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| THE
NETHERLANDS AND BELGIUM 2006: Trip
Report |
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We left
Bruges and headed back north. The weather was cloudy
but mild and we had a stiff tail wind. We made good
time back to Vlissingen and only had
ten minutes to wait for the next hourly ferry. |
After lunch at Veere
we went across the sea barriers to Oosterscheldekering
. Around 2,000 people were killed in 1953 when the
sea inundated large areas of the low lying land. In
response
the Dutch constructed a system of sea barriers that
include massive gates that can be closed if a similar
disaster
threatens. The road, and separate bicycle path run
along the top of the gates. |
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We arrived at Renesse
about 5pm. We had expected that it would be easy to
find accommodation but it was a public holiday in Germany
to celebrate the reunification, and it was packed. There
was a room available in a four star hotel, but we didn't
fancy it, and they couldn't offer secure storage for
the bikes. Finally we found a ramshackle
apartment about 3km from town. There was normally a
weekly minimum but, as it was empty, the owner agreed
to one night as long as we cleaned it before we left.
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| She asked
us to warn us when we were about to leave so she could
inspect it, and indeed she did. She spent a good five
minutes looking at everything in detail before pronouncing
herself satisfied. It was the first apartment we have
ever stayed in where dishwashing liquid and other cleaning
materials were not supplied. When I went to the house
and asked for some the husband said "difficult"
and disappeared. He returned a few moments later with
a small open-topped container with about 2mm of dishwashing
liquid in the bottom, handed it to me and said "concentrated". |
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