Luckily, it wasn’t raining when we packed up the van at Camping Distelloo as everything was pretty sodden from the previous few days and it would have been miserable to do it in the rain. We got away around 10.00 and drove south east to Maastricht, in the corner of the Netherlands, Belgium and Germany. Poor Maastricht has been the subject of many invading armies over the years.

We managed to snaffle a parking spot at Maastricht Marina (P4N#166068) for the princely sum of €35 but it did mean that we could easily cycle into the centre. It was also a lovely setting and we are always happy to be around boats.

We had booked a tour of the North Caves for 15.20 so after a quick bite to eat, we cycled into town. The caves are actually man made as farmers and monks had been excavating the limestone for centuries to use or sell for construction. They were still fascinating and our guide, Simone, was very informative. When we asked her whether she saw herself as Dutch, French or German, her answer was Maastricht. She said that her fellow Maastrichtians feel very different to the Northern Dutch. The caves had a number of charcoal drawings in them – some dating back over 100 years. The caves played a vital role in hiding Jews and allied airmen during WWII.

After the cave tour we wandered around the city centre but were not that enamoured to be honest. Back to the van to have a beer in the sunshine.

The next day, Tuesday September 15, we left Maastricht to make our way to Dinant in Belgium. On the way, we stopped at the very pretty town of Namur in Belgium with its amazing citadel. We spent a wonderful couple of hours there having found a great park up right by the citadel. We walked down to the town and caught the cable car back up.

After lunch in the van we continued our journey south to Dinant. Home to Leffe beer, an amazing church and an imposing citadel. The cable car to the citadel wasn’t working and we didn’t fancy the 400 steps up to it so we opted for looking at the church and having a beer! We went to Maison Leffe (a converted convent) where they had been brewing beer since the 12th century but couldn’t find anyone to show us around or give us a drink so we did a self guided tour before retiring to a local bar for said Leffe beer. There was even a statue of Charles de Gaulle, who as a lieutenant fought in Dinant against the advancing German armies in WWI.

Our park up for the night overlooked the town and had an amazing view. The owner was a local farmer who had converted a bit of land to allow 4 vans to stay charging just €10 a night (P4N#298190). It was a bit adventurous to get to him but a quick 10 min walk into town. He saw us walking back up the road later on and gave us a lift back in his car. A real sweetie. A wonderful evening was spent just relaxing and taking in the view whilst eating supper in the van. Perfect.

Miles since last blog: 177

Miles this trip: 617