Germany

2 nights in the Netherlands now – one night here in Venlo – tomorrow an easier day, just a 2 hour drive to get to Zierikzee on the Dutch coast – and then back to Gloucestershire on Sunday.

Beaches all across the country are dotted with lots of ‘Strandkorb’ (think beach deck chair but in a large basket-type thing which gives protection from sun, wind and rain).

Arriving in Germany did rather feel like arriving back at home. Suddenly we’ve travelled from a country where I don’t understand the language at all, to a country whose radio stations I can listen to and understand.

Norway felt more different, for some reason. Yellow road markings for a start. I don’t think I’ve ever seen those outside of Greece before.

Fehmarn, Germany’s 3rd largest island, is connected to the German mainland by a bridge, which makes it quite easy to get to.

In the high temperatures my car is not pleasant to be in. On what has been the hottest day of the year in Germany (according to Tagesthemen), I spent the hottest part of the day in what is essentially an oven with an engine.

The 10 day forecast shows there being little chance of the daytime temperature dropping below 20 for the forseeable future. There are some small thunderstorms forecast for tomorrow but not everywhere will see anything.

Then it was on to the town of Baarle-Hertog/Baarle-Nassau. The town has 2 names because it is in 2 countries: The border zig-zags round (it’s not simply a case of a line through the middle): Driving through the town centre you cross the border from one side to the other what seems like a hundred times