It was mid September 2024 and time to go travelling again. This autumn we planned to go north to Nordkapp, Denmark before driving south to spend the winter in a warmer climate. Our journey would take us through Belgium, Netherlands, Germany, Denmark, Sweden and Norway. Then we planned to travel south through Finland, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Czechia, Slovakia, Hungary, Slovenia and Italy. We would then decide whether to go on to Greece and Turkey or take the ferry to Tanger Med, Morocco.
The weather was warm and sunny as we drove through France and Belgium into Holland. Everything looked clean, neat and orderly in the autumn sunshine. We stopped for a couple of days near Groningen, at a marina owned by friends John and Sabine on lake Zuidlaardermeer. They lived in a house adjacent to the marina with wonderful views over the lake.
John took us on a boat trip around the lake, pointing out several spots where beavers lived and thrived. Tall reeds grew around the shoreline and, at one spot where the reed bed was thickest, there was a boat moored, almost invisible behind a thick curtain of reeds. The owner lived on board and tendered to shore when he needed supplies. He was living there illegally but nobody in authority knew he was there – and no-one was telling . . .
