In Bruges

29-30 May 2014

Why does it always take us so long to prepare for a trip? No matter how soon we start the process, we always seem to be up late the night before scrabbling around to get things ready! But no matter, once we are on our way, we forget all that. We had an uneventful journey to the Channel Tunnel (thank you M25!) but there was a delay in our 12:50 departure, due to earlier cancellations. The wonder of the Channel Tunnel continues to amaze me; first, the slick boarding process and then the journey itself. There's barely time to eat your sandwiches and have a cup of coffee while hurtling under the English Channel before emerging in France 35 minutes later.

The journey to Bruges on the E40 motorway was straightforward; a new roundabout near the station confused us a little (note: follow the signs to Zentrum, which leads to the N9) but otherwise Camping Memling was easy to find, situated at the end of a quiet, residential area. NB you have to park on the road until you have checked in. We had booked a hardstanding motorcaravan pitch, but it would have been wiser to have chosen a grass pitch, which are twice as large (80m2 compared to 35m2) for only an additional 2 Euros. There is barely enough room for an awning between one motorcaravan and the next.

We are definitely spoiled by our excellent Caravan Club and Camping and Caravanning Club Sites, with their minimum of 20 feet between units. The hardstanding pitches are also located under trees, so if you don't like to be in the shade, they are not for you. However, we are only here for two nights so it's not a disaster and the toilet and shower facilities, which appear quite new, are excellent.  Overall opinion, convenient for Bruges, but a bit claustrophobic.

www.campingmemling.be

Friday was a lovely day, warm with sunny intervals. We decided to take the bus into Bruges, the bus stop is just a five minute walk from the site. We hadn't realised that it is a bank holiday weekend, so the city was rather busy and the market square was in a state of chaos as grandstands, presumably used for yesterday's Procession of the Holy Blood, were dismantled. The plan was to go into the Belfort belfry (83m) and climb the 366 steps for the wonderful views across the city and beyond. However, 10:00 am was not sufficiently early to beat the queue and, as visitor numbers are limited to 70 at once, we reluctantly gave it a miss. We admired the medieval style step-gabled buildings in the Markt area, then the ornate buildings of Brugse Vrije, Stadhuis and Heilig-Bloedbasiliek.

It is here where a phial, supposedly containing a few drops of Christ's blood is kept and on Ascension Day the phial is mounted on a jewel-studded reliquary for Bruge's biggest annual parade, the Heilig-Bloedprocessie. The cafe 't Klein Venetie offers a fine view of one of the canals

and we enjoyed a tasty fixed-price three course lunch at Restaurant 't Minnewater, to the sound of the many horse drawn carriages passing by. A walk through the Begijnhof, whose residents include a convent of Bendictine nuns, is tranquil, in complete contrast to the bustle of the rest of the city. 

By mid afternoon we were beginning to flag so found the appropriate bus stop to get us back to the campsite for a bit of relaxation.