To Belgium and back...

We've been on a short but needed trip away over the past five days. This has been planned for a while now, but we weren't overly sure we would be able to make it given recent family issues. Thankfully we were all set and headed off on a road trip last Sunday.

Sunday: Drove from home to Tunbridge Wells via a NT house in Seven Oaks. The traffic was very light, had the G22 in Eco Pro mode (Mrs W prefers that kind of journey!), a very easy journey overall. We had booked parking (cheapest hotel parking of the trip, more of that to come later).



Spent a night, had some superb food and a glorious breakfast, all set for the trip down to Le Shuttle (channel tunnel) for Monday.



The trip to the tunnel was easy, there weren't even any trucks stacking on the M20, clearly we went on the right weekend, seems rather grim down there today.
We arrived slightly ahead of schedule, so opted for an earlier train, nice and simple. Did blow my mind a little that I could still us emo mobile to receive/send messages when under the channel, not on wifi either. Technology eh?!



We had booked two nights in a smart (read as expensive) hotel in Ghent for Monday and Tuesday night. The drive there was very uneventful, hardly any traffic on the E14 all the way up and over. The hotel was just inside the city limits, I had booked the car into the Ghent clean zone in preparation. Car parking is very limited in the city, so we used the underground carpark of the hotel, sit down for this one, 45 euros, per night! However, we have built this into the cost, so knew what we were expecting. To be fair, the carpark was excellent, it had separate underground garages for each car, so all was safe and sound for the two days. Some may say that one would expect a full service and valet for that price.......



Ghent is a truly lovely city, really historic and full of charm, character and history. We did all the normal tourist things, boat trip, visited a museum etc. The beer was excellent!
Found several local places to eat and drink, all the food and drink was superb, and not overly expensive.
We were definitely lucky with the weather, sunny and a slight wind, cold but we wrapped up and were able to walk all around the city.

Lunch:


I've got a phone memory full of photos, won't bore you with them all. Suffice to say that the city and location is incredibly photogenic.

After breakfast on Wednesday we packed up and headed to Bruges. Another absolutely stunning city, again we had booked a hotel inside the city walls, this time the underground parking was "only" 30 euros per day. Gulp. What was cool about this parking facility was the car lift. We turned into the side street, pressed the buzzer, shutter opens and drive into the main block, then there is a lift door, press the button, drive into the lift and go down to -2 level. Lift opens and there is a car park down there, most surreal.
Parked up and went to find out what Bruges has to offer.



Bruges is slightly smaller than Ghent, but a whole lot more expensive and busier. The main accent to be heard seemed to be American....
Again, magnificent beer and food, stunning scenery and so much history to take in. We went to the Groeninge Museum to see the Flemish masters, I've wanted to see The Last Judgement by Bosch since I did my Art degree back in the times when I had a full head of hair. It didn't disappoint. Many other wonderful art pieces to see as well, a great few hours.
Another boat trip, great way to see the cities, get to see things that you can't from the road/pathway. The guides are all great as well, some insight into the history of the buildings and city.
Hot chocolates were called for, eased the wind chill a little, and they were amazing. More great food, lots of great beer, exactly what the doctor ordered. If only this could be prescribed on the NHS.......

A few shots from Bruges:


On Wednesday night I treated myself to something called the Macallan Flight, a trio of rather fine whiskies from the hotel bar. Utterly wonderful! They are a double cask, a triple cask and a sherry cask. My favourite was the triple cask, only £96 a bottle apparently, that will be on the birthday list then!



We left Bruges this morning, drove to Dunkirk as we wanted to take in the Operation Dynamo museum. Glad we stopped, really thought provoking exhibitions, reminds us how fragile our peaceful life can be. Certainly worth a visit if you are over that way.

Back to the the chunnel, lots of queues for the security checks for both French and UK border crossings, think we were in a queue for 45+ mins. Eventually got on the train and headed back to the UK, food was consumed in the car, not my usual approach, but needs must!



Driving in France and Belgium confirms how utterly (insert word of choice here) our UK motorway are. The M20 was ok, however, the M20 lorry park went on for miles and miles going into the port, as did the car traffic. So glad we weren't heading out of the UK today.
Then the usual UK road nonsense started, detoured around the M2 to get to the Dartford crossing, then the M25 was standstill, the M1 was then a car-park until well after the roadworks.
Back home around 5:30pm today, unpacked the car and grabbed some fish and chips for supper.

A wonderful trip all round. Fantastic scenery, food, beer, accommodation, beer, chocolate, food, beer and erm, yup, beer.

We have a few other trips planned for 2024, one to Whitby and one to Barbados. Guess which one I will be driving to...?

 

The G22 was truly magnificent. Superbly comfortable, the tech was spot on, sending the addresses to the car via the app really helped the set-up and travel. Plenty of space for a certain someones "must take this" items as well. I used Eco Pro for most of the journey, this was very relaxed and made the journey and very easy.
Driving into the underground car parks set the park assists into panic mode, beeps, bleeps and flashing red lights all over. It was funny once I'd got over the annoying sounds.
Here are a few screen shots of the journeys, these show the crazy economy from the car. What's not to like really?

 

Great trip, lots of decent history and beer, lots of beer

 

Nice trip. Love Bruges and its numerous beers/bars.

European cities seem to have underground carparks in abundance. We were in one in Burgos in January...Two stories down and quite tight turns for a 5er wagon!! You wouldn't know they are there unless pointed out. Luckily ours was only 12 euro for the night.

 

Nice one. I live 10 miles from Tunbridge Wells, and we went to Ghent in November last year and stayed at The Pillows Hotel. Thought it was a very nice hotel. Parking can be an issue there so was happy to park in the underground car park they had to offer.

Cheers


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Indeed, a very smart hotel. Other than the parking and breakfast, I also thought that it was reasonably priced, certainly at the point we booked it back in November.
We enjoyed a chill time in the pool, great facilities and the staff were wonderful.
We stayed in the newer part of the hotel, really large rooms, impeccably clean. The older part of the building is very grand indeed.

 

We were in the newer bit as well and had a family room with a mezzanine where the kids were which was great to be fair. I’d go back and stay there again. Breakfast was ok but not worth the money.



We also did the all you can eat ribs restaurant which was great.

Cheers


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Looks like a fantastic trip, thanks for sharing. I stayed in that Tunbridge Wells Hotel Du Vin a couple of years ago with a booked space like yours for the 640 GC. Must say I was not impressed by the size of spaces and must have checked my car half a dozen times over the couple of days for parking dings . I think I need to get a smaller car! Stayed in York for two nights over the Easter weekend with the only parking in an NCP multi storey. Width, length and ground clearance of the 6er induce a cold sweat at any multi storey but thankfully It emerged two days later with no scuffs on paintwork or alloys but me £50 lighter.

 

The space they allocated us at the HDV was opposite the front door, thankfully one of the better ones. There was a chap in a brand new Bentley convertible thingymajob and he had to perch it on one of the end spots, seemingly designed for a Smart car! I would have moved the post and parked it in a better spot if they had given me that one.