Discovering home and beyond

When we started this trip, I was terrified. Terrified of how expensive this multi-week trip might turn out to be. Travelling in Belgium and The Netherlands meant, not going to very remote places and not being able to wild camp. With wild camping being forbidden in both countries and our tent being bright orange we didn’t have much hope of hiding away somewhere. Luckily, when we arrived at most camping’s in autumn with a tiny tent and grey skies above, people turned out to be very hospitable and camping prices pretty doable (10€ – 17,5€ per night for 2 people). Our bikes found a dry spot in a shed or a barn most of the nights and in the evenings, we could join them to cook a meal. To our surprise it was much easier to find a cheap and cosy camping in The Netherlands than in Belgium. While we in Belgium mostly ended up pitching our tent in the shadow of a trailer, we nearly always had a nice grass field to pitch our tent in The Netherlands. We even regularly got ourselves some free eggs for breakfast and a night cap (‘Kruidenbitter’) to end the day.

Even though it’s one of the closest provinces to Belgium, riding the Trans Euro Trail (TET) in North-Brabant was definitely a highlight of this trip. The trail is hardly interrupted by any roads and takes you along heather, through forests, into deep sand, slithers into mud and places small benches along the way in case you are ready to have some lunch. There should even be a river crossing, but after a very dry summer we sadly didn’t find any water there. Anyhow, I won’t bother you with this any longer. For the off-road riders and TET-riders among you, I will make sure to write a separate blog highlighting my favourite parts of the trails.

This was also the first time the Honda CRF250l and I joined forces on a longer trip. Let me start with the biggest surprise: I didn’t drop the bike once! Honestly, as you could read in my blog ‘The art of falling’, I am no stranger to hitting the ground. I’ve dropped by bikes since I started riding and will probably continue to do so. However, with the CRF being so light and nimble, life suddenly became more playful. I dare to pick up speed when riding through deep sand, I am not afraid to take muddy and sandy corners a little faster and even when I slip into the bushes the bike and I somehow manage to stay up right. A sandy hill climb, something I would have never been able to do with my r850gs and maybe would even have been too afraid to try, now just turned out to be heaps of fun. Actually, everything was heaps of fun. Except maybe trying to fit all our gear in our small 2-person lightweight hiking tent, but with a small budget and an appetite for discomfort, nearly everything is possible. When I think about it, our trips are nearly always trying, rainy, muddy and pretty uncomfortable, but somehow, I always forget about that part. While riding in the rain through The Netherlands we were already longing to hike The Cape Wrath trail in Scotland again next year. The trail (literally) nearly drowned me when I was swept away in a river during a storm (‘A storm of fear’), but there is nothing more that I want than to enter back into those remote landscapes carrying my tent and sleeping bag. I love having all the comforts of home, but I truly thrive and feel alive without them.