Weymouth to..........

Amsterdam !

So, 9.00 departure from Weymouth heading to Dover was what we had known but now our destination of Amsterdam was a big task ahead. We had left home at 12.00, left Weymouth at 21.00 , drove to Dover and caught the 2.20 ferry to Calais and arrived in Calais at 05.00 (no sleep had, well by boys anyway!). Craig missed France, although only a small part of trip but (he was sleeping). That's 1 country, does landing in Calais count? Nik was driving and I was fighting sleep to keep him awake. Tiredness took hold and into services in Belgium where another Windy team were also catching some sleep. We said we would have a 10 min nap, 2 hours later we woke up! Onto Amsterdam we went. Torrential rain as we negotiated the ring road into Amsterdam but result, rain ceased as arrived at our campsite. Fantastic facilities and close to city centre-  Gaaspercamping. 25 euro but they forgot to charge for me so actual cost 19 euro, not bad for city accommodation is it?

The Coleman Tourer tent really came into it's own. Exhausted the tent really did go up in 1 min and camp set up achieved shortly after. By the 23rd day we'll have this supper slick just like putting up a Disco rig. I was dead on my feet as had stayed awake to make sure boys were awake while they swapped driving and snoring to get to Amsterdam. 600 miles done on stage 1 with 4 countries under our tyres.

Off to see the sights we did go. Metro, bikes, canals, prostitutes, waffles and canabis. Ph and don't forget a few beers. Pretty city but very busy, you don't see that on the picture post cards. We found ourselves in The Red light District before we realised it and I was not prepared for what I saw. It gives window shopping a whole new name. It was 15.30 in the afternoon and families were seeing the sights when all of a sudden an often not so attractive almost naked lady (loosely) summons you to her window. Nasty velvet chair and matching curtain. What shocked me. Most was that in the middle of the afternoon blokes were walking in like it was nothing odd and the red curtain was pulled. It just seemed strangely normal. I think it look very different at night but we didn't stick around to find out.

Lots of history but sadly too tired to make the most of it. I liked the architecture and found some rare and uncrowned opportunities to take some pictures. We decided to try and find a canal side bar to enjoy a beer in the sun (it was out an we didn't know how long for). We were avoiding the "cafe" culture. In our tired state we would most likely have completely spaced out and slid into a canal. However, as it stands there is no fresh air in city it's just Canabis fuelled. I do wonder if it's a case of "you can so you do". People were smoking huge amounts it appeared while drinking a beer and watching the speed people were rolling their joints and smoking 1 after another. Not our thing so we moved on.

More our thing Waffles and Nutella, freshly made. That's the money shot!

So my take (and only mine - my blog after all) is that glad I have been, seen and briefly experienced but don't feel the need to rush back. Very cosmopolitan and trendy culture, nice vibe but busy and friendly people many of which spoke very good English.

Nice first night and The Son of Hibatchi made it's first experience of many. Lots of interest in Nik's BBQ gadget, he was a happy man. Nice to get to know the people behind the teams. I found  in Steve from Team Mobster someone with a sense of humour like mine.  This will make for many a hilarious camp night's to come. Early bed as exhausted from day 1 & 2. Steve announced destination for day 3 and where were headed to.............