France 2009, Day Sixteen, Belgium

Day sixteen 21st June

Leaving France today and heading into Belgium, back to Bruges to be precise, we set off about seven, but I had problems getting the van into gear. We eventually got going but on the causeway, the clutch just wouldn't work and I had to pull over. We got the warning triangles out and Dot placed them front and rear of the van, while I looked under the bonnet (hood), I don't remember if we used the hi-vis vests. This was not good, we had 360 miles to travel and seemingly no clutch, I was wishing we hadn't got out of the car park, as there was plenty of help back there from other motorhome owners. Before I set off back to see if I could get help, I had a quick look under the dashboard at the peddles (looking for snapped cables, or something) and the clutch peddle was flat on the floor. I lifted it up and down a couple of times and it became firm and started working again, I don't know if it was a trapped cable or a stuck automatic adjuster but it was back to normal and has been ever since.

So it was back on the road, followed the way we came, back out to the D456 and north, to the D875 and A84. At Caen we took the southern part of the ring road to the A13 then left onto the A29, then A28 to the A16 into Belgium where the road name changes to the A18. We followed the A18 to a right onto the A10 and then N973 into Bruges.

Turned right onto the ring road the R30 and round to the N9, then followed the signs to the site, although we did know the way. Only one small mistake getting on the ring road, at a set of lights, I got in the lane for straight on instead of turn right, but I thought it would be ok to turn right anyway. Do you know how scary it is, to turn right at the light and have two lanes of traffic coming towards you.

Bruges Camping Memling Veltemweg 109, 8310 Brugge Web Site

Got checked, in parked up and walked into town all before six o'clock, the first thing we did there, was to have a beer in Charlie Rockets on Hoogstraat.

After the beer we continued to the main square, where we got chips from one of the vendors below the belfry tower (Belfort). A tip if you do the same is, when you ask for mayo or ketchup or whatever, ask for just one squirt, or your chips will be swimming in the the usual amount they put on. I had to throw away the last bit away as the chips were in about half an inch of ketchup. 

We continued walking until I wanted to sit and have a beer, I was tired from the long drive and couldn't be bothered to do anything else. We went into the first bar we came to (De Kuppe on Kuipersstraat), a bar that clamed to have 100 different beers, I asked for the barman to recommend a beer and had the featured beer of the week, a Gentse Tripel, very nice After that we moved on and sat outside another bar (Bar Des Amis on Eiermarkt), for a Vedett Extra White but later moved inside as it was cooling down outside.

We took a roundabout way back to the campsite following one of the canals and admiring the evening views and reflections, we even stopped for another beer before leaving the centre (it was really for me to use the toilet), for the proper walk back.

As we got close to the campsite we could hear a brass band playing in the distance, I bet Dot that they would be on our site, they were. A German band, all parked close together in matching motorhomes, were playing oompah music and drawing quite a large crowd to watch them. I just hoped it didn't go on for too long, to me its like bagpipe music, you either love it or hate it and it is not for me. They stopped about 11.