In my last blog I announced a trip to Belgium. I made this trip as I promised to come and celebrate the 12thbirthday of Sara, the daughter of a dear friend of mine, and promises have to be kept! I left on Thursday 27 April, King’s Day in the Netherlands, to Chastre, a lovely, very small rural village somewhere between Brussels and Namur in Belgium. Such a pleasure to see my friend Brigitte again, have dinner with her in the local ‘brasserie’ and catch up. We celebrated Sara’s birthday on Friday with a birthday meal, wine, ‘champagne’ for the kids, presents and cake, such a joy! Sasha, Sara’s younger brother was determined to sleep on the couch so that I could sleep in his bed. No argument could bring him to different thoughts so in the end I accepted with gratitude.
The next day I took the road to go to the ‘High Fens’, a protected nature reserve in Belgium. I had wanted to walk a trail on planks and boards since ever, but I found out they no longer existed at the place where I had gone, I will need to go back one day to find the last remaining one! The weather was a bit grim, the colours in the reserve were more like autumn colours then spring colours, but it was still very beautiful.
From there I drove back to the Netherlands to visit the famous ‘Keukenhof’ park, open between early April and mid-May only, because in the park you will find millions of tulips and other flowers growing from ‘bulbs’, and they only bloom in that period. The absence of colours in the nature reserve in Belgium was abundantly compensated in this park. The park is situated in the Netherlandsw but the visitors are from all over the world, you hear languages you never heard before, and realise how nice it is to be part of that global ‘human’ tribe that likes to go and visit a park full of flowers! I had parked the van on a very, very pleasant campsite in the village of Hoogmade, next to a small harbour. Even if I could hear airplanes, high speed trains, normal speed trains, and cars on not so far motorways, it still felt like I was in nature, which was a bizarre experience. From there I also visited the National Museum of Ethnology in the city of Leiden, with so much beautiful pieces of art, which should not really be there but in their country of origin.
The next trip I made was not with my campervan but I still want to mention it. My friend Will (I know her since our high school days!) and me had registered for a two-day walking trip on the beach from Scheveningen to Zantvoort, about 20 km per day. We went there by train, slept in a nice hotel halfway, had coffee, and lunches, and dinner at hip beach clubs, but had to deal with the strong headwind and loose sand. It was tough, but we made it. How proud can you be……..
A week later (on Saturday 20 May) I left for Utrecht, to volunteer (again) at the SPRING Performing Arts Festival. I parked the van at the same very green and lovely campsite as previous years. This year there was a big festival with loud music very near this campsite, only on the day I arrived. The bass tones resonated in the van, it felt like all the screws would loosen as a result of the vibration (they didn’t though). As always I was happy to see various very interesting performances at the festival: Motus Mori Requiem (Katja Heitmann), Dear Beloved Friend (Dries Verhoeven), If All Else Fails (Forced Entertainment), SPAfrica (Julian Hetzel/Ntando Cele), Identity in Dissolution (Alaa Minawi), Ascension (Leon Rogissart/Paul Boereboom). When I was not working I explored the area on my bike, and thus discovered the beautifull castle De Haar in Haarzuilens, very near Utrecht.
I went home for my Friday morning rehearsal and left again the same day for the village of Groede in the most southern part of the Province of Zeeland. I had a few very nice and very windy days and cycled in and along the nature reserve ‘Het Zwin’, into Belgium, visiting some of the charming villages in the area. Another area to go back to and explore further! From there I went to beautiful Veere, on the isle of Walcheren in Zeeland, just for a day, before heading home.
From 12-15 June I made another non-campervan trip worth mentioning, I took a plane to Venice to meet with my dear friend Angèle from Chad, who was in Europe for holidays. With another friend of her from Switzerland we had a few very fun days and we enjoyed our walks and visits, and lunches and dinners, very much.
On Saturday 1 July I left, with the van, to the province of Noord-Holland, to visit my cousin Jool in Bloemendaal and discover the area. Bike rides in the Noord-Hollands Duinreservaat, and along the North Sea coast, visits to villages nearby. I also visited the Museum of Humanity in Zaandam, such a beautiful mission of photographer Ruben Timman. He portrays humanity worldwide as dignified as possible through thought-provoking photographs. He makes humanity shine with portraits and stories to create a world where every person feels seen, acknowledged and valued (text from their website: https://www.museumofhumanity.nl/en).
I left the campsite where I was on the day we had the big storm Poly, and had to wait until the wind slowed down and the main roads were safe to drive on.
On Wednesday 19 July I left by plane (yes, another non-van trip……..) to Toulouse in France, where I took a train to Caussade and from there I was picked up and taken to the wedding of Yaya, another dear friend from Chad, and Stéphanie. This wedding took place in the woods of Calvignac, near the village of Cajarc where the days after the Africajarc Festival took place.
What a beautiful ceremony it was, and many of the artists from the festival who had already arrived were there and played all night. The festival itself was also a joy to visit. Lots of really good music of all styles and musicians of all ages, theatre, writers being interviewed about their latest novels, interesting movies, story telling.
When I came back I went to pick my van which was parked on a camper site with friends, In Oirschot (Noord-Brabant). I discovered the beautiful bike rides you can make in the area. I did two of them, I think I will go back there and try out (some of) the other bike rides as well (I think there are more than 30 rides…….).
I am now waiting to perform this Tuesday, 8 August, as planned, and will then leave for another trip to the province of Noord-Holland to start with. So much still to discover!!!
