The Achterhoek Experience
This weekend was the first camp-out for me this season, after all the care I have had it was time to proof myself. I felt good also I haven’t been leaking oil anymore, the care worked. The yearly trip of the two friends was planned for this weekend and a farm campsite in the east of The Netherlands was booked. The first part of the route was familiar to me, the road over the water which I drove so many times, followed by a new route of secondary roads. I could enjoy the route, not too high speed in a nice 25 degrees zipping from the 98 gasoline. The road took us trough places like Ermelo, Apeldoorn and Vorden before we arrived at Ruurlo.
The campsite was spacious and with good facilities, I could park on a concrete patch which is better then with my tires in the mud. We had a lot of attention driving on the campsite, maybe it is the noise I make, anyway I like making and entrance. All the campers, tents and caravans were parked in a big circle on two fields, like a traditional Dutch birthday circle. The guys managed the setup in no-time, they get more experience in setting me up quickly. Lucky for them I kept their ingredients cool so after the setup they could enjoy a cold Aperol Spritz, well deserved after driving with me for almost 2 hours.
For me it was enjoying some rest and take in the local scenery. It is a beautiful area, some small woods, fields and a castle which I noticed just before the campsite.
The night was quiet and the sunny morning started not too early, although some may doubt this. Then the guys had some breakfast which I facilitated of course, by keeping the items cool and deliver the power to their coffee machine, and they could even do the dishwashing with my new waste-water-tank, but they didn’t. After that the neighbors took some interest in me, to see the tech 1982 tech I have and there was some specific interest in the stacked double bed setup I have.
We had to leave before 11, so time to pack up and go. The packing was as quick as the setup, we could leave quickly. We were waved goodbye by some guests. The guys decided to take their pelgrimage to Obelink, a large store for all kinds of camping gear, from simple chairs to complete caravans and campervans. It was a 25 kilometer secondary road, again a relaxed drive through the Dutch scenery. When we came close the traffic became more busy and me and Google-maps decided for a shortcut on the parallel road, passing the traffic-jam. It seemed the traffic-jam was for the camp store, it was incredible busy at the parking, campers had a dedicated parking and I was surrounded by large campervans, or better said camper trucks, without any personality (or color for that matter).
It was not so difficult to spot me, I was the only one in a color and probably the smallest one. But it made my day when we drove off the parking and many people looked.
From the camp store we headed back in direction home with a small detour via Eefde, to see an old military place. Only the building was kept there. After the short photograph stop we continued the journey back home, we went through Deventer to avoid traffic jam and the headed to Emst. There we were driving behind an older sister, a 1967 T1, which had quite a pace. I had to do effort to keep up with her, the 15 years difference was not noticeable in speed. From Epe it was all familiar road through ’t Harde, Elburg, Dronten and at Lelystad back on the dike road.
It was a great weekend and I cannot wait to share with my brothers and sisters at home. The next trip is already planned, in two weeks we will head for the vineyard area Alsace in France and maybe have a few visits on the way. Until then we leave the hard work to the young convertible, it will be nice weather coming week so he can enjoy and the weekend is for LowNSlow I have heard.