealth soldiers killed around Ypres in World War 1. Every night, without fail, the Last Post is played by two buglers and a short ceremony is held.
It’s always busy. Tonight there are four coach parties from the UK here, and a few RAF personnel.
The Last Post has been played here for many, many years and is still well attended. What we noted was the number of young people attending here: school kids, teenagers and young adults all remembering the missing and the sacrifice that was made, some of them wearing the medals awarded to, possibly, their great, great grandfathers.
We watch the ceremony and then walk into the town which is lit up beautifully.
Thursday 29th October 2026 – Ypres to Ghent, Belgium – 50 miles
We have had a good sleep, so it’s a light breakfast before filling up with fresh water before setting off for a short drive north to Ghent. The campsite is just outside the centre, but on a bus route, so we can get into the centre easily. The friendly lady at the campsite advises us that we can catch a park-and-ride bus into the centre for 15 cents return each!
Once in the town, we find it beautiful, again another spectacular Belgian place. Who would have thought? Huge churches dominate the skyline. It really is rather splendid: fabulous architecture, beautiful buildings, clean, tidy streets, but busy.
We wander around buying some more Belgian chocolates – Neuhaus this time. They consider themselves as ‘…the inventor of the original Belgian praline…’. Very expensive, beautifully packaged, and regarded as one of the best.
The weather is lovely for October, 15 degrees and sunny, so we hop on a canal cruise which is very interesting, but a bit cramped next to the engine compartment. There is a bar on the canal side here where they stock 160 different types of Belgian beers (roughly only 10% of the total amount) so after our canal tour we try 2 new ones for us. Del has a Duvel – which means “the devil“, as its effect creeps up on you, slowly. It looks like a normal beer, but is 8 percent. H has a Gueuze Beer which is a very unique beer style.
For beer fans, Gueuze is a blend of lambic beers which are created by leaving the beer out in the open to let natural yeasts in the air land in it and cause ‘spontaneous fermentation’. The result is a ‘sour and funky’ kind of taste a little like cider. H says it reminds her of a steam train maintenance shed, which she quite likes. She’s no Jilly Goolden!
For dinner we opt for some classic Belgian fries with Flemish stew on top in a rather flashy chip shop. It’s tasty, Del still prefers H’s Flemish stew though! Good boy…
After admiring the city at night we hop back on the 15 cent bus, and head back to the campsite. There is a wood fired pizza van at the campsite which comes highly recommended, so Del treats himself to one.
He loves pizzas and hasn’t had one in ages. It is indeed a tasty pizza. Looks like we better save opening our chocolates for another day.
Friday 30th October 2026 – Ghent to Westmalle, Belgium – 54 miles
It’s a cold, misty start to the day as we take a walk around part of the nearby lake here. We’re further north, so a bit more of a chill is to be expected.
We are driving about 2 hours north-east of here to the town of Westmalle to try our 2nd Trappist beer of the trip, just called Westmalle. It’s nice and sunny now, and the roads are good, but with some jams on the Antwerp ring road. It’s a lovely day, the sun is out and the trees are a beautiful autumnal colour.
We park up in the abbey’s huge café car park across the road from the Westmalle Abbey. Many motorhomes stay the night here after eating in the restaurant, and that’s just what we intend to do.
We can’t visit the abbey or brewery as the monks are a secluded lot and it is kept private, but the café/restaurant is very stylish and there is a lovely signposted walk around the grounds of the abbey.
It’s a beautiful day with the sun streaming through the colourful autumn leaves and we even manage to get into their very small shop through the abbey wall. They only speak Flemish and you have to buzz your way in through a big wooden door and state your business. We wait for some locals and follow them in, buying some nice looking cherry jam that’s made here.
Before dinner we try one of our bottles that we have bought – Westmalle Extra is the lightest of their range of 3. It is the beer that the monks drink every day.
At 5:30 we decide on an early dinner so we head over to the restaurant. We start with a tasting flight of their beers with some cheese to share.
For our main course H has meatballs with cherries, which is delicious and Del tries another Flemish stew (made with the local Westmalle beer), but he still prefers H’s version of the dish.
It’s a delicious dinner served by friendly staff in a huge restaurant which is now packed. Clearly a popular eatery and we can see why. Jess is parked in the corner of the carpark, there are two other vans that look like they are staying the night too. It’s a chilly autumn night with clear skies, but back in Jess we get the heating on, it’s not long before we are all warm and cosy, Del does the blog while H plans out our next few stops. Not an easy task…
You can see more photos from this week at Dels Photography website.
Leave a Reply