Belgium 2 - Time To Relax, Even With Screaming Kids!
Travelling in a motor vehicle of your choice can be a funny old thing, I remember the first time we were preparing Mary on the drive, getting ready for the maiden voyage, and with my small suitcase packed, I took it downstairs to get ready. Then I realised once again I had been a bit silly and wondered why I had packed a suitcase. Why didn’t I just carry the clothes downstairs and put them in the wardrobe? Sometimes you just have to roll your eyes, smile, and realise you have been a bit of a muppet – once again no disrespect, Kermit and friends!
It carries on; at least it does for me. As you can see from the photos on our pitch in Jebbeke, about 100m or so away from the motorhome is the toilet block and facilities, and that is where I went a couple of times to fill up the water bottles. However, in the second photo, you will see our electrical point complete with a water tap! Sometimes you just have to roll your eyes, smile, and realise you have been a bit of a muppet – once again no disrespect, Kermit and friends! But in my defence not all electrical points have water taps – that makes me feel better. Although I only found out when I saw our camping neighbour use theirs!
However, one thing we have noticed about the local area and on parts of the campsite is the smell of sewage that you often get. Walking to the restaurant last night up a local street or washing the dishes this morning. It’s not there all the time, and it doesn’t affect us on the pitch, but it is there
In France 15, from the campsite in Dienville called ‘Camping la Colombier,’ some 200 miles away from here, I mentioned kids who couldn’t play without screaming at the tops of their voices, and that was about 10 days ago. Unfortunately, as we sit on our campsite at Jabbeke in Belgium chilling at night, I think they have followed us. I can only assume their parents are at the bar listening to the somewhat not-so-good pub singer while their kids run about screaming at the tops of those angelic little voices. Even at 10.30pm, is it not bedtime?
And talk about taking responsibility for your kids; the co-pilot has just seen a young lad drawing all over the road on the campsite. Do we let them get away with anything these days?
Let them do what they want. Don’t think Banky’s got much to worry about.
Back to driving in Belgium, it isn’t so different from France, except the very first road I turned onto had quite a few potholes, and I thought, ‘here we go,’ but it was very short-lived, and the roads are pretty good. They are, however, a bit more like concrete than tarmac, and with joints you get that bumpity-bump feeling. I have also noticed a lot of cobbles and brick streets in town, and I assume they are a traffic-calming measure! However, some struggle with traffic lights!
With Belgium being flat, the roads are like France and very straight, but funnily enough, we don’t see a lot of speeding cars, which is a bit of a surprise, although I did notice in Belgium that the drivers do seem to go faster than the speed limit on the dual carriageways and motorways, but no idiotic stuff.
We have had our second night on the campsite, and it’s okay; we have found ourselves liking it to a holiday camp, maybe Butlins, and I suppose it is. There was a good Tom Jones impersonator on last night, although we only caught the very end. But everyone just seemed to be enjoying themselves, doing the conga, drinking, and singing, quite happy doing so in the car park if necessary. Being an ex-smoker, I couldn’t quite understand the young man who took the last drag of his cigarette and stubbed it out, only to take a vape out of his pocket and start dragging on that straight away – am I missing something with modern smoking techniques? Don’t you love people watching? I do, and so I saw this rather offensive t-shirt and some strange choice of shirt to wear in public - be warned!
Onto more important and poignant stuff and the Menin Gate and Passchendaele, more overwhelming sites for remembering the dead from the war! The Last Post is played at the Menin Gate every night without fail, and I must admit it was on the agenda before we left home some 8 weeks ago; however, I did underestimate its crowd-pulling powers. I assumed on a Thursday night it might be reasonably quiet, but it wasn’t, and because of this we didn’t get as close to the actual playing of the post as I would have liked; however, I was there, and I am glad I can say I have been. It was good to see so many groups of young children again!
There are 54,896 British and Commonwealth soldiers' names inscribed on the gate who died in the Ypres Salient and have no known grave. A salient is a military term for a bulge in the front line. Put into perspective that is a stadium the size of St James' Park, Newcastle, or the new Hill Dickinson Stadium in Liverpool full, and that is how many people have no known grave at this site!
The gate was at the eastern exit from the city of Ypres, leading straight to the front lines. Hundreds of thousands of Allied troops marched through the gate on their way to some of the war's most brutal fighting, such as the Battle of Passchendaele.
Research tells us that the tribute first took place in July 1928; this post is played every single night in all conditions with no end in sight – as it should be! The sounding of the bugle is carried out by members of the local volunteer fire brigade and not military bandsmen, which I must admit surprised me!
I mentioned in another post that while we must make sure future generations never forget their sacrifices, maybe we don’t have to explain in detail how some died! It was therefore in contrast to that on our visit to Vimy Ridge, we heard a teacher tell two young girls about soldiers dying on the muddy battlefield of Passchendaele by drowning in the mud; it was so bad. Horses and carts and passengers being dragged under and even tanks too; it was so horrendous, and that is a reminder of what these men had to endure and the sacrifices they made in the most horrible of situations.
Passchendaele, or more so Tyne Cot Cemetery, is the largest Commonwealth graveyard in the world, containing nearly 12,000 graves of brave young men. There are also the names of over 35,000 Commonwealth servicemen who have no known grave. Sticking with the football theme, put into perspective that is like filling the Riverside Football Stadium in Middlesbrough and realising that is how many men on this one memorial site have no known grave – that is sad too, and putting them both together, it is like filling Wembley Stadium, and that is just two sites!
Again, it is just overwhelming and emotional, and this is where I felt the young girls were being disrespectful by talking over their tour guide!
I forgot to mention at Vimy Ridge, we spoke to two of the staff for help, and both were young Canadians that had come over to help and not much older than the disrespectful young English girls. How refreshing to see the young people working there to help remember their countrymen’s sacrifice, as this site is predominantly for Canadian remembrance!
All I can say to anyone who has any feelings or emotions towards the whole of the remembrance, sacrifices, and the Poppy Appeal is you must come over; there is so much to see. In fact, there are too many. As mentioned, I am drawn to them, but it is just impossible to stop at all of them, or we wouldn’t get anywhere, but I am happy that I have done my bit. I planted poppy seeds at my great-uncle's grave in Boulogne-sur-Mer, and I have paid my respects at quite a few memorials and cemeteries, including the largest two cemeteries and the Menin Gate.
I am happy to be going home but sad to be leaving; sure, we have another night here in Jebbeke, seemingly with a punk rock singer tonight – did I mention Butlins?
We head to Brugge tomorrow for two nights just on the outskirts of the city, then off to Calais on Wednesday for the crossing to Dover. We are stopping near Faversham for one night and heading home to Shropshire on Thursday.
We started last night at the local bar, the Café Concordia, the one that wasn’t on the Apple Map app when we looked the other night. I have never been served by a more miserable person than the one who was serving last night; she was so rude, she didn’t even answer when people spoke to her, and it had nothing to do with the ‘tourist’ tag, as she was the same with locals. Sorry, but if you are that miserable, don’t work where socializing politely with paying customers is usually part of the job description. If you’re taking my hard-earned pension off me, at least smile and be courteous. I don’t ask for engaging conversation, but I do expect politeness when you take my money
Places need to be named and shamed as well as complimented
We had a lovely tapas meal after that; the food was delicious, but it didn’t quite live up to my understanding of how tapas should be served. We got a lovely first course of small croquettes, and we waited half an hour for the second course of delicious teriyaki chicken skewers, then five minutes later the last two courses of tacos and special fries came together!
We all serve tapas differently and I did have a little word with the head person, and what really annoyed me is a response I dislike when service is slow: 'Sorry, we are busy.’ I know things are not great in the hospitality sector, but please. Shouldn’t you arrange a business to be busy? There were 4 waiting staff that I saw, so the problem is obviously in the kitchen somewhere; from what I also saw, other tables had long waits too! But half an hour between courses and then so much so close together just isn’t good enough, especially at the prices we paid; it certainly wasn’t the cheapest restaurant in the world, but it was delicious. The Manzo’s Tapas & Bistro in Jebbeke!
Delicious pity about the timing
Anyway, if you like family-orientated sites, I would recommend this one, the Klein Strand Campsite in Jebbeke. We booked it as we couldn’t get anywhere else, and it’s okay. I can see why families come here; expensive or not, there is lots for the kids to do without drawing on the road.
Thanks for reading
DJ
