Reusal to Willemstad

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Last night we thought it was strange that the hotel seemed to be on an island in the middle of two roads. This morning we realised it was an old railway station so presumably one side was the road and the other a railway line.

Another sunny day saw us heading north west through very varied countryside. We were back to windmills, huge green houses, flowers being grown for export, lots of horses and riding high on dykes. We even saw a couple of fields full of dairy cows. Very unusual. For a few miles we ventured into Belgium. Much of this route was similar to our last day last year, some was familiar and some wasn't.

Passing through Baarle Hertog we were looking for somewhere to buy sandwiches when I spotted a Bakery. I could see that they made sandwiches so I asked for two cheese and salad. I had to choose between soft or hard bread, small or large bread, which kind of cheese, then which kind of brie and did I want nuts and honey. The salad consisted of one slice of tomato, one slice of cucumber and one slice of egg. The end result was a very upmarket sandwich.



Our lunch stop was on a bench in the shade next to a religious grotto. It had quite a few flowers round it and I was just thinking that someone must look after it when a lady came across with a watering can and watered the plants.



Soon after our lunch stop we passed St Hubertus chapel, which I remembered from last year as it reminds me of St Hubert's church at Dunsop Bridge. Soon after that we crossed the A59, just like being at home. Then we were up on dykes and heading towards the water, the Holands Diep, and then into beautiful Willemstad. Before booking in at the hotel we found an ice cream kiosk and cooled down with that. We are staying in Willemstad, as we did on our penultimate night last year because it's a beautiful little village, a great hotel and an easy ride to the ferry tomorrow.



We had a walk round Willemstad after our meal when it was a little cooler but still very warm. Looking at tomorrow's route it looked like the main bridge we needed to cross was closed so we had to plan an alternative which is 40 miles rather than 30 miles. It's a good job we checked the route tonight.



Willemstad is a small historical town with well preserved fortifications. It lies on the Holland Diep (an estuary of the Rhine and Meuse). The reformed church was built in 1607 as the first new Protestant church building in the Netherlands. In it's small historic harbour multimillionaires yachts park side by side. A stately white windmill at the harbours end has the dominance of a harbour master and is now a private residence.

47 miles

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