Folkestone

To start the holiday we headed across to Folkestone where we stayed a night at the Holiday Inn Express before our early morning booking for Le Shuttle the next morning. After checking into the hotel we noticed that Nova was licking her paw a lot, so decided we should get it checked out. We managed to find a nice helpful local vet who could see her that evening and it turned out she had a grass seed stuck in between her paw pads. He managed to remove it and gave her some medicine to stop it from bothering her as much. We then had Fish and Chips on the sea front and enjoyed exploring the conversion of the station area.

Doorn

Border controls were busy in Folkestone so we ended up on the next train, but the crossing itself went very smoothly. We stopped to get a drink before heading on to the motorway. We stopped by Fort Merksem for a lunch stop and a walk around the Fort.

After this we headed on to Doorn and after a GPS input failure taking us to the same road in a different town we made it to the house we'd be staying at. In the evening Kai and I went to Jumbo to do some food shopping and Nova enjoyed exploring the garden.

On Sunday we had a quiet day to recover from the journey and enjoy the surroundings of Doorn.

Utrechtse Heuvelrug National Park

On Monday we headed out to explore the trails in the National Park on our doorstep. We parked by Chalet Helenaheuvel and headed out on the trails from there. The area we walked in was a lovely forest area with clear trails and we walked through the forest to the Uitkijktoren de Kap and went up to the top, thankfully it was still early so not too hot! At the top there were great views for a long way around 3 sides of the tower - we could see Utrecht and the Pyramide van Austerlitz

Utrecht

Utrecht was the plan for Tuesday and originally we were planning to take Nova in the morning, but in the end just Kai, Jess and me headed in. We took the Park and Ride from Westraven and got the tram to Utrecht Centraal

Utrecht is a beautiful city with pretty canals built around a central tower. Originally it was part of the Northern border of the Roman empire and as such a fortress on the edge of the Rhine. We took the Dom Under tour where we learnt more about the history of the city and saw some of the foundations from the past under the Dom square.

Zaanse Schans

Photos from Zaanse Schans

Amsterdam

Originally the plan had been for me to go to Amsterdam with Jessica on the Thursday and Laura to go with Kai on the Friday, but as Laura wasn't feeling well I ended up going both days. We parked at Driebergen-Zeist station and got the train to Amsterdam.

Each day we took a different route from the station through the city exploring the canals and catching a number of different sights throughout the route. With Jessica we headed south straight away - quickly finding we'd got there too early for a lot of the shops and cafes but were able to see the Royal Palace without any crowds on the square. We then headed to Negen Straatjes and on to the Vondelpark - a beautiful park with lots going on and space to sit, relax and enjoy watching things going on around. After this we went to take a look at the WorldPride Village but again we were too early for there to be much happening yet.

With Kai we started off heading across to Nemo and up onto its roof so we could see the views across the city, the steps were so wide that you had to take two paces on each one which made it quite a climb up but the views were well worth it. We then stopped for a drink at the cafe at the top before heading on to explore the city.

We then worked our way through the canals to find ourselves somewhere for lunch. Then after lunch we went to see the Royal Palace and the National Monument (much busier than they had been the day before). We then headed on round to Seven Bridges and round to Museumplein and the Van Gogh museum.

Kinderdijk

Photos from Kinderdijk

In the evening after our trip to Kinderdijk, we went out to have pancakes for dinner at Het Wapen van Sandenburg, followed by a walk in the forest enjoying the evening light.

Sunday 9th

Henschotermeer is a lake surrounded by beaches that you can swim in - as dogs aren't allowed on site I took Kai and Jessica there to explore. As I didn't have my swimming things with me I just paddled but Kai swam. I wished I'd had my things as the water was a lovely temperature and it was a really nice location!

In the afternoon Laura, Kai and Jessica went to Huis Doorn - I dropped them off and then headed back with Nova - we took a scenic route and ended up on some seemingly quite narrow roads with water either side of them!

In the evening Laura and I went out to a local restaurant, Spott where we had a lovely evening. This was walking distance from where we were staying, had a fantastic atmosphere and we were well looked after by the friendly staff.

We had the High Wine menu which was amazing, and consisted of 3 different wines each served with a platter of food alongside. We started with a glass of Cava with fresh bread with olives and salad. Then there was a Portuguese Verdelho served alongside a seafood platter consisting of Oysters, Salmon, Tuna, Dutch Shrimp and Mackerel. We then finished with the Château Cavalier Rosé from Provence along with a hot platter including Nachos, Prawns and Bitterballen. The wines were exquisite and the food was delicious - really good value for money!

Monday 10th

First thing we visited the nearby town of Wijk bij Duurstede where there is a mill and a castle on the banks of the Nederrijn (Lower Rhine). We went for a nice walk along the river to the castle and back along through the streets. We then headed back to the house to sort our things and to take Nova to the local vet for her required Tapeworm treatment so we would be allowed to return to the UK.

Tuesday 11th

Our last day so we finished packing up, took Nova for a last wander around the local woods and set off on our way to Calais - taking a different route this time so we could see some of the sea defence dams on the way. We were fortunate to see one of the locks in operation with the road lifted up to let the boats past. We also stopped for a walk around Sluis to break the journey further which was a busy little town to visit, and lovely to explore around the fortifications.