Friday 24th April 2026 – Monday 11th May 2026
Abi & I spent 2 weeks touring Belgium and the Netherlands in Rockstar, our campervan.
We set of Friday morning and visited family in Hampshire.
On Saturday, we visited Petersfield Lake where we started our holiday with an ice cream and a bag of duck food.
From there, we drove to Hythe ready to cross to France on The Channel Tunnel the next morning.
Our route took us past Chertsey, where we knew Popsie & Elaine were staying in their camper. Seeing as it was Popsies bithday we called in for a little while.
On Sunday we were up early and in France by 10:30am.
Bruge (West Flanders):
We drove straight to our campsite, Camping Memling, just outside Bruge. Once we had checked in and set up Rockstar, we cycled into Bruge.
On Sunday, we played in the forest park next to the campsite, before cycling back into Bruge for pizza and Abi also had a go in a climbing/boldering place that we stumbled across.
Middelburg (Zeeland):
After this we drove over the border into the Netherlands. We drove through the longest vehicle tunnel (6.6km) in the Netherlands and spent the evening exploring Middelburg. It was Kings Day, so the city was decorated in orange and extremely busy with lots of live music. Half the people seemed to be wearing something orange and most had the Netherlands flag painted on their cheeks.
Kinderdijk (South Holland):
On Tuesday morning we visited the UNESCO Heritage Site of Kinderdijk, home to 19 traditional windmills.
Visiting in late April meant there were hundreds, possibly even thousands of coots, mallards, swans and greylag geese all with babies of varying ages.
Tuesday afternoon we drove an hour north to Camping Op Hoop which was to be our home for the next three nights. It’s a lovely site with chickens and ducks wandering amongst the motorhomes. It is also surrounded on three sides by tulip fields but sadly they had already been harvested for this season.
On the plus side, we did get good opportunities to watch the hares that were running around in the bare tulip fields.
Keukenhof Gardens (South Holland):
Wednesday was my birthday so we had a lazy morning before cycling the 9.6km to Keukenhof Gardens in the afternoon.
Cycling was a good call as we passed a few remaining tulip fields which were still in full flower.
You must prebook tickets to Keukenhof and stick to your timeslot. Someone recommended to arrive after 3pm as the gardens are open until 7pm and most of the coach loads of people leave by 4pm. This was a good tip.
The gardens were absolutely stunning and definitely worth the trip.
The Corpus Experience (South Holland):
The Corpus Experience is a journey through the human body. Each person is issued a personal audio pack which explains the functions of different parts of the body. The guided tour included several 4D movies with moving chairs for a more real experience. At the end of the tour you can leisurely explore lots of exhibits, and do some games.
We decided to give our bums a rest from the saddle today and tried out the local buses instead.
Friday morning we packed up and left the campsite and headed for a Renault dealer as Rockstar appears to have an intermittent problem starting. After securing the part we think we might need, we headed north and found all the people at…
Zaanse Schans Windmills (North Holland):
It was packed which made for a suboptimal experience. Today was mid 20’s and the weather clearly brought out the crowds. The queues for the cheese factory and clog factory were too long for us so we opted for a quick walk around the windmills, which you can do for free. Abi had lots of fun jumping over the shadows from the windmill sails.
We did pay a small fee to go in the Jonge Schapp Windmill which is a working mill that produces wood.
After watching a short video about the reconstruction of the windmill we went to see it in action sawing whole tree trunks into planks of wood.
The highlight of the visit was all the wildlife. We were treated to a family of grebes, feeding their chicks just a few meters from us, totally oblivious to the crowds. Then to top of the treat we watched the two babies climb onto mums back before she swam off under the bridge we were watching from.
Next we had a short drive to…
Volendam (North Holland):
A quaint town situated on the sea. We were becoming a bit disheartened with it, as there is only actually one really nice bit and it took us ages to find it. Head for the marina and turn left, then you will find the narrow couple of streets and tourist shops. It is very pretty but I wouldn’t particularly recommend it.
We enjoyed a free parkup at Simone Hoeve cheese & clog factory. Abi played in the playground and tried unsuccessfully to catch a white rabbit.
Saturday morning began with a free tour of the factory, which included a free cheese tasting. They had flavoured edam & gouda, from the local towns. Abi’s favourite was the smoked one, I like the pesto one and the chilli one.
From here, we drove to my cousin Roni’s in the city of Leeuwarden. Our route took us over the country’s longest dyke and past a massive off shore wind farm.
Leeuwarden (Friesland):
We arrived at Roni’s in time for pancakes, as requested by Abi. After lunch, he and his girlfriend Dimi and his eldest son Declan gave is a tour of Leeuwarden.
One of the many things Leeuwarden is known for is it’s Oldehove, an unfinished church that sadly led to the suicide of it’s architect. The project was started in 1529 and it’s tower was intended to be the tallest tower in the Netherlands. As the tower grew taller it started to lean. At the height of just 39m the project was abandoned after the builders were unable to correct the lean. Today, visisted are allowed to climb the 183 steps of the tower to a viewing platform at the top, but sadly the day we visited the tower was closed off and surrounded by scaffolding. The top of the tower is an incredible 2m off centre meaning this tower has a greater lean that the famous Leaning Tower of Pisa.
Natuur Museum Frysland:
Sunday morning we visited the Nature Museum which was fantastic.
Dinoland, Zwolle (Overijssel):
On Monday we visited Dinoland in Zwolle. I can say the Dutch know how to do theme parks. Firstly the prices are good and they include everything. The Dinoland entrance was 16.95 Euros and includes the dino show, rock climbing, crazy golf, painting a ceramic dinosaur to keep, making a clay model to keep. The refreshments are also cheap, small ice creams or lollies were 1 euro and pizzas were 6.95 euros. A striking contrast to the Wellington Country Park in the UK which we visited at the end of our trip
Giethoorn pronounced Heithorn (Overijssel):
Tuesday morning we cycled around Giethoorn, known as Venice of the north (although a lot of othe rplaces also claim this nickname).
We took a 1hr guided tour on a canal boat and learnt about how the village came to be 700 years ago when they started digging peat.
Giethoorn is famous for a small part of the village where there are no roads or cars. It does however have 176 pedestrian bridges as most houses are on an island.
Abi had lots of fun trying to stroke the ducks. She was unsuccessful, just like in Keukenhof Gardens.
We felt a bit sorry for a workman who somehow got stuck on his way home from work. The mini digger on his boat was just a couple of inches too tall to fit under one of the bridges. We’ve no idea how the story ended, he was on his phone to his boss when we left.
Molecaten Park (Flevoland):
One our drive south to Flevoland we had to stop at a tulip field for a few quick photos.
We spent a night at the Molecaten Park in Flevostrand where Abi made friends with a dutch girl called Carlijn, we ended up spending the day at the campsite and joined our new friends for pizza that evening.
Utrecht:
Thursday morning we explored Utrecht on our bikes. It’s a beautiful city with some stunning architecture
Cycling in the Netherlands is so popular that we even found a dedicated bike lift by the railway station.
Museum Speelklok (Utrecht):
We visited the Museum Speelklok (Music Museum). There were lots of hands on things to try and listen too. The museum specialises in self playing instruments and there is a strong theme of music and machinery working together throughout the museum.
Beekse Bergen Safari Park & Speelland (North Brabant):
Later in the afternoon we drove down to Beekse Bergen Safari Park as we had two nights booked at the Lake Resort.We enjoyed the use of the pool, softplay and spent Friday in Speelland which is included as part of your campsite fee. Abi made friends with a 4yr old boy called Louie.
It’s that time of year when the cockchafers (maybugs) appear and there were loads all around the campsite. There were also huge numbers of geewith goslings of varying
Saturday morning we cycled across to the Safari Resort where we saw the lions being fed. We also saw giraffes, camels, rhinos and zebras.
Baarle-Nassau / Baarle-Hertog (North Brabant):
After leaving the safari park there was just one more place I wanted to visit. A small village famous for its ludicrously complex borders (see the white lines on the map photo). The Netherlands town is called Baarle-Nassau and the Belgium town is called Baarle-Hertog.
We found the famous table in the cafe where you can sit in two different countries.
We found a free park up on a disused airfield about an hour from Le Shuttle for Saturday night. We parked right at the end of the runway.
Wellington Country Park (Hampshire, UK):
After returning to the UK via Le Shuttle we spent our last night returning to the Wellington Country Park campsite. It’s a great value place to camp at. We paid £33 for an overnight pitch for 2 people including electricity and entrance to the park on both days of our stay as well as after hours access to the park. A standard day entry costs £25.95 per person….go figure?? Once you are in the park, there is additional charges for pretty much everything making it, in my view, a very poor value day out. The campsite is of a very high standard except for zero signal on the O2 network and no wifi. Even at the main reception where you can connect to the free wifi the signal is so weak I couldn’t even access email.
Abi enjoyed the jumping pillows, the minature railway (additional cost), the dinosaur trail, the fairy woods, walking around the pond and of course trying to stroke and feed as many families of geese as possible.
