De Haan (Bruges and Ostend)

Autumn is certainly in full swing with high winds and lots of heavy rain showers. We have got wet a lot in the past week.

Bruges is not surprisingly a tourist trap. It has lots of pretty buildings to look at. It you like chocolate leave your money at home as every other shop sells expensive chocolates. I succumbed and bought a bar of chocolate. In fact the diet was totally ruined as I also tried a marshmallow on a meringue base which was covered in chocolate and the pièce de résistance was a white hot chocolate in a cafe that sold 30 types of hot chocolate. I did (with John’s help) say no to a Belgium waffle covered in chocolate.

Belgium has a tram that runs the length of its coast and you can get a day pass for €6, so we had a day of riding the tram and looking at places, we looked at Zeebrugge, a big commercial port and decided to stay on the tram. Knokke-Heist, a medium sized seaside resort with high rise along the front. Here my mum would be proud of me as we actually looked in some shops. Well it was pouring down. And Ostend is know for it’s long beaches and promenade so we duly walked the prom in a howling gale but the rain was good to us and stayed away.

De Haan, where we stayed, is like any small seaside resort, but being Belgium, the cafe we visited did a very light Belgian waffle. The campsite was eye-wateringly expensive at €20. We have paid more but not for a scrappy bit of concrete, dismal showers block and clean and grey water on the pitch and nothing else.