Early autumn holiday, 20 September 2024

Blégny-Mine, Belgiium

A long day driving across Belgium. We set off at about 10:00 am; our first port of call was the Auchan at Grande-Synthe, just outside Dunkerque. The Sat-Nav took us via the back roads, which was lovely - we allowed it to, because we knew we would have a lot of motorways later on. That was thoroughly enjoyable.

I did a shopping in the Auchan, which to my annoyance was out of all the Lipton's black tea varieties, just empty spaces on the shelves where they should have been. So no agrumes! I have bought some Earl Grey, which I like, and will have that or Lady Grey in the afternoons instead.

Lunch, parked up in a random services somewhere in Belgium, was rather later than we intended, because there was a contraflow due to roadworks and we thought we needed to stay in the right hand lane, not realising that this was now solely an exit. So we drove for several miles on N roads, which made a pleasant change from the motorway, but by the time we go back on to the motorway, the services where we had planned to stop were behind us, and the next ones were another 15 minutes or so away. The Swan Whisperer had mentioned going to Strépy-Thieux for lunch, but I'm glad we decided against that, as it was quite a long way on from where we did stop!

After which, it was only another 2 hours to Blégny-Mine, where we have stopped before. The aire is free, including services, although you do pay for electricity if you want it. The Swan Whisperer went for a walk, and I did as much of the tai chi form I could remember (despite watching a video of the form, I still had trouble remembering!). Then I sat and read until the SW came back, and then came inside as I was getting chilly, and there was cider in the fridge calling my name! In a moment I'm going to get supper.