QUICKDRAW FESTIVAL & ALKMAAR

 WEDNESDAY 16^TH AUG

We set off on a lovely sunny morning to travel the 122 miles to Earls Barton for the Quickdraw music festival, where we will meet up with many of our friends and hopefully enjoy a few days of good music.

After 4 days of sunshine and showers and some cold  winds as well, we began to think that autumn had arrived.  The bands had been very good and we managed to get a bit of dancing in.

MONDAY 21^ST

We packed up and said our good byes on a rather grey mizzly day by 10.30am.  We drove 55miles to Horningsea where we stopping for 1 night at Gayton Farm, luckily passing a garden centre which sold gas bottles so were able to pick up a replacement for the one that had run out.  This was a small 5 van site with 1 toilet and shower, but very well presented and with a lovely view across the fields, so we just chilled out in the afternoon and then had an early night to make up for all the late ones over the weekend.

TUESDAY 22^ND

92 miles to Brookcroft Campsite at Harwich, calling first in to Morrisons for some fuel and food supplies. Another 5 van site, somewhat sloping, but quite nice, we even put our chairs out and sat outside for a while. We had picked up a hot chicken so demolished it and used all the small bits to make a stir fry and saved the breasts for cold tomorrow. Then it was set the alarm and early to bed in order to early to rise in the morning.

WEDNESDAY 23^RD

Clear, sunny, cool for us to leave at 7.00am to go to the ferry.  We just had time to call in to pick up a newspaper and some croissants on the way. We had a flat calm trip the whole way and arrived in Hook of Holland at 5.15pm (local time).  A 5 minute drive out of the port and along the promenade brought us to a motorhome parking area, sadly all 5 spaces were taken so we drove a bit further along and stopped in a normal car space for a rethink.  Then we realised that there were other vans in the same spaces and as we could not see any notices to say ‘no overnight parking’ we took a chance and stayed put.  It was very interesting watching all the boats arriving in to the port especially as we went for a walk along the promenade as far as the beach, loads of people were having picnics but once it got dark everywhere quietened down except for the wind which blew hard all night.

THURSDAY 24^TH

It took us some time to find our way out of the town but once on the motorway we had a good run up to Akersloot and Camping de Boekel where we planned to spend a few days visiting Alkmaar and it’s cheese market. (77 miles).  We have a lovely flat pitch overlooking the fields with sheep just behind us, all the normal facilities @ 17 euros per night.

FRIDAY 25^TH

Once more we had to use the alarm to make sure we were up in time to get on the water bus to take us along the canal in to Alkmaar. We arrived in town around 9.45am to find the market square heaving with folk all wanting the see Europe’s oldest and largest cheese market. We managed to find a spot so that we could see most of the goings-on although we could not understand what was being said.  The bell rang at 10.00 and men in white coats with straw boaters started going back and forth carrying cradles with 8 big fat round cheeses on. It was quite fascinating to watch.  Then we went for a wander around the market stalls, having tastings and seeing all sorts of knick-knacks for souvenirs especially cheese boards, slices, graters and knives. Up and down the little alleyways, then in to the cheese museum, which even for Brian who doesn’t like cheese, was really interesting.  Back to the old days and ways of cheese-making right up to the present day, nothing has changed very much. By now it was time to sit with a coffee and watch the world go by for a while, then on round more stalls ending up back at the boat point, next to a pancake stall. Needless to say we just had to try some mini-pancakes called poffertjes with maple syrup on….yummy, yummy!  The boat picked us up about 3.00pm and we got back to the campsite just before 4.00pm having oohed and aahed at all the lovely houseboats we had gone past on the way. A really interesting day out.

 

SATURDAY 26^TH

As we had only looked at everything cheese-related yesterday and had not seen much of the town itself we decided to have another day out, so caught the bus at 10.30 for a 25 minute ride (4.60 euros for the 2 of us) We arrived at the station and then walked across in to the main part of town.  There were loads of market stalls selling anything you could think of, both food and otherwise, we could have spent a fortune. We were good though and made do with some lovely dried fruit pieces. We could see a large cathedral up ahead so set off towards it, when we got there it was surrounded by a funfair and had been made in to a museum! As it was free we had a look around, there even was a bar/coffee stall right in the middle and the poshest toilets we have ever seen…we could only be in Holland! Then it was up and down the small side streets until our feet ached, so we sat by the canal and had a bite to eat (we had taken crisps and fruit with us).  Further along we found an ice cream parlour so sat outside to have our first ice cream of the trip. We were fascinated by the fairground rides going on in the street, as well as the Tower which was taking folk up to a dizzying height in a viewing platform which rotated at the same time. Not for faint-hearted vertiginous people like Brian, so we did not go up.

Ceiling in sacristy

Cheese market square back to normal use

Bicycle park at the station

Then it was back to the station for the 3.00pm bus back to the campsite and sit out in the sun with a nice cuppa. After a while a Dutch couple with a Canadian 5^th-wheel arrived to share our pitch, apparently quite normal over here, there being no restrictions on how close units are to each other.  There are quite a few very old vehicles here, a Volvo and a Bedford-type van, as well as a few really old campervans, much more interesting than all our posh white vans at home.

Tomorrow is going to be a quiet day, catch up on the washing and have a tidy-up and refilling before heading off somewhere else on Monday.