TASHY TRAVELS
These are some stories from my travels in 2019.
I hope you enjoy the text and the pictures.
BELGIUM 1 - July 16 2019
It is an interesting fact, if you're interested that is, that I didn't fly in an aeroplane until the middle of 2002, at the age of 53. Therefore, all my previous trips away from my island home had been by ferry and, in the majority of cases, ferries which left from Dover. I did once ferry from Portsmouth to St Malo, in France, once hovercraft from Ramsgate to Dunkirk, again in France and once ferry from Heysham to Douglas on the Isle of Man.
Another interesting fact is that between that 2002 date and November 2009 I had visited, for however short a time, 17 other countries but had not left England since arriving back on 12th November 2009.
This year, 2019, saw my 70th birthday, mainly because I had been born 70 years before in 1949. One of my sons who lives in New Zealand and his wife decided to pay the family in England a visit to coincide with said birthday. As a present, they offered to take me across to Belgium for a few days and it was decided we would base ourselves in Bruges.
Therefore, it was on 16th July that Rachel, James and I set out from Clacton for the drive to Dover where we boarded a ferry for Dunkirk and then sped to our destination in Belgium. For the first time in over 20 years I got the chance to watch the white cliffs of Dover, without any blue birds as far as I could see, disappearing from view. Actually as the window on the ferry was a tad dirty, I probably couldn't have seen any blue birds anyway. The trip had been in doubt earlier in the year because of the UK's imminent, well someone thought it was imminent, departure from the EU and the problems that would present.
After a pleasant trip across the Channel for 10 or so miles and then a continued trip across La Manche for another few, we arrived in Dunkirk. By the way, I was the designated driver on the trip and I wouldn't have wanted it any other way. I hate being driven and am not noted for being up to date with modern technology and able to navigate with a phone instead of a map. James, however, proved superb, with one notable exception; wait for day 2.
It was a mere 80 kilometres from Dunkirk to Bruges, we'd eaten on the ferry, and it was fairly easy to find our accommodation. We also noticed a Lidl supermarket just a few hundred yards from the house. We didn't notice the ticket machine for car park tickets to enter the supermarket car park. The accommodation itself was beautiful and as I write on you will discover that I found most of Belgium to be beautiful and clean.
We settled in, unpacked and with the weather being very pleasant, James and I settled down in the garden for a really good, long chat. Modern communications like Skype and WhatsApp are superb for keeping in touch but a real face-to-face chat is still unsurpassed. Obviously modern technology still rules to some degree as James demonstrates in the picture.
Once Rachel had awakened from a small time of eye-resting, we drove down to Lidl and bought some supplies for most of the week. It was fun being in a Belgium Lidl with writing in Flemish, I guess, or maybe also in French. A slight misunderstanding resulted in Rachel's selection of strawberry yoghurt ending up as fresh natural yoghurt (fraise, freche, what's the difference – obvious actually). We then drove home, passing a nice man who was working on the horizontal bar that was situated at the exit to the car park.
After dinner, and with the use of James' phone, we decided to walk into a part of Bruges. It was a fairly long walk, walking was a large part of this holiday, with the first part taking us through a rest home or a nunnery or some such building before we came across a really beautiful river. Belgium, or this part of Belgium, is full of rivers and canals and very well looked after with no sign, to us anyway, of rubbish filling the banks and the water.
Eventually we reached a area to the south of Bruges known as Minnewater. At the heart of the area is the “Lake of Love”, across which straddles the “Lovers Bridge”. It was amazingly quiet considering it was part of a major city. A legend says that a pretty young girl called Minna was in love with a warrior of a neighbouring tribe. Her father was against the match and arranged for her to marry a man of his choice. Minna ran away into the forest. When her lover, named Stromberg, found her, she died in his arms of exhaustion. The lake was then named after Minna.
The lake is actually a reservoir and is joined to the intricate canal system of Bruges, of which you will see and find out more later in these blogs.
There is also a legend about the “Lovers Bridge” which tells that if you walk across the bridge and kiss your loved one, your love will then be forever. James and Rachel duly obliged and look pretty happy afterwards. I, not unnaturally, blew myself a kiss.
Talking of legends allows me to repeat another story I heard. The symbol of Bruges is the swan. In 1488 the people of Bruges chopped off the head of one the city administrators, a guy called Pieter Lanchals. He belonged to the court of Maximilian of Austria (well look him up) and the family coat of arms of Mr Lanchals featured a swan. It was said that Maximilian punished the people of Bruges by making the population keep swans on all their lakes and canals. I guess that feeding them helps them stay too.
We then left Minnewater, passing by the fountains that are alongside the main road at one of the entrances to the park. That is where I will leave you for today and you are considerably luckier than I, as we still had to walk home. Just before James and Rachel's arrival from New Zealand, I had begun to experience considerable pain in my right calf if I walked more than 400 metres or so. The doctor said provided I could cope with the pain, walking would help. Help is a relative word. I have no idea how bad it would have been had I not walked but I know how the pain was on walking. We had to stop every so often for me to sit down because, after such a short sit down, the pain would disappear for the next 400 or so metres. You may hear more of this in later blogs or you may not. I've told you once, don't forget it. Sympathy requested.
Therefore, it was on 16th July that Rachel, James and I set out from Clacton for the drive to Dover where we boarded a ferry for Dunkirk and then sped to our destination in Belgium. For the first time in over 20 years I got the chance to watch the white cliffs of Dover, without any blue birds as far as I could see, disappearing from view. Actually as the window on the ferry was a tad dirty, I probably couldn't have seen any blue birds anyway. The trip had been in doubt earlier in the year because of the UK's imminent, well someone thought it was imminent, departure from the EU and the problems that would present.
After a pleasant trip across the Channel for 10 or so miles and then a continued trip across La Manche for another few, we arrived in Dunkirk. By the way, I was the designated driver on the trip and I wouldn't have wanted it any other way. I hate being driven and am not noted for being up to date with modern technology and able to navigate with a phone instead of a map. James, however, proved superb, with one notable exception; wait for day 2.
It was a mere 80 kilometres from Dunkirk to Bruges, we'd eaten on the ferry, and it was fairly easy to find our accommodation. We also noticed a Lidl supermarket just a few hundred yards from the house. We didn't notice the ticket machine for car park tickets to enter the supermarket car park. The accommodation itself was beautiful and as I write on you will discover that I found most of Belgium to be beautiful and clean.
We settled in, unpacked and with the weather being very pleasant, James and I settled down in the garden for a really good, long chat. Modern communications like Skype and WhatsApp are superb for keeping in touch but a real face-to-face chat is still unsurpassed. Obviously modern technology still rules to some degree as James demonstrates in the picture.
Once Rachel had awakened from a small time of eye-resting, we drove down to Lidl and bought some supplies for most of the week. It was fun being in a Belgium Lidl with writing in Flemish, I guess, or maybe also in French. A slight misunderstanding resulted in Rachel's selection of strawberry yoghurt ending up as fresh natural yoghurt (fraise, freche, what's the difference – obvious actually). We then drove home, passing a nice man who was working on the horizontal bar that was situated at the exit to the car park.
After dinner, and with the use of James' phone, we decided to walk into a part of Bruges. It was a fairly long walk, walking was a large part of this holiday, with the first part taking us through a rest home or a nunnery or some such building before we came across a really beautiful river. Belgium, or this part of Belgium, is full of rivers and canals and very well looked after with no sign, to us anyway, of rubbish filling the banks and the water.
Eventually we reached a area to the south of Bruges known as Minnewater. At the heart of the area is the “Lake of Love”, across which straddles the “Lovers Bridge”. It was amazingly quiet considering it was part of a major city. A legend says that a pretty young girl called Minna was in love with a warrior of a neighbouring tribe. Her father was against the match and arranged for her to marry a man of his choice. Minna ran away into the forest. When her lover, named Stromberg, found her, she died in his arms of exhaustion. The lake was then named after Minna.
The lake is actually a reservoir and is joined to the intricate canal system of Bruges, of which you will see and find out more later in these blogs.
There is also a legend about the “Lovers Bridge” which tells that if you walk across the bridge and kiss your loved one, your love will then be forever. James and Rachel duly obliged and look pretty happy afterwards. I, not unnaturally, blew myself a kiss.
Talking of legends allows me to repeat another story I heard. The symbol of Bruges is the swan. In 1488 the people of Bruges chopped off the head of one the city administrators, a guy called Pieter Lanchals. He belonged to the court of Maximilian of Austria (well look him up) and the family coat of arms of Mr Lanchals featured a swan. It was said that Maximilian punished the people of Bruges by making the population keep swans on all their lakes and canals. I guess that feeding them helps them stay too.
We then left Minnewater, passing by the fountains that are alongside the main road at one of the entrances to the park. That is where I will leave you for today and you are considerably luckier than I, as we still had to walk home. Just before James and Rachel's arrival from New Zealand, I had begun to experience considerable pain in my right calf if I walked more than 400 metres or so. The doctor said provided I could cope with the pain, walking would help. Help is a relative word. I have no idea how bad it would have been had I not walked but I know how the pain was on walking. We had to stop every so often for me to sit down because, after such a short sit down, the pain would disappear for the next 400 or so metres. You may hear more of this in later blogs or you may not. I've told you once, don't forget it. Sympathy requested.
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