It's double inset day for the kids and Al's birthday weekend. It's becoming a bit of a tradition we get to go away for a long weekend this time of year but thank goodness we didn't choose Disney (it was a contender) as with the current heatwave I've read that all outdoor rides are closed along with no fireworks and major changes to parades for obvious safety reasons. As much as it would have been good to see the new frozen world we went last year and so decided to do something different. We're headed to the Netherlands to a holiday camp called Duinrell. It's a mixture of chalets and camping pitches and has 2 swimming pools (one indoors, one outdoors), a theme park and other activities on site. As it happens our friends have also booked so we'll hopefully hang out with them for a bit too. Due to said heatwave the kids are actually picked up from school 2hrs early which I had hoped we could take advantage of to see if we could board an earlier boat and even with the good traffic conditions on the roads we arrived just in time to see the earlier boat sail away. Oh well, rather that than watching the boat you've booked to go on sail off.

We had a two hour wait which at least gave us time to have a picnic tea and stretch our legs.

Upon returning from stretching said legs Liliya and I got caught up waiting for all the lorries coming off our boat to disembark and there were also 3 lorries full of German students waiting to board so they were encouraging the drivers to toot their horns which Liliya enjoyed getting involved with. Finally one driver stopped to let us past so we could get back into the moho. One thought I did have, given we were so early and watched another ferry sail was could we just have boarded it? When you check in they get you to hang a piece of paper on your wing mirror with a tear off piece that we usually have to hand in but this time we were just ushered on. If we'd have 'accidentally' queued up a few lanes away would their checking policy, since there were so few vehicles around, simply been to have waved us on? The crossing was pleasant, the kids ran off to the kid zone to do their own thing so it felt time to sit and enjoy a drink from the bar before scoping out the duty free and soliciting alcohol orders from friends perhaps in a away to justify my own purchases. Yes Al I know I don't NEED another bottle of vodka but the Yorkshire lass in me can't possibly pass up on such a good deal!

By the time we reach Calais it's late so we decide to drive just for 45 mins and stop the night in our usual spot in a supermarket car park in Bray Doons. We're usually the only motorhome to stop there but this time there were a couple of others already parked up for the night. We all enjoyed a good sleep despite the heat and the fans we'd purchased a couple of holidays ago really helped. As its Al's birthday today Robert and I went into the supermarket to get a little surprise cake along with some of his favorite cherry beers. It's another scorching hot day and we've got around three hours to get to Duinrell so with everyone fed and dressed we make a start. Bray Dunes is in France but right on the border with Belgium, I've always found it interesting that despite the Belgians speaking Flemish and French the area adjoining this part of France is the Flemish speaking area. About 45 minutes into our drive the van starts to make a violent shuddering, at first we couldn't tell if it was just dodgy roads like back in the UK but they did seem to be smooth. Al could drive in third gear as long as we were over 3,000 revs but if we took it any lower the juddering came back. We decided it would be best to pull off as soon as we could so found a truck stop to investigate. Under the bonnet things didn't look good so we decided that we'd need to call our breakdown cover. It turns out of course that they couldn't help us, no surprise there perhaps for anyone who read our previous summer adventure when we broke down, however this time it was for legitimate reasons. It turns out on French and Belgian motorways only the police can issue a recovery vehicle, no surprise this comes at a huge cost (which of course our crappy insurance will barely refund). I'm not sure this could have happened on a worse day given the heat wave we're currently stuck in and the children are getting very hot and bothered.

Whilst awaiting our rescue we decide to cheer Al up by giving him his cards to open. We've left his main present at home but something had turned up for him the other day in the post in a small package which said gift on it so I had packed it. We had no idea who it was from or what it could be, well turns out it was a deodorant that Al had ordered and randomly sent in packaging that implied it was a gift, oh well it gave us all a well needed giggle.

The chap that comes to our rescue however was brilliant, he got me and the kids into his truck where Liliya pretty quickly fell asleep on me, a late night and extreme heat isn't the easiest combo to deal with.

Once the van was loaded and everyone inside he was straight on the phone to a bunch of local garages trying his best to get somewhere that could at least look at the van today. Similar to what had happened in Germany last year everywhere he called was saying it could be over 2 weeks until they could start. Finally he found a place not too far away that said they could look Monday and it was also located in a town with things to do. He even rang a campsite for us in case there was a chance we could drive for a few miles since they couldn't start the work until Monday. He helped speak to the garage as well but they said we could do some serious damage if we drove it so the van was now on the forecourt for the foreseeable future. They kindly said we could sleep here though and even plugged us into their electric. A staggering €450 bill later (€225 of which was the police section and the rest his to get to the garage) we were on our own and desperately trying to come to with a plan B. It was frustrating we weren't told their were two sections to the tow as we could have told him to drop us off as soon as our own recovery could have began but given our previous experience of them we'd likely have been waiting hours for them to collect us and then they'd have just dumped us at the nearest garage which couldn't have booked us in for weeks). As kind as the offer to stay on the forecourt was it just wasn't practical in this heat and so with me on the phone to the breakdown insurance and Al on the other phone to the travel insurance we were trying to find out if any help was at hand. The travel insurance was completely useless even when they went to ask management if there was anything they could do, the breakdown cover wasn't much more help but said they'll cover £500 towards accommodation so a quick check on Airbnb and we've managed to get ourselves an apartment 15 mins walk from the beach. Unfortunately the Belgian schools broke up earlier in the week so this is their peak summer season. I gave the campsite a call to see if they could do anything to perhaps refund a couple of days or let us defer the booking but that was a no go. Good people do exist however as we got a call from the Airbnb owner, we explained our situation as the place wasn't quite ready to check in and she told us she would be with us in 15 mins to pick us and all our stuff up and take us to the apartment 🙏🏼 What a woman! She said we were welcome to leave our things and if we gave her an hour the place would be ready. She told us how to get to the local supermarket, the quickest way to the beach and to keep her posted as to our plans because Monday she would pick us back up and bring us to the motorhome. If she doesn't have a booking on Monday we can even have a late check out. By this point we're all very sweaty and hungry so we take her advice and head to the supermarket for an emergency picnic then find some shade in the local park.

As far as places to get stranded Oostende isn't too bad. After food the kids find the play park and within minutes have made friends. The weather is now at a manageable temperature so we suggest to them that we pack up and head to the beach. As we're heading back I realise we've got no way to charge our devices as we don't have an EU adapter 😬. We pass an Aldi and wonder if their version of 'middle of Lidl' might have something. Sadly not but that A level french of mine helps out again as I'm able to get directions from one of the staff to the local version of a Robert Dyers where we could spend €12 getting an adapter or just spend €6 on an EU USB charger.

We're now fully functional for the next three nights except perhaps for some beach toys but we'll worry about that tomorrow. The kids jump into their swimmers and we head off for the beach. I have to say this could be one of the biggest beaches we've been to. It is heaving with people but thankfully it's so big that's not a problem and within minutes of arriving both kids are straight in the sea so for the next couple of hours we can relax and just enjoy what we've got.

The walk back to the apartment was not as straight forward with Liliya complaining her feet were hurting because she had sand in her shoes but we promised the kids we'd return tomorrow and enjoy a whole day down at the beach. We could have got showered and headed back into the town for a fancy birthday meal but it was pretty late and we were all tired so Al cooked us a nice chicken pesto pasta dish and we had the mini cakes to finish on the balcony and sung happy birthday. With the kids finally in bed there was just enough time for a couple of those cherry beers for Al and a premixed (but rather strong!) cocktail for me.