Sunday morning is fresh but the rain has
stopped. I go for a wander and get suppliers in the local Polish shop then
after brunch (OK, a late breakfast) we head out taking in the very local and
very ruined (courtesy of the Spanish back in the day) St Bavo’s Abbey. We meet
a very interesting local who tells us the history of the abbey and indeed most
of Ghent as she walks into town with us. There seem to be a lot more bars and
places open on a Sunday afternoon than on Saturday night. Maybe as they’ve just
finished the Gent 10 day all dayer festival which our friendly unofficial guide
tells us. We wander around and I climb the steep steps of the belfry tower
taking in amazing views and not so much as a hillock to be seen out toward all
points of the compass. Debbie visits the cathedral and back together we find
the Mammelokker carving on the Cloth Hall which is an old guy on a young
woman’s breast (web search the story). A wander through the city’s squares and
to the castle where our friend Lucienne (RIP) was born, raised and worked in a
nearby café. Debbie has a photo of Lulu and her mum and we find the spot that
it was taken. A bit more wandering around town and then back via a Spar. Stir
fry for tea giving us a much needed dose of veg and we just hang out relaxing.
All this site seeing is hard work!
Monday is hot and sunny and after a lazy
morning we walk into town. After wandering down Graffiti Street (actually an
alley named Werregarenstraatje) we sit at a café drinking cava in the square
next to the castle. It’s Lucienne’s birthday today and so were going to
celebrate with a glass of champagne but the café bar doesn’t serve that. The
woman who serves us is friendly enough but with that no nonsense Dutch (and I’m
coming to realise Belgian) manner and Debbie tells her that Lucienne was born
and raised and worked at a bar next to the castle. The landlady (if she is)
doesn’t recognise the surname but that was over 50 years ago. We’re pretty sure
it’s this café as it’s one shown in the photo of Lulu and her mother and it has
a woman sitting at a table reminding us of Lulu smoking a fag and drinking
strong beer. We both have the feeling sitting there watching the world go by
that Lucienne would have sat here once, if not many a time. After a couple of
glasses and a lot of chat and people watching, and the cute dog keeping an eye
out for interlopers into it’s territory, we wander off to eat at Le Botaniste
restaurant. It’s vegan and apparently Gent is the vegan capital of Belgium. In
that case probably of continental Europe. We sit inside in the cool surrounded
by great pictures / prints and under a fabulous ceiling and chandelier. The
food is great too with friendly staff. After that we go lie in a park for a
while before going home. Once it’s cooled a little we take a stroll round our
local park which is small but pleasant. Then home to chill. Again. Happy
Birthday Lulu!
Next day after I go for a quick walk around the local park we leisurely pack up and drive off. I plan a cross country scenic route but most of it is suburbs of various small towns and the main roads have a better outlook over the surrounding countryside. We arrive at Oude Rekem and lunch on the canal banks and then unload at our apartment. It’s very modern chic old mews place but a bit style over substance… open plan toilet a few feet from the head of the bed?! The outlook is great past flags, neat gardens and up to the local and large chateau. The other way is across the goat pen to the canal. It’s very hot today so we wait until early evening making guacamole before venturing out around the local village which is small. A few bars and restaurants most of which are shut this evening. The main open one you have to eat and so we go across the road to have a drink at a bar where the barman is about to go home and says leave your glasses on the table outside. It’s still really hot and we go back to our place and lounge in deck chairs in the shade on a lawn watching the goats, hens and cocks forage about. Then back to our room for a bite to eat and to watch the Olympics which I’ve not done so far except for road cycling highlights.
Wednesday morning is a lot cooler and
overcast and soon turns to heavy rain. It clears the air and after a late lunch
we go for a walk up the canal then back the other side. By this time the sun is
out and it’s hotting up. We wander around the local village again but can’t get
into the chateau and come home to relax. After a spaghetti with tomato sauce
meal on our small plates we settle down to watch the Olympics although I go out
for a quick tour of the village again. The restaurants which were open last
night are closed and the ones that were closed are open. So that’s 2 of them.
Next day we leave and after exiting Belgium for the Netherlands I find myself being overtaken by very fast cars and realise that we must be in Germany with it’s no upper speed limit. After a stop in the country for a picnic lunch we arrive at our friends Lutz and Johanna in Arpke (outside Hannover. Saxony area). They’re out with son Tom but Levi lets us into the house and entertains us until the rest of the family return. It’s been a long time since before Covid so we have a lot of catching up to do. Levi’s has just started senior school and Tom’s about to start primary which is the prompt for us to take our German holiday. A pasta meal and a few local beers sat outside while away the hours until bed time.
Friday Debbie and I wake late, compared to
our hosts anyway, and borrow the bikes to go on a lovely trip to the local forest
and it’s lakes. Perfect riding weather – coolish with a gentle breeze when needed
and the sun popping out every so often to ensure we don’t get cold. We help
Lutz and Johanna prepare for tomorrow’s party and their friend from Berlin
arrives. There’s a village festival on related to the local shooting club (the
schutzenfest) which is a very common thing in north German towns and villages.
The start is tonight so we are treated to the parade going past the house which
is people in green hunting uniforms walking past with a number of brass and
pipe and drum bands. And various hangers on ambling along afterwards. Later in
the late Johanna’s sister Lena, partner Florian and 2 kids arrive with their
caravan.
Saturday is an earlier start as it’s Tom’s
first day at primary school. It’s a big day in Germany where all the parents
and relatives go to the school so there are a couple of hundred in the sunny
playground. In Arpke there is a religious theme which I think many of the
parents don’t feel appropriate especially as constitutionally there is a separation
between church and state including schools. Of course it’s Christian and there is
at least one Muslim parent there. Anyway, there’s a lengthy sermon and some
happy clappy songs with guitar then a welcoming speech by the head teacher. The
two classes are then read out and they go with their form teacher for their
first lesson whilst refreshments are provided for everyone else. We chat to Lutz’s
mum and dad then the kids come back out and are given their presents which are
a big cone filled with toys and sweets which Tom keeps shut until he gets home.
Back home there’s a party in celebration with Lutz’s family and friends dropping
by to chat and play table tennis and table fusball. Lovely food from a local Vietnamese
restaurant and of course lots of local German beer. As we get into the
afternoon most have left and those left are those staying at the house. Turns
out that there happen to be a selection of gins available including from South
Africa and an old London gin that Lutz’s parents have had for years. We
therefore go into a tasting session to see which is the best. A number of
tasting rounds and hours later we are all a bit tiddly and decide that we should
go to the local festival area in the village. Johanna kindly, or maybe sensibly,
says she’ll stay behind with the kids whilst the rest of us enjoy the delights
of the schutzenfest. It’s a strange affair being a number of funfair type stalls
with loud music and flashing lights, beer and sausage stalls (of course!) and a
big marquee with wooden floor where they pump out dodgy German disco anthems
all night. In the marquee we have to sample the local drink which is “old” beer
in a shot glass with a top up of a corn spirit. It tastes pretty weird but as each
round is so small (shot glass) we have a few. There are a group of women all
wearing shaking hand T shirts who Lutz knows so we buy them drinks and chat to
them. The dance floor is pretty big and only has a couple of people shuffling
about on it whose numbers increase as two of the women grab me and Florian onto
the floor. It seems that Germans like dancing as if on Strictly and I find
myself in the classic dance pose of one arm on shoulder the other out straight
holding hands. This position varies according to some unknown method to just dancing
around with hands in the air so I look a bit awkward to say the least. It’s fun
though but as they say good things don’t last forever. Thankfully. After another
couple of shots to recover we wander outside. Debbie sensibly makes an exit
leaving me and the others to drink more beer and chat. I go on the shooting
range with the German Army sharpshooter and find out that I’m more accurate but
that’s probably related to our levels of drunkenness. We win a lighter. After
that we go on the dodgems which I said I wouldn’t but Lutz insists. By then it’s
just me, Lutz and Ole and we agree to go home but for three attempts Lutz bumps
into another friend and we have to have another beer. Eventually we make our
escape and home to crash.
Sunday morning we are all feeling a little
delicate. After breakfast we are lounging around in various shady places (it’s
a very hot day) just recovering from last night. After lunch Lena and family
leave and then Lutz, Tom, Debbie and myself drive to the Tiergarten in Hannover
to wander through the beautiful trees (the shade is welcome) and see the swine
in their enclosure and the deer who roam free. Back home Lutz makes a lovely dinner
which we wash down with Riesling then some of us play cards until we turn in for
an early night.
Up early to see Tommy off to school on his first day walking in with the neighbour’s kids. Levi has already left. Leisurely breakfast then after a trip to the organic farmer’s stall it’s goodbyes all round and we are off. At the local supermarket we bump into Lutz’s mum so have a quick chat. A couple of hours later and we arrive at Lutz’s family cottage / big wooden clad house in the Harz mountains half way up the Brocken and next to the steam railway station. The Brocken has a reputation for witches and nefarious goings on especially late October. We ease ourselves into the afternoon reading and chatting alternately in and out of the sun. It’s very hot. Late afternoon we pop into Schierke hoping to find a bar open but there’s none we could find. It’s a really hot walk in and out of town with little shade as all the Spruce trees are dying off round here. From that perspective it’s very different from when we were last here 14 years ago (we arrived on the exact same date) with much of the mountainsides stripped of trees of with big stands of dead trees. According to Lutz’s dad due to lack of rain, snow and a pest beetle. Very sad but as Lutz said it’s improved the view over the valley in that you can see it from the house. Cold comfort. We are boiling on the way back up to our house and now that the railway has stopped we are the only people between here and the town a mile down the road. After cooling down we have a dinner of butter beans in a tomato sauce and the organic salad we bought earlier. Then we read for a bit enjoying the cool of the evening. It’s cooled so much we’re wearing a second layer on top.
We wake early as today is Brocken day. After
breakfast and coffee we’re out before 8 and walk along the track following the
railway. It’s already warm and we’re just in shirts. Soon the trail leaves the
railway line and we’re too early to see any trains pass. We ascend along paths
and the road seeing the first steam train of the day pass us. There are very
few hikers but a few cyclists ascending the road a good split between road
bikes, mountain and electrics. By the time we reach the top it’s hot and we
find the only benches in the shade to sit at. After recovering after the hot
walk we get a beer, wine and pretzel then grab a vegan sausage and chips. Vegan
even up here… last time I was up it was only pea soup, Erbsensuppe – the vegetarian
version back then had no sausage but had ham in it – it’s no longer on the menu
which is a shame as I thought they may have a vegan version by now. We wander
up to the actual Brocken stone for the 360 degree panorama with the north east
looking very flat. This is the highest hill in northern Germany and was a GDR military
post with the whole area out of bounds. A guy we meet tells us anyone
attempting to come close was shot. Lutz’s family house here was taken over by
the Nazi’s in WW2 and then GDR army post war and they only got it back after
reunification and then had to make major renovations. For the Brocken’s other wilder
times related to witches see various legends and read Goethe’s Faust. By this
time about 3 train loads of tourists have arrived so the place is pretty busy. After
more refreshments (cheap given it’s a captive audience) we start the descent
past many more hikers and cyclist coming up, and a few cyclists enjoying the
ride down. We take a short cut which turns out to be a dry river bed with big
stones so not easy walking at all. Soon we are alongside the railway again and
it’s a long hot path home being passed by about four trains. The house is welcomingly
cool as we fall into it. A 10 mile hike that feels twice as long in the heat of
30 plus. The afternoon is spent recuperating, reading and generally chilling.
The evening is milder than last night and we read outside until the light is
too dim.
Wednesday I’m up early and leaving Debbie
in bed go for a walk to the Trudenstein which is a local rocky outcrop with
metal ladders going up it giving great views from the top and vertiginous views
looking down. It’s already warm before 8 am feeling even hotter than yesterday.
I retrace my steps and decide on a shot cut to a couple of other outcrops. I
decide on a short cut which turns out to be a challenging route over fallen
trees, through undergrowth and hopping between rocks. As I walk along one
fallen tree trunk, the easiest way to get around, I nearly fall off as there’s
a loud grunting a few yards away and a black shape runs through the
undergrowth. And another. They then seem to come back towards me and I’m
concerned they are going to jump on the trunk and knock me off. But they then
disappear with a few other black shapes. It must be some wild boar taking their
young off somewhere safe. Eventually I get to the main “stein” of the Brocken
which is the Feuersteinklippe the most prominent of the large granite rock
formations rising out of the landscape seemingly in layers of rock on top of
each other. It’s where Goethe visited and came up with the witches and devil’s
scene in Faust. After cooling down in the shade and a breeze I go back home for
a second breakfast and coffee which Debbie has just made. Later we go into
Schierke to get food and postcards. And a visit to the Schierke Feuernstein
shop to get the local digestive spirit (it’s still called a chemist) and I can’t
resist buying a branded cycling jersey. Not on sale like the jacket was that I
bought 14 years ago here. The afternoon is spent reading and lounging around
the garden, as is the evening. The forecast rain, hail and storms have not
materialised and it’s another very warm evening… however at midnight we are
woken by continual flashes outside which at first we wonder if it’s an outside
light coming on and off. It’s lightening in the distance to the south and for
about half an hour there continual flashes lighting up the sky. Must be a long
way off as only hear a couple of quiet rumbles of thunder. There are no strikes
as such and I wonder if it’s flashes lighting up the low cloud and reaching us
that way. It moves across to the east and out of view. No rain for us though.
Thursday we pack up and leave our relaxing spot for a long drive along very fast German Autobahns, lunching in a Gladbach park home of the famously named team, and through the Netherlands and Belgium to Bruges through it’s narrow cobbled streets right into the centre. We have a brilliantly quirky apartment right in the centre of town. Large main room with bed and big bathroom and bath. Debbie declares it shabby chic and it’s all creaky bare wooden floorboards and squeaky doors but clean enough with a little terrace seating area outside surrounded by the buildings. We have a well earned couple of gins before wandering around the local area along canals with magnificent houses’ gardens going down into them. We reach what looks like the main square and sit at a café which turns out to be the local Irish pub. In keeping we drink dark beer (local) and G&T and order potatoes, not simply boiled but delicious sweet potatoes loaded with salad and avocado. We then wander home to sleep off the weariness of an 8 hour drive.
Our last full day on the continent and we
wake to rain. Can’t complain as we’ve had very little and not inconvenienced us.
An excuse to take it easy in the morning over breakfast and coffee. By the
afternoon the rain has stopped although there are a couple of showers as we
wander around Bruges. It’s a small city so we see a lot of it from the heaving
tourist spots to the more tranquil areas. We pop into a couple of civic
buildings and churches one of which is the only place where we see an artist
exhibition which we thought there’d be more of as it’s the triennial at the
moment. We have a lovely lunch in a café bar before wandering to the southern perimeter
of the old town and then getting chocolate gifts from a shop where we can see
them making the chocolate. Back home we laze around reading before a last
wander up and along the canals admiring the diverse and impressive houses. They
love their big doors in Belgium! Then back to our apartment.
Saturday and we are heading home. We head for
the Belgian coast but struggle to find anywhere to park as the coast is just a
long line of high rise apartments next to the long beaches. We eventually park
up in Nieuwpoort and find ourselves wandering through an artist’s market next
to a large church. We head west and find a spot to park on the main road
luckily next to a trail through the sand dunes to the long empty beach. It
seems to be a nature reserve carved out of the line of high rises. We sit in
the sun and I go for a dip then search for food which means visiting a
supermarket and finding a quiet bit of shade behind a village church in the
graveyard which contains WW2 commonwealth graves including a number of unknown
soldiers. Sobering. We then head for Calais and the train shuttle which again
we jump an earlier train and after an easy drive into London we are back home.
A lovely holiday which seemed longer than just the 2 weeks I guess because we
had such a varied time. Nice to be home though.
