Posts From Netherlands

Yesterday we started the 700 km haul to Amsterdam. It was an uneventful and somewhat boring day of driving German motorways and by the end we had covered 450 km. We spent the night at another truck stop near the town of Osnabruck perhaps 50 kms from the German/Dutch border.

Yesterday (Sat 15th) we made the trek into Amsterdam for some sightseeing. The travel was a bit of a chore as we had a 1 mile walk to a bus stop and a 40 minute bus ride to get to Amsterdam central station. We have not visited this city since 1976/77 and unfortunately in that time memories have faded a bit so today was a bit like visiting a new city.

We spent much of the day with Erik discussing various aspects of our truck and trucks in general. Towards the end of the day Erik led us to a local supplier of truck seats where we chose two new seats for our yellow beast. They will be ready (we hope) in about 6 weeks. Some time before then we will drop the truck back at Erik's place where they will be installed.

Yesterday (Tues 18th) was devoted to a short family get together. Nina's sister Donna and her husband Chris (plus their friends Max and Karen) were in town for a couple of days at the start of a boat trip from Amsterdam to Budapest. Thus we spent much of the day with them sightseeing (with somewhat of a focus on the red light district, at least in the photographs) and then a very interesting canal cruise with dinner in the evening.

Yesterday evening we caught the ferry from Harwich to "Hook of Holland", it was entirely uneventful and a comfortable cabin afforded us a good nights sleep. From the ferry we had a drive of a few hours to Erik's house (Erik is the man behind adventure-trucks.com) where we are leaving the truck while we are in Ireland. Thereafter a taxi to a hotel at Eindhoven airport. There were only two surprises in the day. The first was the cold. It was between 3 and 4°C, definitely a sign that winter is on the way. The second was that Arno (Erik's parter in Expedition-Trucks was at Erik's place. We met Arno in Greece in early 2014 after corresponding with him during our 2013 Iran adventure.

We flew into Amsterdam last night and stayed in an airport hotel to allow some of the jet-lag to wash away and then this morning took a train to Eindhoven and taxi to our friend Erik's place (the power behind adventure-trucks.com) in the little village of Sint-Michielsgestel where our yellow GXV has been stored for more than a year.

Today marked the end of the long trek from the south and while we are not yet in Zeebrugge the long driving is over and now we start concentrating on preparing the vehicle for shipping. One aspect of that preparation is the repair of an oil leak in the left rear axle hub. This started a few weeks ago and needs to be fixed before we get to the port as the shippers will not accept a vehicle with visible oil leaks. So we are back in the Eindhoven area as Erik at Adventure Trucks has arrange for the fix to be done at a local truck repair. However we arrived in the area a day early and decided to stay in another aires for two nights and spend some of that time repacking the junk that has accumulated over the 4 years since the truck was last at our house.

As well as the repacking some sightseeing of Eindhoven and the area around our parking lot was on the agenda. Of course no photos of the repacking only the sightseeing. The Dutch are into bicycles like no other country we have ever visited. The photos of the bicycle parking lot is astounding but very common. On our walk around the town Nina noticed many outdoor markets selling cloth in bulk and commented that with all this cloth for sale there must be a lot of people (presumably mostly women) making clothes. Something that was common in our childhood but rare now, at least where we come from.

This morning we dropped into the truck repair place in Sint Michielsgestel and hung around for a few hours while the left rear hub was partly dismantled. Sure enough the outer oil seal was leaking. So new parts are required and that means an overnight (at least) stay in a hotel is required. Erik helped us find a place in a local town ... wait for it 's-Hertogenbosh. Thats where we are tonight.

You would be excused for being a bit perplexed by the strange mixture of photographs in todays posting. The image of a painting with all the folks seeming to have a good (but not virtuous) time is included because a print of this painting was on the wall of our hotel near the elevator on our floor. It happens to be The Garden of Earthly Delights, by Jheronimus Bosch. You might be interested to know (or maybe you already do know) that this is part of 3 painting fold-out called a triptych. This particular painting was the middle image of the triptych. The left panel depicts Adam and Eve (before their sins) and the right panel depicts the tortures of damnation. As a complete change of pace the photos of the truck show the left hub with wheel and brakes removed and oil leaking from the offending seal.