Wheels Around Europe . . . . . . . : Not Happy in Belgium…… But the day got better !

I thought Italian roads were bad, but Belgium roads are much much worse !

We left Valkenburg aan de Geul this morning and our Lakeside parking spot.

The night was peaceful until some local youths turned up at 1230 and thought it was time for a game of football on the carpark !

It sounded like they were right next to us, but I suspect they were further away than it sounded. They did nothing untoward, just kicked the ball around a bit, laughed a bit, then drove off and left us to the peace that was there before.

A morning walk around the adjacent lake and park in the sunshine was a great way to start the day.

I also saw the Egyptian Goose again, this time with it`s partner and four chicks.

The sat nav was set for a town called Mechelen, west of Valkenburg aan de Geul.
It also holds what has been a strategic position in it`s history, mid way between Antwerp, 25 km to the north and Brussels, 25 km to the south.

I thought instead of taking the motorway, I`d select “avoid motorways” and enjoy a scenic route through the Belgium countryside, nothing so simple.

It started to go wrong when a main ring road was closed for roadworks.

I decided to follow the rest of the traffic that appeared to know where they were going.

All was well until a right turn at a roundabout down a slip road. Height Warning 2.9 metre ! Now I know how tall the motorhome is and I have a card with it written on to remind me, it`s 2.9 metre, but at that moment I had a brain freeze and carried on. Clatter, the top of the satellite dish (Folded down) struck another lightweight height barrier !!! you know the one to warn the muppets who ignore or don`t see the first one.

Then the low bridge loomed in front of me. It did look threatening and I decided I couldn`t take the risk, after all, the satellite dish was my only hope of seeing the England game later on and I didn`t fancy finding out how accurate Belgium road engineers are with a tape measure.

But where do I go, nothing for it but to reverse up the slip road.

Hazard flashers on and I begin reversing. Lets just say there were a few irate motorists around. To be fair to them they did cooperate and all was ok in the end and we ended up doing a tour of Maastrict to get back on track for Mechelen.

I`m sure the tailback I caused will have cleared by now as well !

The next annoyance was the dreadful state of Belgium roads, what I`d hoped would be a pleasant drive, turned out to be a proper filling rattler.

The roads were mostly concrete and lumpy uneven concrete at that.

By the time we reached Mechelen we`d had enough of Belgium roads, never again whilst in Belgium will I select “avoid motorways”

We reached the motorhome Aire in Mechelen only to find a concert type arena set up in it`s place. Fortunately the adjacent Multi screen cinema has stood in as an alternative, so that`s where we are tonight.

Thankfully there is no sign of an all night rave at the arena.

So a bit of a traumatic day to get here.

On the upside, someone, presumably the town Council, provide a free shuttle bus service from the Cinema carpark down to the town about 1.5 km away. Every 10 minutes a mini bus arrives and whisks folk down to the town.

It`s a much bigger town than I`d expected with lots of shops and restaurants and some quite impressive historic buildings.
Unfortunately there was a fair set up in the main square so this impeded photo opportunities.

The good news is the satellite dish seems to have survived the days events and has shown no signs of damage from the collision with the height barrier and worked perfectly for the England match.