The Eurocamp chalet/static caravan was on the Koningshof Vakantiepark between Leiden and the coast at Katwijk, and promised a lovely indoor pool for young children, an indoor play area and nice cafe/reception, and of course flat cycling. We had decided that I should stay in the chalet rather than booking a pitch, and the best bedroom for me given the sleeping shenanigans of the little ones, was the tiny bunk-bed room, smaller than my very small bathroom at home, which I had all to myself! Being an adult in this human environment meant absolute exhaustion by the early evening, so even a narrow, just about long-enough bottom bunk did meet the need. My daughter & family eventually got used to the accommodation after initial disappointment following their second stay at the comparative luxury of a Terhills Centreparc chalet in Belgium.
We’ve had slightly better weather than a British spring, the rain mostly holding off and periods of sunshine between the clouds, but always windy. The location of the chalet within the site was pleasant in the greenery and private, albeit at a good walk to the pool & cafe, with a generous decking. The pool was enjoyed by all, for which another thank goodness, and being able to order meals in the cafe from 5pm was also really helpful. I think we’d all agree the 4-night stay was enough for the assembled individuals in that setting. Meanwhile my son & his partner were happy working in their restored apartment.
Re the fulfillment of the family cycling à la dutch dreams and unlike a year ago, my granddaughter was happy to sit in the Thule bike seat on the e-bike for rides with one or more parents to the Katwijk seaside and the beautiful historic town of Leiden – see last year’s post. I and my grandson spent a couple of hours in the soft play area and cafe. Unfortunately the beach was not able to be endured for very long with the continuous sand-blasting from the north sea wind, reminiscent of my childhood holidays camping in Cornwall. I also cycled to Katwijk, had a slightly better morning of weather, sitting in a cafe 2-wheel usage watching, and it was interesting to see the seals very near on the river estuary.
On the way back to the ferry at Rotterdam (I was staying on for another week), a visit to Peppa Pig World helped spend a couple of hours. Yes, holidaying with very young children provides a change for the parents, but in most cases more work and less sleep! The lure is there, with assumptions of perfect weather, and no sickness etc. All things considered, this holiday went as well as could be expected, and was hard work. Earlier on in the year with that holiday lure, we booked a family-friendly all-inclusive week (to remove the whole food tyrannical ‘work’) in the Algarve for my offspring couples and the combined 3-year old and two babies under 1 in September. Perhaps that was a year too soon, but too late now. On the other hand, it’s another extended weight training activity period for me. 🤣
I had booked the Cologne City campsite as last year for Friday to Monday but it was fully booked for the Thursday. Park4Night happily had suggestions for road parking in a business park in the south of the city, so Blue found its place in front of a Volvo dealership and I cycled the 6km to my son & partner’s flat. The next day I did a first and rode pillion on my son’s Vespa, which he had gone to great bureaucratic lengths last year to import, to get back to the van to drive it to the campsite. The scooter, which he calls Terzaghi, has really found its purpose in the less rain, more conducive to vehicles and 2 wheels other than cars Manchester, Cologne. (I think I like this german method of more complex sentence construction). It’s used for all manner of quick journeys, which are longer than those done on his bikes. In the Netherlands, these can also be ridden on the bike paths! Car parking is the challenge in the city, so if you’ve managed to snaffle a space close by, you don’t want to move your car unless you really have to. And it’s honestly not necessary for anywhere within the city you might want to go – two legs, or two wheels get you everywhere, and if not, trams are fantastic. The flat is 10 mins walk to lovely parks, and to the Rhein river, as well as all the cafes/restaurants of a lively city. Bikes and scooters can be locked up and left in the tree-lined walkways in the middle of these old streets or many of the old apartment buildings have basement store rooms.
I had bought a child-seat for the Brompton, so the aim 🙄 was for us all to do a ‘lovely’ bike ride along the river on the Saturday. Whilst my granddaughter was perfectly happy now at her great age to sit on this and ride along, having been resistant at a younger age to the proper Thule bike seat, the 6-month old was also very frightened and unhappy to say the least, to sit on this latter for any length of time. Flexibility is the unavoidable name of the game. We ended up spending a couple of hours in the lovely nearby park, reassuring our little girl that there was nothing to be scared about by the man inconsiderately vacuuming up water and leaves out of the pedaloes near where we were sitting in the cafe for some lunch! Gardening equipment noise is also added to that of toilet hand-dryers on the list of threats.
