Germany, Holland, Belgium & France in one day

Frozen Olive Oil from the cupboard, why do we bother running the fridge?

Border hopping is so easy in the E.U. & using the same currency is just so much easier. We parked for the night at the Stellplatz in Cologne where there were about 10 other vehicles. It is next to a useful park & ride to the city and quite a nice spot though all the motor home facilities were taped up & closed which didn't matter to us.

We managed to get across Germany without having to buy Diesel & after 560 miles on one tank we filled up in Belgium where it was cheaper. Light snow on & off until the French border where for once it was dry but quite windy. Used the free WiFi in Auchan to check the ferry prices & we are set to sail from Dunkirk at 8am tomorrow for £44 one way on DFDS. It was the first time we had stayed at the ferry terminal there, it was much quieter than Calais. We stopped in the parking area for the ticket office where there are more than 100 parking spaces & there were just a few cars & no other motor homes when we arrived at 7pm. Later on we gained a new neighbour for the night, were they trying to get some shelter from the wind for the night?

(sorry about the photo quality it was still dark at 7am)

Arriving home we had driven almost 5000 miles in less than 5 weeks, our winter tyres have had a good run in, hopefully they won't get too much more use this year. Now it's the big task of getting everything out of the van & aired as it's already so damp after weeks of cold weather travel. The house is cold but the gas meter hasn't moved in 5 weeks so that's some saving!