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Hi all, I recently went for my first camping trip to the Continent, Belgium and the Netherlands to be precise. Here is my trip report
I set off on Wednesday evening from home, picking up a friend at Gatwick and then on to Dover. DFDS ferry to Dunkirk at 22:00 arriving at 01:00 on Thursday morning. The main reason for the trip was for a plane spotting bash so we headed for Ostend airport to see what was there and then onto Brussels.
We stayed at the 3CB site near to Brussels airport, (the first of two visits, situated in the French speaking side of Belgium. The site seemed very well organised except for check-in closing between 12 and 2pm, with no access until it re-opens.
We checked in and were told to pick our own pitch in the lower part of the site, which was quite busy but there were plenty of large pitches available with hardcore standing for the car alongside. Once we had pitched the tent, we hooked up the electric and sorted out everything from the car, then settled down for a well deserved beer.
There are plenty of clean loos and showers on site, with a clubhouse/bar at the top of the tree surrounded area. There is some aircraft noise due to the proximity of Brussels airport but this was to our advantage as we could relax and watch the planes either arrive or depart from the comfort of the tent.
There is site wide Wifi available, for a nominal 1 euro cost, which I was surprised covered both visits a weekend apart! Depending on the number of users logged on, the signal varied from average to totally useless at times, although the nearer the clubhouse you are the better the signal seemed to be.
There was no proper shop on site but there is a large hypermarket within about 10 mins drive of the site, with all the usual French style outlets you would expect at Carrefour.
We departed on Friday morning back to Brussels airport and on to Amsterdam Schipol airport. |Following a long day at AMS, we checked in at the Amsterdamse Bos site for a 2 night stay.
Situated to the south west of Amsterdam city, this is a large, very well organised site. Good transport links to both the city and the airport area were explained to us on arrival, even to the point of explaining the fares and times of the buses, trams and metro.
On checking in we were advised of the different areas of the site and their suitability for different age groups, both of us being over 50, we opted for the quieter end of the site which is so well laid out it puts a lot of UK sites to shame.
Plenty of clean showers and loos within easy reach of where we pitched up next to a lake with lots of trees screening the main road noise, again we settled down to a beer and to watch the planes departing from AMS airport.
There is a well stocked shop on site, a bit on the pricey side, but with not much else available in the surrounding area that we could find, it was a welcome sight.
Wifi is available, all over the site, but as seems to be common it was dependent on the number of users and how far from the reception you were.
The showers require a 1 euro token available from reception and give a 6 minute burst of hot water, so you need to be quick. There were drying machines available for wet clothes, towels etc in the shower/toilet buildings, which I think take a 1 euro coin.
A massive dance festival nearby on the Saturday night threatened to be a noisy neighbour, but to be fair it was all over by 11pm with very little noise from then on.
Back to Brussels on Sunday via the airport for one more night, finally heading home on Monday via Dunkirk, back to Dover with DFDS then home via Gatwick.
Overall the weather was very good apart from a damp departure from Brussels which meant drying out the tent on Tuesday at home, we both enjoyed the trip with the tent but agreed to book a hotel when we do the next trip to Paris as there seem to be few sites near the main airports.
Definitely looking forward to more trips abroad with the tent, but maybe on my own without the plane spotting element.
Post last edited on 21/07/2015 04:36:36
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July: Brussels and Amsterdam
August: Lingfield, Mildenhall
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Topic: First Continental camping trip
