Week one – into the Easterly

Home to Hulst, Holland

Trip miles 220 

-3 overnight

Having berthed on the ferry to the sound of the bow doors closing, the crossing to Dunkirk we thought we’d miss was calm, cloudy and cold. The drive across Belgium was fast and easy as we headed north across the lowlands flat with misty light on the snow-ploughed fields and frozen dykes. Dusk settled somewhere over the Dutch border and the white headlights and red tail-lights of the commuting traffic lit up the washed out salted road.

 

Channel crossing

Our stopover at Hulst was empty bar one other van and we pulled into the same spot as previously. We walked the town walls to the usually bustling Grote Platz. Empty and icy, the soft streetlights lit up the gabled and stepped rooflines of the old Flanders burghers’ buildings. Our favourite bar had had another refit but kept its lights low and the candles burning and we enjoyed a well-earned glass of Belgian beer before collecting frites and mayo from the steaming Frituur next door. Heavenly!

A cold night in Hulst