DJmotortouring – Page 3 – DJmotortouring

La Ferte (Bourgogne-Franche-Comte) France September 2025 (Tour 12)

We were on a day trip from Dole to Arbois when we decided to pause in the tiny village of La Ferte to check out the local cheese. We have long been fans of Comte Cheese and while travelling the D469 to Arbois through La Ferte we noticed La Fromagerie de la Ferte which specialises in the production of Comte to AOC standards. We decided to take a look…

… and what a find! This cheese factory, unlike others we have seen, operates a ‘Cheese Bar’. It’s brand new, light and airy, with plenty of seating inside and outside and there’s sooo much cheese to see and eat.

The staff proved attentive and well informed regarding the cheese and the menu offered plenty of choice. In addition to a selection of Comte cheese of varying ages) there was Morbier, Bleu de Gex, Raclette, Tomme and others. To accompany the cheese there was also a range of cold meats from Jura (dry cured ham, sausages and terrines) and a selection of locally produced craft beers. Oh and, of course, yellow wine. Yellow wine and Comte is a marriage made in heaven.

We settled down for a small feast with me opting for a mixed cheese and ham charcuterie washed down with one of the artisanal beers (the cheeses included Old Comte AOP, Fruity Comte AOP and Morbier) and Vanya going for a Comte Fondue which she made herself following instructions from one of the staff.

It was pure luck that took us to the Fromagerie de la Ferte but we’ll be back.

A little bit about the production of Comte Cheese in the event you’re interested…

(a) Comte is an unpasteurised cheese and part of the Gruyere family of cheeses. It is favoured by a great many of our top chefs.

(b) The milk used to make the cheese comes from Montbeliarde cows which eat only grass and hay and are recognizable by their dark red and white coats. They are milked twice a day at regular times to avoid stressing the animals.

(c) AOC recognition requires that Comte cheese be made with milk that is not transported more than 25 kilometres from where the cow was milked and within 24 hours of milking.

(d) The cow’s milk, with a fat content of not less than 45%, is transported to large copper vats. A few centilitres of natural rennet (obtained from the dried intestine of a calf) is added to help clot the milk and the resulting curd is then stirred and heated to 54 degrees centigrade for 1 hour. The curd is then drawn off and pressed into cheese wheel moulds before being stored in the fromagerie’s cellars to mature.

(e) The cheese must remain in the cellars for at least 4 months before it can be called Comte. Of course most of it will be matured for much longer. The average is 18 months but it is not unknown for Comte to be left for 36 months which makes for a considerably stronger tasting and more friable cheese.

(f) So many factors affect the taste of the cheese (e.g. the microclimate of the area the cheese is produced in, the time of the year the milk is collected, the time allowed for maturing etc) and every cheese wheel differs in terms of smell and taste – Just look at the aroma wheel below. Generally however, a young Comte will have a milkier taste and aromas, while more mature cheeses can have fruitier (citrus and hazlnut) and smoky flavours.

And on to Arbois….

Dole (Bourgogne-Franche-Comte), France September 2025 (Tour 12)

Eleven completed tours and not once have we visited the Franche-Comte part of the Bourgogne-Franche-Comte Region. That had to change and so we came to Jura. Jura, together with French departments of Doubs, Haute-Saone and Belfort forms Franche-Comte; a beautiful land of mountains, lakes and rivers, picturesque villages and towns, small vineyards and a huge forest (the Foret de Chaux – the second largest forest in France). We started in Dole, a small attractive town on the banks of the River Doubs which is dominated by the impressive Collegiale Notre Dame de Dole on Place Nationale.

At least part of this imposing church can be seen from just about any point in the town but it is the view from the Avenue de Lair, on the south side of the river, which most appeals. Inside it is stunning. It houses several small chapels, the Sainte Chapelle du Miracle de Faverney being the one which attracts most attention. This renaissance style chapel serves to house a relic that was miraculously saved from a fire at Faverney Abbey. However, to my mind, two other chapels are worthy of special mention – one dedicated to France’s fallen in WWI and another to recognise the surprisingly large number of church officials in Jura who were guillotined during the French Revolution.

Notre Dame de Dole (from the south side of the River Doubs)

Dole was once the capital of the Jura although this honour now belongs to Besancon. It’s a small attractive riverside town of less than 25,000 people. The old town, which was built around l’Eglise Notre Dame de Dole, is not very large but neither is it lacking in character. Connected by a jumble of stairways, narrow winding streets and passageways, most of the town’s older buildings are made of pale pink or white stone and date from the 17th century or even later. The most impressive of these is the Hotel de Dieu, the main part of which was completed in 1636. It served as a hospital for the poor until 1992 when it was transformed into a mediatheque (a multimedia library and storage centre for the municipal archives).

To ensure I didn’t miss out on any of the town’s more interesting features (not that my debacle at Les Riceys is still fresh in my mind) I visited the Dole Tourist Office on Place Grevy and obtained a map of what is known as the Circuit du Chat Perche (which broadly translates as the perched cat trail). It’s a 4 kilometre circuit connecting the town’s principal features and the map provides a brief description of each.

I’ll let the photos do the talking…

… although the area behind Rue Louis Pasteur does perhaps warrant special mention.

Louis Pasteur was born in Dole in 1822 and the house he was born in is now a small museum dedicated to his memory while the street he lived in (at least until he was 5 and the family moved to nearby Arbois) is now named after him. Louis was raised in the poorer quarter of Dole (his father, Jean-Joseph Pasteur, was a tanner there) and yet he grew up to become a biologist, a chemist and the father of microbiology. Most famous for developing the treatment of beer, wine and, later, milk to prevent bacterial contamination (i.e. the process now known as ‘pasteurisation’), he also discovered both the rabies and anthrax vaccines.

The south side of Rue Louis Pasteur, running alongside the Canal du Rhone au Rhin(e), was filled with tanneries; so much so it is named the Canal des Tanneurs. Properties in this part of Dole are now amongst the most sought after and the area has become known as the ‘Little Venice of the Jura’. Again, it is not a large part of the town but it is one of the prettiest…

The man himself in the nearby Jardin Public Dit du Cours Saint-Mauris…

And the final word of this blog entry must go to food. After all, this is France and the French like to talk about food as much as we British like to talk about the weather.

At the last count, there were three Michelin Restaurants in Dole but we didn’t check even one of them out. That’s not to say however that we were not well fed during our stay in the area. No, our concern while in Jura was not so much with visiting the local restaurants (although we did our bit in that regard, as can be seen from the photos below) but; with sampling Comte Cheese (and we would be heading for La Ferte for that) and; Cremant de Jura (we’d be going to Arbois for that) and Yellow Wine (perhaps to Poligny).

Oh… and the local markets. Opposite the Collegiale Church on Place Nationale is the Marche des Halles. There’s a farmers market held in this covered glass and steel market hall every tuesday, thursday and saturday morning and, during the summer months, there’s an evening market on Fridays.

Les Riceys (Grand Est), France September 2025 (Tour 12)

Last April, during Tour 11, we travelled to the south of the Champagne region and, while there, passed by the more than interesting little village of Les Riceys in the Aube Department of Grand Est. We didn’t see much of the place but what we saw was very pretty and I’d previously read that it was home to a Rose Champagne unlike any other produced in the Region and which was the favourite drink of no less a figure than Louis XIV. We said then that we would return and… we did!

Vanya had discovered that the Pascal Walczak Winery at the edge of the village allowed motorhomes to park on their premises and even went so far as to provide electrical hook ups. There are no sanitary facilities available to visitors outside of office hours but our Van is well equipped in that respect so, who cares. The only condition of this free parking and electricity is that visitors partake of a free wine tasting session. Now, hold me back!

A few words about Les Riceys before I write about our wine tasting. The village comprises three parts being, Ricey Haut to the south, Ricey Haute Rive in the centre and the much smaller Bas Ricey in the north (and the Pascal Walczak Winery sits at the edge of Ricey Haute Rive and Bas Ricey on the on the Rue de la Presle). Now, I have a confession to make although I’ve yet to tell Vanya.

We approached the winery from the north and passed through Bas Ricey. I rather mistakenly thought Bas Ricey to be the centre of Les Riceys and that the adjacent Ricey Haute Rive was simply a small residential area. I was oblivious to the existence of Ricey Haut throughout our stay. I fully explored the tiny Bas Ricey but saw nothing of Ricey Haut and only a few houses at the edge of Ricey Haute Rive. Whoops! What an idiot I am. We missed so much! This explains why, wherever possible, I research the places we propose visiting – so as not to miss anything. This once, I did no research at all. To rub salt into the wound, the local tourist office describes Les Riceys on their website as being “the largest wine-making village in the Champagne region…. complemented by an exceptional heritage: no less than three churches classed as historical monuments, fourteen chapels, two chateaux, numerous bourgeois houses, wine-makers’ homes, wash-houses, crosses, as well as “Cadoles”, strange stone shelters built in the middle of the vines”. Read Trip Advisor and you’ll discover also that Les Riceys has numerous restaurant-bars. I, that is Vanya and I, saw one church (the Saint Pierre in Bas Ricey) and missed everything else. Moreover, because the one restaurant in Bas Ricey (Le Marius) was closed we ended up eating cheese and biscuits in the Van. Once again, whoops and… so sorry Vanya.

The wine tasting at Pascal Walczak was thoroughly enjoyable. Between us we sampled half a dozen champagnes including two of the rose champagnes so favoured by Louis XIV. Vanya wasn’t too enamoured with the rose’s probably because the one she sampled first is made by adding Pinot Noir (and she’s never been keen on red wine) while I opted for the macerated version. She should have tried the macerated one. Overall I thought the Pascal Walczak champagne was not as good as the Charles Mignon we had been drinking in Epernay. Of course, we were not comparing apples with apples and the ambience will surely have influenced me – in Epernay we were drinking the champagne while seated in a restaurant serving good food and in Les Ricey’s we were standing at a bar in the tasting salon. We still spent almost 200 Euros on Pascal Walczak champagne but I consider the Charles Mignon was lighter and smoother. But then, almost as an afterthought, we tried the Cyries. It has a taste all of it’s own and it is fantastic – easily my favourite champagne of the tour. Wonderful. Thank you Pascal Walczak.

The remainder of the afternoon and early evening, we spent lounging in the sunshine by the Van; watching and listening to the ducks in Pascal Walczak’s duck pond and; enjoying a full bottle of the Cyries. We’ll be back both to get a proper look at Les Riceys and to buy more of that delicious Cyries.

Epernay (Grand Est), France September 2025 (Tour 12)

We’ve visited the Champagne Region (including Epernay) many times before but that will never stop us returning. Even when the sun isn’t shining, there is something special about Epernay. There was no fancy hotel this time. We booked into the Municipal Campsite and it wasn’t at all bad; it’s best features being it’s close proximity to the town centre and the food and wine served in their pop-up restaurant. More about the restaurant later.

Being so close to the centre of Epernay provided plenty of opportunity to wander the town and I took advantage of that. During previous visits we were primarily concerned with visiting the Avenue de Champagne. This one kilometre long avenue, a UNESCO World Heritage Site since 2015, is bordered with impressive 19th century neo-renaissance mansions, most of which house the great champagne producers such as Moet et Chandon, Perrier-Jouet, Pol Roger and Mercier and; many of these have massive underground cellars where champagne is stored. Indeed, there are over 100 kilometres of chalk wine cellars holding millions of bottles of champagne under the Avenue. We’ve toured a few of Epernay’s champagne houses and they are fascinating (Mercier is my favourite) but the focus on this occasion would be towards two other buildings on the Avenue, namely Chateau Perrier and the Hotel de Ville.

I started with Chateau Perrier at the western end of the Avenue de Champagne. This mid 19th century mansion was built in a renaissance style and was the home of Charles Perrier, a director of the Perrier-Jouet champagne house and one time mayor of Epernay. During the First World War it served as a hospital and during World War II it was used as the Military Headquarters of first the British Army (1940) and then the German Army (1940-1945) and finally the United States Army (1945). It was later purchased by the municipality and now serves as a museum. Of course, it being a Sunday, the museum was closed but it was pleasant enough wandering it’s gardens for a while and practising with my camera.

The Hotel de Ville is also at the western end of the Avenue de Champagne, almost directly opposite the Moet et Chandon champagne house. This neo-renaissance mansion was donated to the town by the Auban-Moët family after the previous Hotel de Ville was destroyed during the First World War and the town’s impressive war memorial featuring the Greek Goddess of Victory (Nike) now takes pride of place at the building’s entrance. It’s a fine enough building but it is the gardens at the rear which are it’s best feature. They were designed by the Bühler Brothers, landscape architects who plotted gardens all across France in the nineteenth century, and they are impressive. I spent a fair amount of time practising my photography in these gardens also.

The 19th century Eglise Notre Dame on Place Pierre Mendes is perhaps the most impressive of the churches in Epernay but, it is the Eglise Saint Peter and Saint Paul at the end of Avenue Paul Chandon on Rue de Magenta which I most favour. It’s a gem with it’s wonderful stained glass windows and it is well worth seeking out. The windows reflect various historical events associated with the Champagne area; my favourites being one of Pope Urban II triggering the Crusades by offering forgiveness for all sins to those who would help wrest Jerusalem from the Muslims and; another of Charles VII being crowned King of France at Reims Cathedral with Joan of Arc in attendance.

Epernay suffered badly from bombing during the World Wars and there are few monuments remaining which date back to medieval times. One which dates back to 1540 and is believed to be the oldest surviving monument in Epernay is the Portal Saint Martin near the Place Hugues-Plomb. It was a side entrance and it is all that remains of the renaissance Abbey of Saint Martin.

While strolling back to the campsite along the banks of the River Marne I made a point of stopping by Champagne de Castellane on Rue de Verdun. This champagne house is easily identified by it’s iconic tower (the highest point in Epernay). A wine tour with this producer includes access to it’s underground cellars (there are 10 kilometres of them – Moet et Chandon has 30 kilometres!) and, it’s champagne museum (dedicated to explaining champagne production methods over the years) and; to the top of the tower (which offers unrivalled views over the town and the River Marne). It was the climb to the top of this tower which most attracted me to the De Castellane tour but, having said that, the tour used to be free and it included champagne tasting. I don’t know if that’s still the case (the place was closed) but I’ll be back.

Last words go to the Blue Nautic pop up restaurant at our campsite. They made us so very welcome and served great food. As for the wines, the Charles Mignon Special Reserve Champagne was very good. Slightly better was the Pierre Mignon Premier Cru and, best of all and Vanya’s favourite (and the most expensive of course), the Pierre Gobillard Blanc de Blanc Premier Cru. All these from a Pop Up Restaurant in a Municipal Campsite! Only in France.

Saint Valery sur Somme (Hauts de France), France September 2025 (Tour 12) Days 1&2

So, we’re off to mainland Europe once again and, as always, we’ll follow the sun. The south of England has been wet and windy the last week and the rest of Europe (at least in the north) looks much the same. Therefore, we will be heading directly south in the first instance.

Day 1 took us around the M25 to Dover and across to Calais on the P&O ferry. The ferry is much cheaper than the Shuttle these days. It’s also considerably slicker in terms of passing through customs and immigration etc and, with P&O providing a pet lounge, it’s not an unpleasant experience.

Not wanting to drive too much that first day, after arriving in France we made first for Saint Valery sur Somme. It’s near the coast, on the Somme Estuary, about an hour and a half’s drive south of Calais. It being a Friday and with French campsites often fully booked up over the weekends, Vanya had booked us into the Yelloh campsite at Estreboeuf, just outside Saint Valery, for two nights. That allowed plenty us a full day to explore Saint Valery and plan our route south. We’ve used this Yelloh site before.

Saint Valery proved a pleasant surprise. There’s easy parking in the town’s motorhome site (for just a few euros) and it’s a pleasant walk down to the promenade by the Somme, to the Quai Jeanne d’Arc. We followed the pretty Rue Des Moulins all the way to the promenade but there’s another almost equally pretty route running parallel to Rue Des Moulins (at least until the last part of the walk). I think it is called the Rue des Pilotes.

This house divides Rue des Pilotes (left) from Rue des Moulins (right)

Looking south along Quai Ste Jeanne d’Arc

Initially, we planned to walk north along the promenade to the Baie de Somme, hoping to see some of the Grey Seals and Harbour Seals which bask on the flats in the Bay when the tide is out but, we never completed the walk. Nala, our German Shepherd, had been sick during the night and was clearly struggling. We revised our plan and, instead, settled for the old medieval part of the town.

Follow the promenade north towards the old town and you soon reach the 12th century L’Eglise Saint Martin. It’s about half way. Like many churches on the French side of the Channel Coast, Saint Martin is built of dressed flint and shingle. It’s a most unusually shaped church and this can be attributed to various extensions being added over the years. Not very impressive from the outside, it is definitely worth a look inside.

Little of Saint Valery’s old medieval town remains. I suspect much of it was destroyed during World War II but it is worth visiting. It has history being, amongst other things, the place where William the Conqueror assembled his fleet before invading England in 1066 and; much later in 1431, where Joan of Arc was held in the local prison overnight on the way to her demise in Rouen.

Notwithstanding the above, Vanya and I found the newer parts of Saint Valery Sur Somme to be far prettier and of more interest than the old town; with the walk down Rue des Moulins being particularly noteworthy. We didn’t stay long in the old town but started back to the newer part by way of Quai du Romerel and then Rue d’Argoules. We could have carried on along the promenade, using Rue de la Ferte with it’s many riverside restaurant-bars, but we were both intrigued by the many unique boutiques which fill Rue d’Argoules and; besides, we found a good fish restaurant there which served good oysters and mussels.

Both the promenade and the Rue d’Argoules end at the town’s small marina and alongside the marina is the ‘Chemin de Fer de La Baie de Somme’. This is a preserved narrow gauge steam railway which offers trips around the Baie de Somme during the period March to December. We had missed the last one of the day or we would have been tempted.

In conclusion, Saint Valery Sur Somme proved a fine day out and a pleasant start to another tour in the Van although the day didn’t quite end there. We had each eaten well during the day and decided on a light supper in the Van that evening, namely a cheese and ham charcuterie and a botte of wine or two. Joy of joys, the cheese selection included a new one to me which I absolutely adore – Le Trou Du Cru.

It appears Le Trou Du Cru is actually Epoisses (a strong pungent French cheese from Bourgogne) but it comes in smaller bite sized rounds which, I am reliably informed, are an appropriate size to finish and so not stink the refrigerator out. I like that logic.

One other point on the subject of cheese; while researching Le Trou Du Cru I discovered that Epoisses/Le Trou Du Cru is made with unpasteurised cow’s milk and is therefore banned from the USA. Other French cheeses that USA citizens are missing out on for the same reason include Brie de Meuax, Reblechon de Savoie, Camembert de Normandie and Bleu de Gex. These cheeses all rank amongst my favourites – you poor Americans don’t know what you’re missing! By the way, the USA has also banned Morbier (another wonderful cheese) because of it’s thin line of vegetable ash. Tragic.

Saint Omer (Hauts de France), France June 2025 (Tour 11)

We arrived at the Chateau du Gandspette campsite, near Eperlecques, on Monday 23 June. We were booked on a ferry back to England the following Thursday which, with the dogs already sorted, would give us one full day to explore nearby Saint Omer and another to visit the local supermarkets (so Vanya could replenish her stocks of Cremant). We’d then undertake the half hour drive to Calais (and take the ferry to Dover) early on the Thursday.

The Chateau du Gandspette is a campsite we’d use again given the friendly welcome we received; it’s spacious pitches; clean facilities; half decent restaurant-bar and; best of all, it’s close proximity to Calais. The only downside is the outside toilets are some distance from the bar!

On Tuesday morning, after an enjoyable evening on the terrace of the campsite bar, we headed into Saint Omer for the day. The Cremant could wait. There’s a sizeable car park on the old market place (the Place du Vieux Marche) near the centre of the town. It’s located between the Place du Marechal Foch (the new home to the town’s colourful Saturday morning market) and the Place Victor Hugo (a lively little square lined with numerous shops and and cafe-bars). The city’s cathedral is nearby.

We decided to start with breakfast outside a small cafe, Le Saint O, on Place Victor Hugo. Thinking back on it, the Place du Marechal Foch is a larger and livelier square than any in Saint Omer but; Place Victor Hugo proved the perfect place to soak up the local atmosphere; just sitting; drinking copious cups of coffee and; people watching.

It is thought that the town was formed some time in the 7th century by Saint Audomar – whose name was subsequently shortened to Saint Omer. It’s known as ‘the yellow brick town’ on account of the gold colour of many of it’s older buildings and, when the sun is shining, there are few better examples of this than the former Cathedral de Notre Dame de Saint Omer. It was once the seat of the Bishop of Omer but the seat wasn’t restored after the French Revolution. Nevertheless, it is still commonly referred to as the ‘cathedral’.

The interior of this flamboyant 13th century Gothic style building is even more impressive than the outside and; it contains so many interesting features. Amongst other things, there’s the tomb of Saint Omer himself; a several centuries old statue of Jesus Christ; several paintings including ‘The Descent from The Cross’ by the local Flemish artist, Peter Paul Rubens; an astronomical clock dating back to 1588 and; an RAF flag commemorating the birth of the Royal Air Force which started life as the Royal Flying Corps at the nearby Longuenesse Aerodrome during World War I.

To the north of the town, near the train station and the River Aa, are the ruins of a much older religious institution – the Benedictine Abbey of Saint Bertin – which was founded by Saint Audomar in the 7th century. It was rebuilt many times and grew to be one of the most important abbeys in northern Europe. The abbey was destroyed during the French Revolution and much of it’s stone was used in the construction of new buildings in the town, including the Town Hall.

In addition to housing the weekly farmer’s market, Place Marechal Foch (sometimes referred to as La Grande Place) is home to the former town hall. Known locally as the ‘coffee mill’ because of it’s shape, the town hall is now used mostly for civic ceremonies but; it also contains a small lavishly decorated theatre complete with a magnificent trompe l’oeil ceiling. The large square serves as a car park when the market is not on and a handful of cafes and restaurants border the square.

The former Town Hall on Place Marechal Foch

I don’t think we saw Saint Omer at it’s best because we visited out of the holiday season and on a Tuesday (and in France, Tuesdays are almost as quiet as Mondays) but, we liked it sufficiently to warrant a return and; as indicated at the beginning of this blog, Saint Omer is not that far from Calais.

I suspect there’s much to see in the surrounding area too given that the British Expeditionary Force were headquartered in Saint Omer during WWI and that the German Military had a strong presence here during WWII. There’s a vast concrete bunker at Eperlecques which was built in 1943 as a combined assembly plant and launch site for Hitler’s V2 Rockets and; 4 miles to the south west of Saint Omer is the super impressive La Coupole complex which succeeded Eperlecques. This latter complex now serves as a museum covering the German occupation of France, the flying bombs and the history of space travel. It also includes a planetarium.

Saint Omer and then Calais were the end of our Tour 11 except that as we approached Brighton I pranged the Van on the A23. 6,500 miles driving around Europe and with just 10 miles to go I scraped a Mercedes. Not a good ending to a a great tour. I estimate it will cost at least £2,500 to fix the Van. I just hope we’ll be able to get back on the road before the year is out.

Lille (Flemish Brabant), Belgium June 2025 (Tour 11)

We were scheduled to catch a ferry from Calais to Dover in a couple of days and our penultimate stop before then would be at Camping Siesta, just outside of Lille in Belgium. The dogs had to get the usual all clear (and tapeworm tablets) from a qualified vet before we could return to the UK and Vanya had found one in Lille (close to Antwerp) who wasn’t going to charge us silly money. It cost us just over £54 for the pair which is on a par with the vet we ordinarily go to in Fecamp.

We were just passing through Lille which is just as well because, unlike it’s French counterpart, there’s very little to do in this small Belgian town. Of course some substantial roadworks were underway and because of that it wasn’t the easiest place to navigate.

One positive comment: We stumbled across a first class restaurant called ‘De Brouwketel’. The welcome, the ambience and the food (we ordered the large tapas plate) were all outstanding. The Rueda wine was pretty good too.

I’d put money on us returning to De Brouwketel.

Almere (Flevoland), Netherlands June 2025 (Tour 11)

Vanya likes unusual campsites and Natuurcamping de Kemphaan is just that. I was unsure about the place as we pulled up in the Van. It has most everything one would expect of a three star campsite but; it appeared unkempt; the facilities are basic and somewhat limited and; I doubt it would be very comfortable in wet weather (the camping area being all grass and slow to drain). However, on the plus side it’s in an incredible setting. I knew next to nothing about this part of the Netherlands until we arrived but almost everything about Flevoland Province is incredible and it’s mostly new.

The Province didn’t exist until 1986. Indeed, one hundred years ago the whole area which is now Flevoland was submerged under the Zuiderzee. Since then the area has been secured by miles of dykes and almost wholly drained of seawater. Almere city, with it’s population of almost 250,000, sits almost 5 metres below sea level (thank goodness for the dykes) and, with it’s first house not being completed until 1986, is less than 50 years old. The Kemphaan City Estate, adjacent to Almere and of which Natuurcamping de Kemphaan is a part, wasn’t built until after the year 2000 and; those parts of the estate that we used most (i.e. it’s extraordinary little zoo and the campsite itself) were not opened until much later.

I don’t know a great deal about Almere except it was built as a commuter town for Amsterdam. I know too that some 56 square kilometres to the east of Almere was set aside for industrial development which simply never happened. Left fallow, the area attracted many thousands of birds and small mammals. Deer, horses and cattle were subsequently introduced (to help stem the growth of willow trees which were becoming invasive and a threat to the marshbird’s habitat) and they too thrived; so much so that all thoughts of industrial development were dropped and the area is now protected as a wild park (the Oostvaarersplassen Nature Reserve). We saw some of the Park as we drove west from Friesland but missed out on the large herds of Konick Horses and Heck Cattle.

The De Kemphaan City Estate is a green zone at the edge of Almere. It’s home to the AAP which is concerned with recreation, education and animal conservation and, in particular, the rescue and rehabilitation of monkees and small animals and; as mentioned previously, it operates a small zoo. Much of our all too short time here was spent in the zoo.

And the zoo itself? I think the dogs enjoyed it as much as Vanya and I did…

Carnivores but they enjoy eating fruit too.

Unusual, I said. In addition to it’s two restaurant cafes the estate even has it’s own micro-brewery and mobile coffee shop…

If I were a gambling man, I’d bet on our returning here.

Harlingen (Friesland), Netherlands June 2025 (Tour 11)

This is going to be the shortest post ever. We were keen to visit Harlingen and we made it there on a particularly bright and sunny day. However, we had forgotten it was a bank holiday weekend and the place was packed solid. There was nowhere (and I mean nowhere) to park. We gave up after an hour or so of driving around searching for a space and made our way back to Bakkeveen for a spot of sunbathing.

What little we saw of the place is pretty.

Leeuwarden (Friesland), Netherlands June 2025 (Tour 11)

Leeuwarden is the capital of the Dutch Province of Friesland (or Fryslan as the locals call it) which is in the north of the country. With a population of 130,000 it is the largest city in Friesland and it’s old town (known locally as the Binnenstad) is delightful. It is replete with fabulous canals and bridges (so much so they are listed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site) and not unlike the Amsterdam of many years ago.

We arrived fairly early in the morning and, after parking the Van in a large car park off Dirk Zeperweg, started towards the north east part of the old town using the 85 metre steeple of Sint Bonifatius Church as a guide. The old town is encircled by a series of canals (the Stadsgeracht) and to reach the steeple we had to cross the Noorder Stadsgeracht via the Noorderbrug but; from that bridge it is only a 7 minute walk to the church. I reckoned Sint Bonifatius would be an ideal place to begin a short exploration of the Binnenstad. We could walk almost the entire length of the old town from there, using first Voorstreek and then Nieuwestad. These two streets, which are lined with a mix of shops, cafes, restaurants, art nouveau buildings and monuments, run west along one of the more interesting of the city’s canals all the way to Leeuwarden’s most iconic building (the Oldehove) at the western edge of Binnenstad.

I thought the walk would provide as fine an introduction to Leeuwarden as any; and it did. It took us from the tallest church anywhere in Friesland (although I was unaware at the time that it is possible to walk a staircase up to the top of the bell tower or I would have done so); then, along a very lively and picturesque canal; past two impressive, almost art nouveau buildings (being the 1590 De Waag Public Weighing House and the 1905 Central Apotheek, which is listed among Europe’s top 100 buildings and still serves as a pharmacy); two unexpected and unusual statues (being the Lange Pijp and a memorial to the alleged WWI spy and exotic dancer, Mata Hari, who was born in Leeuwarden in 1876); before finishing at the fabled 1539 Oldehove Steeple (which deserves a paragraph all of it’s own).

We returned to this point for lunch after viewing the Oldehove Steeple.

I was able to make my way to the top of the Oldehove bell tower which, while not offering the panoramic views of the Sint Bonifatius steeple (at just 39 metres, the Oldehove is much shorter), did present me with some fine views back over the town and especially towards the Sint Dominicus Kerk. Construction of the Oldehove commenced in 1539. It was designed to complement the 9th century church of St Vitus (now long gone) and was supposed to be 120 metres tall. However, the tower began to tilt very early during construction and work immediately ceased. It’s easy to see why; the list is more pronounced than that of the Leaning Tower of Pisa in Italy. It is an odd feeling, too, ascending inside a dark spiral staircase when the tower has such a list. It plays havoc with ones balance.

Although only open to the public during July and August, it is also possible to visit the top of the Sint Dominicus Kerk but we chose instead to go for lunch.

After eating we resumed our short exploration of the Binnenstad; this time wandering first the area to the south of Voorstreek and then the north. We couldn’t stay long in either area but the south proved the more captivating with it’s Eysinga Museum (18th century mansion filled with period pieces), Mercuriusfontein, Whale Passage, Fries Museum (Friesian history, art and culture) and best of all De Blokhuispoort (that’s a gate leading to a former prison which is now a boutique shopping complex).

In the north, we passed the Princesshof National Museum (with it’s Chinese porcelain and Dutch ceramics) and a particularly challenging memorial to the holocaust which included a ‘Names Monument’ (glass plates bearing the names, ages and places of death of 542 residents of Leeuwarden who were put to death by the nazis during WWII). Very sobering.

Two other features of Leeuwarden worth remarking on (one very obvious and the other not so easily found) are the city’s street art and it’s ‘miniature people’ The street art speaks for itself and there’s plenty of it…

And the miniature people? There’s a local artist, Michel Tilma, who likes to arrange and photograph tiny dioramas. He’s been creating these dioramas for years now and, at the last count, there were more than 60 to be found in the oddest places around the city but; you’ll need a guide book to find them. The figures are all less than 2 centimetres tall. We knew nothing about these miniatures until, while I was up in the Oldehove, Vanya noticed a group of people scrutinising a seemingly empty brick wall…

Leeuwarden… a wholly charming little city.