Huis aan de Rots Terblijt

... section which was through a separate set of glass doors. I sat down and had a pipe while I drank my water. Shortly after this I was joined by a couple who sat across from me and struck up a conversation (I think it was Dutch). I stoked another pipe and, not knowing the protocol in a coffee shop I did what we do in the UK - if you are smoking with peeps u don't know, pass it round. Both abstained (pipes are notoriously unpopular but I hate tobacco ...

... to be similar to yesterday (when there was a persistent drizzle for much of the day) however when it started to get harder I thought it was settling in and with a fair breeze out there too I thought, "It'll take a miracle for meto get to Maastricht today."
Well if you were my mother then you will say that a miracle is exactly what I got (I just hope that this is coming around not going around if u catch my drift), moving the stuff out to the bike there was ...

... get one either in Ghana or in Europe. I attempted to get one in Ghana, but there was a huge line of visa agents, each holding about 20 passports, and the line there never moved - I later found out that many people had been queueing there for weeks to get visas. Eventually I gave up and decided to get a visa and pay the express fee in Europe somewhere. Upon arrival in Berlin I went straight to the Chinese embassy there and, after the most frustrating, and yet also most comical ...

... left Holland to avoid going to work in the mines and after experiencing the working conditions these coal miners were exposed to every day we can understand why.
On Sunday we relaxed for the day; Whitney went with Maud and Peter to ride the horse whileI stayed home with the boys and played ps3 and soccer on the trampoline. :) Renee and his wife Ricarda came over for a visit during the day and we met their son Tim. That evening we went to the ...

During our stay in Spa we had the most scary, horrible, unpleasant experience ever in a restaurant.

The restaurant to avoid is "Le Bouchon Gourmand", the owner does not hesitate to insult customers, lock them into the restaurant if there is a dispute on the bill, and claim more money than is due.

See more on www.bouchon-gourmand.blogspot.com

After popping into and out of Germany, we were now back in Belgium. It was beginning to get a bit dark, and we still had at least 200 miles left to drive.

Gaz's motor was struggling, and threatening to overheat, so we stopped to let it cool down.

With the vehicles all decorated with stickers, we attracted a bit of attention, and a Belgian couple took our ...

... on.

We stopped at one point, because the roadbook wasn't very clear, at which point Gaz and Charlotte came up behind us. They had been left behind by the V8s, as they were in a Series vehicle, so we said we'd stick with them.
At this point, Kieran noticed a strange noise from our engine, which was duly investigated by James. It was diagnosed as the fan belt tensioning pulley. But we didn't do anything about it at the time.

... are getting really good at asking random strangers for directions using non verbal communication LOL !!! we had fun getting to our hotel which turned out to be really nice. WE have a private hotel room and our own shower YAY! last night we were just soo tired that we walke to the market and found some food and then called it an early night Today, we got up and headed to town... we saw the treasury of ...

... small cursory road sign confirmed we had crossed into Belgium. It was an absolute pleasure to ride along the flat bike lanes attached to each and every road, a far cry from the stress and angst of riding alongside vehicle traffic in Australia, and we kept going for a good 25km or so to the town of Genk.

Genk itself was a fairly non-descript place, but when in a local supermarket we were each able to ...

Dit is de start van een nieuw leven! Een jaar lang weg uit de omgeving die voor mij gedurende 18 jaar zo bekend is geworden. Die bekende omgeving ga ik nu verlaten en ga nieuwe horizonten opzoeken. Spannend? Eng? Ik denk een beetje van beiden. Maar dat wil niet zeggen dat ik het niet meer zie zitten.

De laatste dagen zijn hier wel wat vreemd geweest, de dag komt ook zo dichtbij. Afscheidsfeestje is geweest voor vrienden en familie. Want ik ga ...