After another hearty, sausage dominated German breakfast, we set off for the Netherlands. And Mirinda did it all in one go. Well, apart from a short stop for petrol.
We really liked the Thöles Hotel, Bücken. I took the dogs for a walk down to the edge of the river first thing and the banks had definitely been breached. There was a bankside bench which was almost completely submerged and a gazebo with its furniture floating and bobbing against the roof. There’s a big bank between the river and hotel but even so, the stables could easily flood.
The hotel was pumping water from somewhere inside the building (the basement?) and it was causing deep puddles all over the car park, which ensured nice wet shoes and lots of splashing from inconsiderate drivers.
Still, the hotel was lovely. We bade it a fond farewell from the wet, grey and gloomy car park.
The roads and conditions were good and the arseholes few and far between, so Mirinda just kept going. We listened to a few podcasts and discussed higher matters as we pootled along country roads. It was much nicer than the monotony of the national highways.
Of course there was one twat who thought overtaking at speed on rain slicked, narrow roads, somehow reduced his chance of dying, and one big lorry with evil carnival lights, that could have been a menacing death truck from Mad Max, but, generally it was all very nice and scenic.
While there was a lot of water everywhere, we left the flooding and subsequent diversions, behind. Though there was still rain, it was just sprinkling most of the time.
The stop at the petrol station was funny. I always try and use the human rather than the machine and, paying for petrol is easy. You just hold up the number of fingers for the pump. However, I had to ask if they had air for the tyres.
She spoke no English, so I ended up miming the whole thing (Mirinda was outside wondering what I was doing). I think the woman understood, but the answer was nien, either way.
At ariound 4pm, we pulled into the hotel Van der Valk Hotel De Bilt on the outskirts of Utrecht. We stayed at the Van der Valk hotel in Hengelo on our return trip in July so we knew what to expect. And our expectations were realised. In fact, there are lots of Van der Valk hotels throughout the Netherlands. Perhaps we should try and stay at more as the years go by; collect them, basically. Then again, maybe not. Seems a stupid ambition.
Anyway, one of the things about the Van der Valk hotels is that they pride themselves on their restaurants. And tonight was no exception. We booked in for an early dinner, ordered way too much food, which pleased the dogs, and collapsed into bed afterwards Another day closer.
Above is my ‘various bits of goose’ entree. Delicious.
