We woke up to gorgeous sunshine on Sunday so headed for the beach for a relaxing morning. However, it wasn’t as warm as it looked, with a stiff breeze ensuring we kept our shirts on! We almost had the place to ourselves, very few other people were sitting although quite a few were walking along the shore.
Batteries recharged by the sea air, we caught up on a few tasks in the afternoon before taking a walk on the sand dunes towards Zoutelande, about 2 km up the coast. After a sustaining beer we walked back along the beach and back up the steps over the dunes to the site.
On Monday we swapped pitches to a sunnier and drier spot – a big improvement on the last place.
This took most of the morning, particularly as the electricity kept tripping. They agreed to increase it to 8 amps from the included 6 amps, as we pointed out we’d never had a problem anywhere else where they were providing 6 amps unless we were using the aircon (which I can assure you we weren’t!)
In the afternoon we cycled to Vlissingen, about 10 km south. This is the largest town on the peninsular, and has all the charm of a run down English seaside resort – think Morecambe out of season! It’s old world charm was tempered by the 70’s and 80’s tower blocks, but the old town itself was more interesting. However, much of it was closed!
It’s also quite a busy shipping lane across the Westerschelde to Zeebrugge so we were entertained by a steady stream of vessels of shapes and sizes, including a DFDS ferry, all of which seemed to be almost on the beach as they passed. A refreshing beer and a slice of apple cake fortified us for the cycle back up the coast.
The forecast was better for Tuesday with no rain, although overcast, so we set off to cycle to Vrouwenpolder on the north coast of the peninsular, about 20 km away, where there’s a bridge which island hops across the Oosterschelde. We’d bought a map which shows all the cycle paths – in the Netherlands all cycle paths are numbered and you just have to follow the numbered signs until you come to the next numbered one you want. We decided to take a scenic route cutting across the peninsular, not realising that this would not always be the most direct path.
We’d been cycling for an hour before we saw a sign saying we were 7km from where we’d started, and then within minutes the un-forecast rain came down. The kagouls came out and we carried on, eventually reaching Vrouwenpolder just as a torrential downpour started. Fortunately it was lunchtime so we sat undercover and had bowls of soup and coffees. The rain stopped so we continued our ride to see the bridge which is spectacular.
The sun was shining again so we took the coastal path back to Domberg, this time into the headwind and by the time we got there I was getting really tired. Another stop was needed to refuel so we went back to the lovely cafe we’d been to on Saturday. More cake!
Just as we set off on the last 10km leg the heavens opened again and we made the mistake of following the cycle paths away from the coast, thinking they would be more sheltered. They weren’t, and we had a miserable hour of cycling into the horizontal rain and the strong wind.
We stopped briefly at the supermarket before returning for a welcome cup of tea and a hot shower. Karol has never cycled this far at one go before – 60 km in total, which is incredible, but she was flagging for the last couple of hours, so was very grateful when we eventually arrived. Needless to say we both slept well last night, despite more rain.