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Our last wake up in Holland this morning, and rather than the tinkly little tunes we've heard from most bell towers, today it's like Quasimodo is belting the brass off them, at what seems a bit early but the clocks went forward last night.
We have our breakfast then take a little drive through part of the town for Nick to see. It looks lovely in the morning sunshine and we briefly think about staying, but it's Sunday and likely things will not be open.
A few miles down the road we approach the Terneuzen tunnel, pay our €7.45 fee and descend steeply to go under the sea for the next 6.6km. The descent flattens and we go level for a while then start climbing to the surface. The south side of the estuary has many more trees and is nowhere near as wet as the north, in fact some of it could be spring in Somerset except for the occasional windmill.
Soon we are at the Belgian border but there are no checks, we just go over a roundabout and that's it, signage is different, compared to the super smooth Dutch roads these are rutted and badly repaired and there is an altogether more utilitarian, less liberal feel about the place.
We plan on usin the coast road bit there seems to be roadworks everywhere, and when we end up in a truckstop after following Zeebrugge signs we decide to stop there and eat the sandwiches we bought in a Dutch garage. Progress along the coast road is slow, with uneven roads, junctions under repair and traffic lights for trams.
The next set of traffic lights is even worse. The main bridge at Zeebrugge is being raised to let the Isar Highway, a KSS car carrier, navigate out to sea. Twenty minutes after it is gone the bridge is still up. Finally the Sikonos, a small tanker, rumbles by in the other direction and finally the bridge is lowered and we can continue. By the time we've crawled to Blankenburg we're bored of the coast road and the unpredictable driving of the locals so we switch Snoopy to motorway and escape the run down, tram laden, badly laid out resorts. The motorway is fine, except for wind and a sudden hail storm but traffic is not too busy and progress is good.
By the time we reach the French border it's really squally with black skies, sudden showers and strong winds. We pass the exits for Dunkerque and leave the motorway ourselves. Suddenly the sun bursts out, the roads are dry and we are bimbling through colourful, rural France. We had an aire in mind in Gravelines, but Ali sees a sign for Grand Fort Philippe and had noticed a nice aire in the book, so we go to try that one first. It's Easter, there is a fairground working on the aire, but as we drive around the corner there are camping car signs and we find a row of vans parked next to the beach with spaces to spare.
The difference from an hour ago is staggering; bright sunshine and warmth bathes the beach beneath us and lights up the ferry leaving Dunkerque. Dogs run about on the sands and walkers amble along the path.
There is a lovely sunset, late tonight with the change to summertime.
Tonight dinner is chicken risotto.
Breakfast in Holland. Lunch in Belgium. Dinner in France.
The joys of travelling!
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