Day 2 - 03 Aug 2009, breakdown in Belgium, and a stop over in Germany

Day two - 03 August

Breakdown in Belgium: the truck has a water leak, so we are off to find the nearest Skania garage. We end up in an anonymous Belgian village in Flemish country. It is notable how the Belgian architecture of houses is very much more individualistic and quirky than in the UK, where new houses tend to be built en masse by a single developer using the same design for each house. However, this town seemed to be a main road with randomly distributed shops and commercial outlets without any centre or identity.

A group of us go for lunch and then sit down on the grass outside the Skania garage playing cards and me strumming the guitar. The day's weather is the first of many sunny days to come.















Clockwise from left:
Little John (67”)
Gaz: Kenyan born / Brit sporty public school type, worked in city for KPMG
Rhiannon, the babe of this group, age 22
Hughie, the impenetrable Irishman with a degree in Physics and a commiserate inability to spell
Dave, Bath Uni architectural student from Wales, but no Welsh accent
Belgian Sam, our translator through Europe

We finally set off at about 3pm until we reach Germany where we ‘bush camp’ in a farmer’s field. The farmer comes out to investigate, but is welcoming after his initial state of bafflement.

I sleep on the roof of the truck as the ground is a bit spiky.

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