Well folks, we had breakfast in Belgium, lunch in Holland and dinner in Germany! We got the 6.36 train from Antwerp (it had stopped raining which made for a dry trip to the station) and arrived in Amsterdam, just under 2.5 hours later, having changed trains at Rotterdam. Our phones and Internet/GPS connections do funny things on the high speed trains, there must be some sort of signal blocking but we did manage a few munzees along the way. We put our luggage into storage lockers in Amsterdam and then walked around the canals, roads and alleyways capping virtual munzees all the way. One had to be careful which cafe’s one stopped in front of, the odour of pot wafting out could be quite strong!!!

One of the interesting sights today was a canal dredge pulling dumped bicycles out of the mud and sludge at the bottom of the canal. He was doing very well at it, obviously lots of the thousands around the place end up in a watery grave!

We retrieved our luggage and made the train just in time, we seem to have to hurry up for them often, but we did the same last year, so it’s an old trend, lol.
We had to change trains twice more, so that was 5 trains we managed today, in 11 hours total, which included the 3.5 hour stop in Amsterdam.

Once in Paderborn our first task was to find a Telekom shop and get ourselves a German phone card solely for data, and at 10 euros for 250 Mb and then shaping it’s the best way of doing it. Had dinner, capped a few virtual and physical munzees and dropped off the rovers yet again. Anyway, we want an early start in the morning as it’s nice to hunt when there aren’t many people around, the only thing it’s 21.30 already, and seems so wrong to be going to sleep whilst it’s still light out. But sleep we must!!!

One thing I forgot to mention about yesterday was the tram conductor on our first tram wasn’t interested in taking our fares, lol, she just said she didn’t want it!

Rather an overcast look to the sky this morning, when we finally left the hotel. We hadn’t gone to sleep until just after 11 pm, so didn’t get up until late as well. Caught the 9 am train to Rotterdam, which was just over an hour north of Antwerp. Had a quick brunch at the station and then caught a tram out to Het Park which had a nice collection of virtual munzees around and through it. Lovely park, flower beds as well as lightly wooded areas and an escaped parrot or 2. We caught the tram back to the main station and then back on the train to Antwerp. These Europeans are so lucky, they have a great rail network and can get around so fast and easily, all places are accessible and relatively close!
We got off the train in Antwerp to discover it was raining and had been for a little while. Not heavy, but just enough of a drizzle to need a modicum of protection. We had a kebab in an interesting pocket of some bread like substance, it was delicious! Back at the hotel we have been sorting out bits and pieces, munzees & trips, and watching the rain. Here’s hoping Amsterdam is drier tomorrow.

Got another early start, left our room at 6.15 and walked down to St Pancras International to catch the 8.04 Eurostar to Brussels. We were more than a little early, but we were a bit paranoid about this bit as we looked at the arrival time on the ticket last year rather than departure and completely missed the train!!

After a couple of hours and an hours time change, we caught another train to Antwerp. Our hotel had upgraded us to their sister 4 star hotel so we trundled around the plaza to get there. This year there is a ferris wheel in the plaza, last year it was a large blow-up dinosaur that you walked through to see all its innards, lol.

We had a strategy session and then started walking, lots of walking, not much sitting and not as many munzees as the previous days, but still a substantial amount for an afternoon and another 15 kms.

One of the interesting things about munzeeing is that you walk through some fascinating streets and see all sorts of things, however, I think one of today’s street will be hard to top in the ‘keep walking and don’t stop’ category. We looked up from our phones to discover we had walked into the red-light district of Antwerp. Ladies wearing not much at all, posing in windows and even opening doors and posturing on the pavement, and men walking up and down perusing them. We kept eyes down and walked fast, definitely an eye-opener, lol. We will see where tomorrow takes us.

Today we actually managed a bit of touristy sightseeing along with the munzee hunting. Started off in Green Park, then on to Buckingham Palace, down through St James Park and then Westminster Abbey capping all the way. Next was Big Ben, Houses of Parliament and London Bridge, still capping. Along the Thames to the London Eye (which is enormous) and then back over the Thames on one of the Golden Jubilee bridges. Then Trafalgar Square and the giant blue rooster on the fourth plinth. Caught the Underground back to the hotel, getting a very nice lunch from Sainsburys on the way past. A bit of a rest, then caught the Underground to Clapham Common and capped a few more munzees, lol. We caught the train again to Sloane Square and walked down to the Chelsea Embankment Almost every light situated on the wall had a magnetic munzee attached. It was gone 8 before we finished, so a bus and a couple of trains back to our room, picking up a burger dinner on the way. In all we managed around 3800 each over the 2 days, which is a lot! Photos will be coming as soon as I can get a few minutes to get them off the camera.

Up early as usual, let out the dogs, had the door key this time, and let out the chooks for their early morning foraging. We packed and loaded the car early, said our goodbyes to our great hosts, who all went back to bed, lol. We had had a wonderful little hiatus, but now the serious stuff was about to start. Today was the first day of the new clan war and we are determined to do well.

However, first we had to get to Heathrow to return the car. The motorway was relatively quiet being a Sunday, so it took a couple of hours, basically this trip we did the whole circuit of the M25 around London! Finding our way to the hire car area involved a detour or two including finding a petrol station to fill up at. Lol, not quite lost just confused.

Hopped on the free bus provided to get back to the terminals, and caught the Underground to Kings Cross which was about an hour. Trundled our way through the streets to the hotel and were allowed to check into our room a little early at 12, so that was great. We the walked over to Regent’s Park and Primrose Hill and walked and sat and capped and walked and sat and capped and walked and sat and capped until it was dark, 22.07 was our last cap in that area.

We then had a long walk back to the hotel, taking a little detour to see if we could find a cache, we didn’t. Stopped at a chicken place for a burger, they had run out of rolls so it was going to be pitta bread. However when we got back to our room, all they had given us was the chicken!!!! Had dinner at 10.30, asleep by 11.30, and walked 17 kms.

Another rather lazy day, didn’t do much early on. I did get up early, but didn’t know where the key was to open the back door, so the dogs had to stay in until Billy got up. After that I let all the chooks out (well all except the lot I didn’t know about!) Cathy breeds bantams and has lots of really pretty chooks running around the place.
Helen, Cathy, Billy & I (and Tawny) then went off geocaching for a while, doing a couple of church based ones.
From there we went to the Prince of Wales pub for lunch with Jessica & Keith and Judith (Cathy’s mother-in-law), lovely meal and great company.
After a quiet afternoon we then went down to Jess’s for a game of scrabble and cards and a light snack. A bit of a chat and blog writing and now off to bed. London tomorrow!

Today is a day for doing nothing much, a rest before our next 3.5 weeks of full on munzee hunting.
Waking to the sound of many roosters crowing was great, and then I stayed in bed and read a proper book, from now on it’ll be e-books.
Breakfast and helped with a few chores, and then went to visit Aunt Jessica and Keith for lunch. They are now living in a renovated cottage on the farm with Cathy & Philip so it’s great to have them all in one place, rather than that really long drive north to visit!
After lunch Helen, Billy (C&P’s son, so our 1st cousin once removed), and I did a little geocaching. Found 5 out of 7, so that was really good. Having dinner with Jess & Keith this evening and then taking Cathy & Billy out caching tomorrow as long as the predicted rain isn’t too bad! It’s quite sunny at the moment, but the clouds are building up.

Okay, let’s get some photos on here

Hamworthy Park

Christchurch

Southend-On-Sea