My next holiday is fast approaching. In less than 2 weeks, I will be driving nearly 400 miles from Gloucestershire to the Netherlands for a long weekend away.

During the first weekend in March I will be staying on the island of Schouwen-Duiveland in the South Western Dutch province of Zeeland.

Why drive? Because that’s half the fun of it! Plus, I will always have my own transport, so I can go pretty much where I want.

I’ll break the journey out there in to 2 halves. On the night of Thursday 2. March I’ll drive after work to Kent, where I’ll be staying in a hotel just off the M26 motorway, within 45 minutes’ drive of the Channel Tunnel.

The following morning, I will head down to the Tunnel before breakfast. I’ll eat breakfast while in the car on the train. I’ll then drive from Calais to Zeeland – hopefully making it to my acommodation in about 3-4 hours (traffic permitting).

Once I cross the border, things get interesting: There’s the 6.5km Westerschelde Tunnel to go through, then I’ll have to pay the toll for that (easier said than done in my right-hand-drive GB car). After a short stretch of motorway I cross on to the island of Noord-Beveland, and then over the 5.5km Zeeland Bridge on to Schouwen-Duiveland.

Over the course of my stay in Zeeland I’ll visit several towns and villages on the island, I’ll go round a few museums and might walk along the beach if the weather isn’t too bad. On the Sunday I’ll go on a day trip to the Dutch capital Amsterdam, just under 100 miles away. The plan is to use the city’s Park + Ride facilities which are within easy reach of the A10 – Amsterdam’s Orbital motorway – or in British terms: the Dutch version of the M25! I can then travel cheaply via bus or tram in to the city centre.

On the Monday, I’ll leave NL after breakfast and make the entire journey back to the UK. Stupidly, I’ve booked the Eurotunnel at such a time that means I get back in to Folkestone late afternoon and will be hitting the M25 at rush hour. My plan is to sit in a service station off the M20 for an hour (maybe more), and to not go anywhere near the M25 until after 7pm.

Documentation – Sorted

Passport – Somewhere around here…

Euros – Yep

Petrol – Expensive

Tot ziens!

FH.