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Told a story today about getting rid of trash while wild camping in Antwerp. Thought I would tell it here as well.
First of all, travel tip, dont use big bin bags. Small carrier bags are easier to get rid of when wild camping.
So here we are in Antwerp. We had just done a big clearout and there are no large bins around. We had an assortment of bags of recyclables and trash. We all got on our bikes with a bag or 2 of trash on each bikes handlebars. We new of 3 places with bins. We took off to these 3 destinations with a prearranged rendezvous point. As we took off in our 3 different directions we looked like a scene out of some bizarre old kids movie like goonies or something. I must state that Liz did not fare quite so good at the descreet part of the whole operation. I look back from the recycle bins I had just been using to see a guilty and distressed smile on Lizzy’s face as she desperately tried to shove her small bag into an even smaller hole in the park trash container. Well, I guess you had to be there.
Back in Spain. We love the familiar site of the Huge black cow billboards dotting the country. Not sure why they are there.
At one point on the long drive Andrew points out a Trapist Monastery on the Left side of the road at the same time I pointed out a small chocolate shop on the right of the road called “Trapa”. WHAT? TRAPIST CHOCOLATE! BUT THEY MAKE SOME OF THE BEST BEER IN THE WORLD! Now Andrew is not prone to Uturns but he made an exception. Everybody got out. It was GREAT chocolate and we do love our chocolate.
While traveling I always encourage the kids to try new tastes and experiences. Last time in Spain I was out with Liz and Abi and saw a sign for Churros in a window. We didnt know what they were but decided to give it a go. Liz did not forget the experience and coming through Spain again she found them again.
When I asked about the toilets, Hannah not only told me where they were but gave me other advise too. She told me to push the red button to lock the door, which I did confidently. I tried the door again and sure enough it was locked. Just as a smirk of satisfaction crossed my face a sudden, the lights went off and an extremely loud sound made me jump and reach for the door like that was all I could depend on to keep me safe. But it was no use, the water just kept shooting out, soaking the bottom of my jeans and making me feel so scared that the fact that it was only water shooting out at me seemed to have escaped my frozen with fright brain. I pulled and pulled at the door desperately and continuously accomplishing nothing, for it had locked just like i’d hoped it would 3 minutes ago.
Eventually it stopped and when it did I stood there shaking out of control as if someone had just put a knife to my throat. Why I felt like that is beyond me, perhaps I should keep off the adventure books for a while. the lesson from this is very similar to others: “Don’t push the red button” or you may find yourself in the bathroom as it vigerously self cleans itself.
I considered my lesson learned. Or so I thought…
Another country, another terrifying self cleaning experience. This time I had an audience. As I banged on the door and screamed for help Mum, Dad, Abi, Hannah, TJ, Sam and Donald all watched, laughing! Unable to do anything else.”HELP!” I screamed. “Push the red button” mum said back, but she couldn’t be heard above the chaos.
I came out shaking and told my second story (as you can see in the picture above) as everyone failed to hold in all the giggles they had left. Why does it always happen to me? I asked myself as you’d probably expect I would. Is it some kind of curse or am I just too stupid to make sure it doesn’t happen again? Or do the toilets have it out for me…
Our next French Aire was a parking lot right on a beautiful beach that was next to a small village at the very southwest of France. The boys had a friend to meet and dad could do admin. He had to be creative but it was possible. There was electricity for the truck and access internet in the village with his ipod. Unfortunately his laptop computer cord is still MIA but he got lots of essential things done. The man in the picture above was doing his thing as we arrived. Yes, it is a man sitting in a kite riding the wind. He went back and forth on the current for much longer than we felt like watching.
This is the Aire with cold Hannah coming back from the beach. There are over a hundred spaces at this Aire, electricity, a bread van comes around every morning and we met some great people.
Sam and Donald going swimming even on the coldest days.
It rained for 2 days of our time at the beach. Some people say we have a rain blessing. The only rain here for months and we bring it. I wouldnt quite call it a blessing. hmmmm.
No this is not one of us. There was a big, NOISY college party over the weekend next door to us. The party included lots of ketchup and flour, camels and bungie jumping. Hannah really wanted to do some bungie jumping but we had the great excuse of IT IS A COLLEGE PARTY AND YOU”RE NOT OLD ENOUGH TO GO TO COLLEGE.
Hannah politely asked this boy for a picture. Yes, it is what it looks like. This boy rode round and round the parking lot with his dog riding right in front of him with paws on the handlebars.
One of our neighbours was this really nice French lady named Gizelle. Abi had just finished her first crochet project. A hat made of cut up old t-shirts. Gizelle showed us some mini hats that she had crocheted. They were so detailed and precise. AND guess what they are made of. You will never believe it. Carrier bags. You know, the ones they try to give you from every shop you go to and you get duped into taking them because you are too lame to remember your eco-friendly ones. Oh yeah, and the guilt is so bad you just cant seem to throw them away, thinking about those poor little turtles that eat them and DIE. So anyways, Gizelle has found and answer to those drawers and drawers of carrier bags. make them into hats.
Or egg cup holders.
She showed me how.
Did we tell you we discovered “Stellplatz” in Germany. Absolutely brilliant spaces for free or minimal cost in Germany. So we bought ourselves a little book, in German, that has paid for itself over and over. Actually, I think it would be impossible to find without a GPS. So, we decided to try our luck out with the Aires in France. Now, these cheap places to stop have minimal facilities. Many are just places in a parking lot. Some have electricity. Most you have to bring your own toilet. So to get to these we had the book, a german dictionary, a french dictionary and our GPS. We were thrilled to find that at one stop that little symbol in the corner meant A SHOWER. We have been shower challenged since realizing that most campgrounds are outside of our budget so we were thrilled.
Only to find that the showers were very cold and…. hmmmm. how do you say…. wild west…. saloon like….. semi-public. However, we all took advantage of this beautiful, minimal shower.
While on our bike trip Elizabeths tire went suddenly flat. We think the culprit might have been the GIANT NAIL sticking out of her tire. So we left the nail in so we could figure out where the hole is and pulled out our pump and our handy dandy tire repair kit, laid it out next to us, looked at each other and realized we hadnt a clue what to do next. There were no instructions. This really nice family stopped moments later and dad came to our rescue. Dressed in his Sunday walk best white clothes he taught us how to fix a tire properly while fixing the multiple holes in Lizs tire. Arent random kind strangers wonderful.
This is our table. It is old We got it from an auction in Orkney for GBP10.00. We had a few small new camping tables. They are long gone. Couldnt handle the lifestyle. This table is brilliant. When we put it away inside the truck it becomes a wall. Sometimes it is a prep table but most of the time we surround it with chairs and eat around it. Take my advice dont buy cheap tables. If you are doing this as a lifestyle. Find a sturdy old table that collapses (or you can make into a collapsing table). We have some people that are happy with the expensive ones you buy from caravan shops but dont buy one of the cheap camping tables unless you plan to replace it in less than a month!
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