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JGM TRAVELS 2023JGM TRAVELS 2023
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"Life is short and the world is wide"
James & Grace
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Join us along the way! Read more Hereford, United Kingdom
  • JGM TRAVELS 2023European road trip
    Day 58

    58. Leaving - Seeing Grandma Bun

    April 2 in France ⋅ 🌬 13 °C

    Early start this morning to get to the Ferry by 6.45am. After taking Maddy for a run, we had a 30 min drive to get to the port from our park up.

    All successful and only a quick search by the port staff, we had read horror stories where they can empty your entire van and search everything... Granted in a car not so bad, in a fully loaded campervan.. We have alot of stuff😂. We treated ourselves to a full English breakfast each... Wow we have missed you bacon 😂🥓. That's one thing the English do right... Full English breakfast to set you off for the day.

    We have a 5-6 hour journey to Grandma Bun after we dock, we are excited to spend some time with her before heading home.

    What a trip we have had, great first Europe trip. Next trip we will have a bigger budget, bring less stuff and be raring to go.. Roll on August!    Read more

  • JGM TRAVELS 2023European road trip
    Day 57

    57. Ypres - Dunkirk

    April 1 in France ⋅ ⛅ 12 °C

    Lovely weather this morning , so we decided to head into Ypres, which was only a ten min walk from our campsite .
    The centre was very busy with it being Easter weekend , but we enjoyed looking at the gothic architecture and walking down the cobbled streets . After the first World War, alot of the important buildings were reconstructed- including the St. Martins cathedral. You could tell they were new buildings, but they were still beautiful.
    In the town centre there was a little market selling plants and crafty things, we had a little look around before stopping off for a pint . The men sat opposite us on the table were really cute and offered to take some pictures of us and Maddy, it was quite funny as the beers had gone straight to our heads and we were really giggly.
    After a sobering walk back to the campsite, we had a quick bite to eat and drove onto the Yorkshire trench and dug out site .
    The trench site had a reconstruction of the A frame and duckboard construction used to provide the base of the trenches in WW1. The trenches were all waterlogged , but it was interesting to visit them.
    Afterwards , we drove onto have a look at Flanders fields - one of the main battlefields of WW1. The first poppy grew here after WW1 due to the high lime content in the soil and inspired John McCrae to write the world famous poem "In Flanders Fields".
    After a busy day of history, we drove to our last park up - behind a supermarket half an hour away from the ferry port 🤣.
    We cleaned the van and got everything sorted for our busy day travelling to Exeter tomorrow .    Read more

  • JGM TRAVELS 2023European road trip
    Day 56

    56. Bruges & Ypres

    March 31 in Belgium ⋅ ☁️ 14 °C

    Easter Sunday! Today we headed off to Bruges, a short 2 hour drive from our campsite. It was nice going into Belgium but we were happy that we had spent the last week in Holland as seems so much more green space, Belgium is quite built up.

    We arrived at Bruges and struggled to find anywhere free to park, we settled to pay £25 for the day but enroute to that park up we found a little space so I swooped in. We had a 25 minute walk into the centre, we took Maddy along too. It was super pretty Bruges and had very impressive buildings which some backed onto canals which was cool. The weather wasn't on our side unfortunately so it was quite wet, we had a walk around the sites for a couple of hours. We can imagine this is a great place for a weekend getaway and we are both happy we visited.

    After Bruges we headed onto Ypres where the trip began... We wanted to go to the Easter Menin Gate Ceremony. The Menin Gate is a British memorial which is dedicated to all the missing in action soldiers from WW1. The ceremony was very moving and really happy Grace got to see this as I loved visiting with school many years ago. After the ceremony we headed into Ypres to have a look around and were blown away with how pretty it was, alot more so than rainy Bruges but we wondered if weather played a part in this.

    Ypres was absolutely destroyed in WW1 with over 1 million soldiers killed or missing in action from over 50 different nations. It was also the first place the Germans used Gas as a weapon. Lots of history here so we have decided to come back in tomorrow and look further, there is also a couple more stops we want to make before heading to our last stop before getting the ferry back on Tuesday.    Read more

  • JGM TRAVELS 2023European road trip
    Day 55

    55. Campsite relax

    March 30 in the Netherlands ⋅ ☁️ 9 °C

    Today we woke up to another very wet day, so made the decision to have another day at campsite. As its Easter weekend we didn't want to move on and then struggle to find somewhere. We nipped out to go and get some groceries and restock on fuel.

    In the afternoon we decided to brave it and took Maddy on a walk, we walked up to another big tulip field which was cool. After a hot shower we had a chilled evening in the van and sorted our onwards travel for the next 2 days.    Read more

  • JGM TRAVELS 2023European road trip
    Day 54

    54. Lisse and Kinderdijk

    March 29 in the Netherlands ⋅ ☁️ 15 °C

    Today we woke up and headed off to Maddy's worming appointment just 5 mins up the road, Maddy was wormed and Health Certificate updated for only £25, which we thought was really good value. Afterwards we headed to Lisse , the tulip capital of Holland. It was really cool driving past fields of Tulips of all different colours, there were fields of daffodils too.

    After a tour of the colourful fields we decided to visit Kinderdijk, which we found by coincidence when a Holland screensaver came up on our computer. It is a Unesco site and was really nice to see 19 dutch windmills with some working aswell.

    We walked up to a couple of windmills and realised that these were peoples houses. We both had house envy, what an awesome place to live. After a nice walk around the waterways next to the path we headed back to the van... we then spent a while working out how to leave the carpark as no machine, and barriers and realising we had to pay for a ticket at machine which was nearly a 1.5 mile walk away, where we had just walked from.A quick phonecall they let us out for free which was nice of them.

    We drove on, very busy today due to Good Friday so rang and booked a campsite in advance. We spent the afternoon playing Bowles on the grass next to a lovely pond. It was a beautiful sunset tonight aswell with a nice temperature so we were outside most of the afternoon which was great. Pasta dish and then decide our next movements for the next couple of days.    Read more

  • JGM TRAVELS 2023European road trip
    Day 53

    53. Niuew Vieneep Via Zandvoort

    March 28 in the Netherlands ⋅ 🌬 10 °C

    Today the sun was shining and the sky was blue. After doing all the van services we made the decision to take Maddy to the beach for a walk (her favourite place).

    We drove the scenic way and booked Maddy into a vet to have her return to UK wormer and health certificate updated tomorrow. Another thing which didn't pass our minds when thinking it was Easter weekend...

    Enroute we went through some lovely villages and towns, the north of Holland is lovely and far less touristy.
    We arrived at the most expensive car park in the world and went on a walk up and down the beach. The water had loads of wind surfers but didn't look very appealing, it was quite brown. Maddy still enjoyed a splash around though it was lovely to see her acting like a puppy again splashing in the water and running around the beach with lots of space.

    Then we headed off to our next parkup following the coast road down a bit, another stop at a tulip farm, even cheaper at £12 a night today. It is very close to Maddys wormer appointment tomorrow, which is super handy, then we will slowly work our way down to Bruges in Belgium (if we can find park ups that is). This may be a frantic weekend with all the campers and people everywhere...!    Read more

  • JGM TRAVELS 2023European road trip
    Day 52

    52. Middenmeer via sea road

    March 27 in the Netherlands ⋅ ☁️ 11 °C

    Today we woke up to very mixed weather again so we decided to do some driving today and get some miles done. We are starting to see many colours driving through Holland as the tulips are starting to blossom, which is amazing to see. We saw an old windmill spinning too, which is a rarity!

    We drove across a 20 mile road over the sea , with a view of thousands of wind turbines. When we got to the other side we realised as Easter is coming up everywhere is getting booked out pretty quick, luckily a tulip farm had space for us. The lovely farmer said to walk the dog down to see the tulips, he had thousands sprouting in all different colours which was awesome! Holland really is made by the people, they all are so welcoming here.

    After many tulip pictures we had a shower and had a relaxing evening, this campsite is lovely and only £15 for the night. Someone arrived in a coach convertion which was bloody massive! Glad we didn't do one of them 😳😳.    Read more

  • JGM TRAVELS 2023European road trip
    Day 51

    51. Winsum & Lutjegast

    March 26 in the Netherlands ⋅ ☁️ 13 °C

    Today we decided to head further north to a pretty town called Winsum . It was only a short drive away , and there was a huge free car park on the outskirts .
    We took Maddy with us and headed towards the town centre , following the cobbled streets . There were lots of windmills and quirky looking shops along the way , but not many of them were open .
    We crossed the bridge and grabbed something quick to eat for lunch . We found a lovely place next to the canal where we could sit and plan where to stay for the night .
    After the short walk back to the van, we drove for about 45 minutes to a free carpark in Lutjegast. We took Maddy out on a walk into to the park just behind our park up . We were really glad we made the effort as there was a pen of deer and peacocks in the park. The deer seemed quite friendly and were walking towards us as we took some photos . It was funny on the way back as one of the peacocks had escaped and had caused quite a commotion with the locals.
    Very cold and rainy tonight , but we enjoyed the evening chilling with a few beers.    Read more

  • JGM TRAVELS 2023European road trip
    1
    Day 50

    50. Uddel - Bourtange

    March 25 in the Netherlands ⋅ ☁️ 10 °C

    After walking Mads and doing the van services, we headed off towards our next stop which was Bourtange. We had a nice drive there which took us a couple of hours, but was very scenic driving through Germany enroute.

    We stopped at Bourtange as it was a old fort which is designed to look like a star from the sky. The fort which had a little village inside and a windmill was really pretty. All the little shops were shut for some reason which was a shame. The fort was rebuilt about 60 years ago to match what it looked like when built in 1850, they even have wooden toilets over the moat to show what the toilets were like.

    After having a look around we carried headed up towards our next park up. A free one tonight overlooking the canal, really nice and peaceful here with stalks in the distance.    Read more

  • JGM TRAVELS 2023European road trip
    1
    Day 49

    48. 49. Uddel

    March 24 in the Netherlands ⋅ 🌬 9 °C

    48. Today we headed into Germany to stock up on food, we are juggling back and forth a bit as Holland is cheaper to stay in campsites, but Germany has much cheaper food and fuel bills. After stocking up we have decided not to go into the depths of Germany again, as it would involve us doing another 1200 miles over the next 10 days, so we have decided to tour Holland, Belgium and France and slowly work our way back and enjoy calming the trip down a bit.
    We then decided to head to Arnhem to drive through the city, it was very busy so we didn't stay too long, as its tiring driving the van through towns with traffic everywhere and the weather wasn't worth us getting out unfortunately.
    We drove on to stay near Appeldoor but the park ups we went to just didn't sit well with us, so we drove onto a little campsite up the road. Enroute, the van went into limp mode again, it was quickly resolved but we were thinking we have made the right decision heading slowly towards Calais...

    The campsite was really cheap, on a farm with cows, goats and horses to go and see. Not long after we arrived , a rainbow had formed in the distance , the colours were so vivid . Therefore, we took Maddy on another walk. Maddy is doing great, almost 90% back to normal, which is great news.
    In the evening , we cooked a lovely spag bowl in the van before enjoying a few games of Rummikub. We had a lovely 1 ltr bottle of red wine for £1.70 which we enjoyed , we both slept really well afterwards.

    49. Today we have decided to stay on at the campsite for another night, its horrible weather today so we are going to plan the supplies once more for our Pitch back at home and watch a couple of films with the heating on & take Maddy on wet walk later if we can dodge the rain.    Read more

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