Ursel 08

01/08/08

Left Baz in charge of Poly the cat and the house 'til his holiday in the Orkneys.

Took the 22.00 ferry from Dover to Dunkerque and bedded down on the E40 just outside the port area on the sleeping bags we had arranged before leaving Colchester. That meant we only had to put a few bits up on the side and get to kip at 01.00 on the 02/08/08 ready for our shop at Auchan (Grand Synthe) and remembering that the exit numbers had changed from what was written in our newish atlas.

02/08/08

After a very small shop, we made for Sedan as this municipal camp-site in the heart of the town is dirt cheap and very friendly and on the banks of the Meuse! Booked three days for 24 euros and cooked dinner and made for the estate agents.

03/08/08

Taking it in turns for driving, we went for a day out to look at some Ardennaise houses and the first stop was at Corbion where they had the village Boulangerie up for sale at 65,000 euros and all looked as it did in the brochure! Next stop was Nollevaux where the neighbourhood wag (doggy) took it upon himself to escort us round the village via the grotto where the Holy Mary posed for photographs and doggy waited patiently to take us on towards our house (fermette)! Gareth fell instantly through the floor, I mean 'in love' with this property that had everything we desired except for a kitchen sink, an ox eye window and a back door. This was some property, but would have taken another ten of our valuable years to put right.............. maybe though?

Next stop was Paliseul to look at a detached property, but it was actually located in Fays les Veneurs. The house was deceivingly big and in a very quiet spot - lots of work needed again to sort the collapsed lintel over the front door!

Back to cook at the camp-site and chat with the locals. A petit bal was happening behind us and all the local 'line-dancers' gathered to square dance under the gazebo that had taken the Sedanaise two days to put up! Beyond the dancing were the band of gypsies that all had a new white mercedes van, 30ft plus caravan and also a travelling washeteria all packed up in a small white trailer with wash and dryer machine (like a glider trailer) that plugged instantly into the mains water and electricity. I felt inadequate with my dirty washing stuffed into bin bags, getting hotter by the day....

The locals at the camp invited us to watch them eat their barbecue and drink some beer with them - which actually turned out to be rose (yuk) and we were speaking altogether via a Dutch interpreter who spoke many languages, but would have spoken more fluently if he had a 'switch' in his head (his words, not mine) and wasn't so drunk. All these characters spent their whole day drinking and moping about the camp whilst we drove hundreds of Ks and shopped, oh and then went for an evening stroll to escape the camp nuts in the evening.

04/08/08

With our new Benelux atlas there was no stopping Gareth scouring the pages for the most unlikely white roads through the scary Ardennes Foret to our next search for that perfect fermette and I wondered if Heidi could cope with the badly pitted track. Our next stop was a weird little place named Aublaine (even the name sounds odd) where our house stood white and very attached to a very dilapidated barn that was owned by the village freak and his presence scared me silly - this property was not for us, I'm afraid.

Got back to cook and, to our chagrin, a Heidi tyre was flat as a pancake and this we sorted straight away - luckily I had brought my Point S brochure with me from the last French puncture in early December.

A Point S was to hand in the next village of Balan, but I wanted to be sure of it's whereabouts and forced Gareth on a march to scout it out.

05/08/08

Booked another three days in Sedan and then took Heidi very early to have her puncture mended and was advised to leave it with them and come back at 12 o'clock - so not wanting to venture far without a spare, we went back to Sedan and the every day camp life - Boring!!!! We had early lunch and headed back to Balan to collect our tyre - wrong! the French have long lunch breaks don't they? and the people at Point S had just begun theirs - at least and hour to kill in the plus 30c temperature. The bill was about 35 euros (not too bad) and we made off to Verpel in the Argonne to see my favourite fermette. This village was spacious, friendly - had friendly cats and a look round was offered by the church warden. The key holder was out (rrrrrrr) and in this time Gareth decided the property was too big, even if it had all the requirements and more!! The most off-putting aspect being it was just out of his favourite Ardennes area. Temperature went over 36c and we baked - phew!

06/08/08

Bertrix was today's target to look at estate agents, but not much happening, except a local information board recommended a visit to two local towns that had the most listed buildings. Too hot to walk too far round these beauty spots so went to GB to buy a couple more bottles of beer. Back via some (even more) Belgian beer shopping to add to our growing stock - going via Bouillon gave us the chance to track down some more 'special' glasses and we did indeed find the very plain Achel glasses and also took a couple of Hoegaarden Grand Cru glasses back with us.

After dinner at camp, we walked the ancient ramparts of Sedan.

07/08/08

Drove to Avioth where an Abbey was marked on the atlas, and a lovely village that was too with great houses and lovely abbaye. Then on to Virton where Gaume pies get eaten on the bandstand at Christmas? (must have got this wrong eh?) They had a tiled information board that caught the eye and on this we found two more interesting towns to visit. Well you can forget the first one at Chatillon where they make the special three piece stoves, and now this makes up for it - the Ossuary at St Hilaire. This is a must-see and I found it not an iota weird as I photographed the 4000 plus skulls and thigh bones that adorn the bone room (?) This place is very photogenic and at peace with nature!

On the way home a mini tornado nearly took Heidi off the road, so we stopped to wait awhile. It was worth it as the sun came out and a fortified town shone in the sun in the distance. Looking at the atlas we saw this was Montmedy; we just had to investigate. We managed to drive all the way up to the fortifications and then had a leisurely stroll round the top of the ramparts.

Back at the camp, all hell had broken loose with all the cheapo tents (Quechuas pop-up variety) blown inside out and nearly into the Meuse. Bent tents and wet gear lay everywhere, whilst my lovely Moss Tent hadn't moved an inch (this would have been difficult with the hundred plus bottles of beer inside) All the plebs 'helped' each other and even the pot-bellied pig got in on the act by helping out with eating all the rubbish. My taking a photo of this cute little fatty got him in trouble, as someone saw me watching the piggy intently and that made the gyspy (tears) come out to investigate.

Out for a last stroll after packing Heidi with beer ready for our journey to Ursel tomorrow. We headed for the military cemetary, which we found by chance and took some lovely sombre photos before the dark clouds burst open with the threatened rain. Not only rain, but thunder and lightning as we stood sheltered under a friendly french 'frou frou' (must mean hedge in frog?) As it came to a climax it stopped raining and I pulled a very wet Gareth and me out of the frou frou and hurried along slippering wet flagstones before it started again.

08/08/08

Ursel here we come!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! struck camp early and got away before 07.45 (blimey) quite a long drive though and got to the airfield at 13.00 and placed next to Mr Barry and Carol again (lucky that). NO Thorsten, Sabine or Harlowstan Mick. Had a quickie look at the stalls after preparing our military bedding with the military tent, next to the military Land Rover. Thought we would make a porch with our military ponchos to keep the rain off us whilst cooking. Having no tailgate or table made for awkward dining. I will forgive Heidi as she was dressed to kill with her new rear wheel carrier attached (very posh) Had a very nice bump into Sylvia and Stefan, who told us that Marnix was awaiting us at his stall. He had checked with the organisors that we had already checked-in and set-up somewhere. We did as we were told and found Marnix amongst his kilts and sporrans arranged above a red carpet (this man likes comfort) and we were offered a lovely Belgian beer to start the weekend with a bang! A barbecue was soon in evidence (a great big smoke screen) and Belgian salad was on the menue for me. Lots of people joined in the banter and the evening finished with two very drunk English peops trying get into the tent.

09/08/08

Rain rain and more bloody rain, but it did ease off after our breakfast under the makeshift porch. Off to the market and a search for those bargains - what would we find? On the way we just had time to photograph the aeroplanes. One swoop of the market showed us where to target on the second turn round - oh oh, what do you think Gareth espied amongst the junk of metal? - a gun mount for our MAG that fits behind the back of the bulkhead and what a find. How much? 100 euros to you sir, but we said that we would look round first before buying and bumped into our friends Timo and Harrold from the Dutch Warhorses club. Bought a green perspex convoy filter, two front reflectors and also saw the aerial cable that we needed, but didn't rush into buying. It didn't take us long to about turn and hand over the 100 euros for our MAG mount as it was too good to miss! We tried to carry it back to Heidi, but Marnix offered us a courier service with one of his organiser friends 'booked' to deliver later that day. We went back to Heidi to await our shopping and believe it or not (Gareth didn't) it was delivered just before 14.30 and we then had time to swank and deliberate over our new purchase and couldn't wait to get back for more. By the time we got back to the stall for the aeriel, it had been sold, so went onwards towards our 'mate' Wildenbergs who had a scrim net that we 'needed'. Mr W was selling these for 25 and the fat bird on another stall wanted bloody 50, so we actually bought something off misery Mr W, but not the mount. Couldn't get a table, which we thought would be an easy find, but did find a radio cable reel that fits on the back of Heidi. Twas empty of the cable, but a very nice reel for another 25. Cor, we aint 'alf getting through the euros! On one table they had two weapons that Heidi desired and needed, but her owners couldn't afford in the way of the Uzi at 450 euros and the FAL at 750 euros - no hope this time.....

After all that shopping we need sustenance in the way of a good Belgian Beer, and how about a Tripel Karmeliet? Not a bad idea and for 5 euros you get two drinky poos in two very nice glasses - hmm, is my bag big enough?

10/08/08

More rain, but we stayed dry - shame about the damp tents as we already had the half wet Moss Tent in the back and hoped the sun would come out to play the game of tent drying. Whilst we waited for this to occur we thought we would flit through the schnapschens again, but came back with nought. Went off to say au revoir to all our friends and thank Mr Barry and Carol for the loan of a dry patch under their awning (tastefully covered in a green parachute silk) A photo opportunity arose when Sylvia and Stefan arrived in the Command Car and we then looked at the atlas for an idea of when we should 'away' and that time was soon approaching.

Another year come and gone and still the friendly atmosphere of our fave show. Thanks to Dez for the beakers and we'll see you all next year - same time, same place!

Off to Dunkerque and a very heavy load to contend with in Flanders....

signing off

your friend lollo_tank_girl