2005, Last Day, Zeebrugge Belgium

Day nineteen 12th July

Off home today but the plan was to drive to the sea, then north following the coast to Zeebrugge, for the ferry in the evening.  But first we had to get more beer to take home, so we headed to the supermarket we had found the day before.  Last time we stocked up in Belgium, I could not get my head round the beer pricing system (see Belgium 2003), so this time I got someone to explain it to me, it turns out that if you buy by crate (Krat), you pay a deposit on the crate, refundable when it is returned, simple.  I had intended to take plenty of steak hachés back with us but as we are in Belgium and not in France anymore they've got none, should have stocked up in France.   Anyway I got a lot of beer but at the checkout my debit card wouldn't work, also they wouldn't accept my Visa or MasterCard and the queue for the till was getting longer and longer.  Eventually my purchases were put to one side and a very red me was given directions to a ATM back near the campsite.  At the ATM I found the problem was I had no money in my debit account and I had to use my Visa to get cash.  On the way back I met Dot walking towards me, she was so embarrassed she had left the shop, anyway all well that ends well, I got my beer in the end.

We get back on the A10 straight to the coast, then turned right onto the N34 north along the coast towards Zeebrugge.  The first place we stop is De Haan, we park up at the side of the road and walk back into the town and have chips and mayonnaise, a Belgium speciality, there are chip shops all over the town centre but to tell the truth, we must have picked the worst one, they were repeating on me all day.

De Haan is a very nice place, although we did not see it at its best, it was cold and overcast, what a change from yesterday.  The sea front has long clean golden beaches with windbreaks and a very smart promenade with shops and restaurants.  A tram system seems to run along the coast from Ostend to Zeebrugge but I am not sure it runs the full length (looked here and it does Tramway ).

 

After our walk it was still early but we decided to to make our way further along the coast anyway.  We were soon at Blankenberge, then through to the other side and the next place we could fine to turn was just outside Zeebrugge.  Anyway we got turned round and set of back into Blankenberge where we had spotted a supermarket where we could stock up with even more booze.  This place had an even better selection of beer than the last place, also boxes of wine on special offer and chocolate for presents but before we got anything in the basket, I asked what cards they took and all was ok, they took any.

We parked up on the side of the road on the outskirts alongside the tramway and next to the place where they do sand sculptures.  The beach between Blankenberge and Zeebrugge is partitioned off with windbreaks, made out of twigs and despite the weather there were people using them.

Before long though it was off the the ferry and home.