The weather forecast leading up to this trip was not very good with showers and cloudy most days, but it turned out to be Sunny every day with just a couple showers on the Tuesday.
Dave knows this region well with one of his factories not far from Dusseldorf. and suggested a few places to visit. I looked through the list and decided a runout for each day not too far from our hotel.
After our night crossing from Harwich to Hook of Holland on the new ferry Brittania we arrived at 8.00am to pouring rain and thought the weather was correct. but after half an hour of driving the sun came out and the roofs came off.
We arrived at our hotel about 11.30am and was told the rooms would be ready for 2.00pm so off to the bar next door, for a couple of hours.
Sunday morning sunny with roofs off, we travelled to a beautiful 12th Century Castle "Museum Wasserburg" in Germany, after a bit of language battling with the doorman some us booked a tour of the wonderful Castle, and some booked the Gardens and Maze. I had then arranged a visit to Nymegen in Holland near where we were staying. I led the way and my Satnav took us on a nice route along the river where we could park. Problem was, the road along the river was closed due to roadworks, I then tried to go along another route, going along little one way streets the wrong way and ended up in a little alley with a post blocking our path. we all got out and walked the 100m to the river and as i walked past i pulled on the post and it came out of the ground, after a bit of deliberation we took out the post and continued our journey to the parking of my intention. After a lovely lunch and a walk round the pictorial town we headed back.
Monday morning was the trip to Classic Remise in Dusseldorf Germany, a large classic car collection located in old Train Sheds which were beautifully turned into a wonderful circular building. This trip was quite a headache for me. Jo had organised a tour and arranged parking in the grounds, I found out that we needed Stickers for our cars to enter the Green Zone and these took 2 weeks to obtain. Instead I found a carpark out of the zone and arranged travel via Tram. We parked safely in the underground carpark and took a short walk to the Tram stop. After 5 mins a Tram arrived and we got on. We then needed tickets and there was only one machine, after 10 mins of wrestling with the machine we arrived at our stop, only half of us had got tickets, what a cheap tram ride. The Classic Remise was amazing the building took your breath away. and all around were cars from 1900 to present day. most were for sale and prices were from 20 thousand up to 1 million euros. see pics on 'Events Gallery'. we then had a coffee/beer outside in the Sun and then headed home via tram, with most deciding not to bother with the machine.
Tuesday I had arranged a trip to Zwolle which is located 96km north in Holland but the weather was showery and Gerry said he didnt want to use motorways,but using A roads would take 2.5 hours so Jo decided to pick somewhere closer, so we decided to go to Zutphen only 70km via A roads. It rained most of the way and we got split up into three groups. all parking in different areas. the main group I was leading ended up in a carpark near the town centre and again wrestling with the machine we got parking tickets and made our way to the centre. Gerry called me and said they found a coffee house, only problem was finding it. He said it was in a square with a fountain and black umbrellas, everywhere we went we saw a square with a fountain and black umbrellas. When we eventually found them they had finished their coffees and headed for the shops. Sue and I stayed with Steve and Debby and went for a walk around the lovely town and ended up in a coffee shop by the river, watching the enormous barges negotiate a low bridge. On our way back the Sun came out, typical.
Wednesday all of us were going home with the exception of Jo & Gerry, Paul & Sandra, Dave & Teresa and Bob & Debs. We all left around 10.00am in the Sunshine with roofs off and headed back to Hook of Holland ferry port. I led and got lost in the Rotterdam ring road, with my sat nav telling me to turn off where there was a large concrete wall. after missing the proper turn off we had to turn round and go back, eventually arriving in the Stenna Line Freight Depot. Lorry drivers laughed seeing 3 Tvrs driving around the Depot. Steve managed to lead us to the correct place. We then had a 7 hour ferry trip back to blighty where it was pouring with rain.
Thanks to everyone for coming and making it a great laugh. Even with the setbacks it turned out great as normal. If everything went perfect you wouldn't have anything to talk about.
Alex n Sue