After we visited Dusseldorf, Germany we headed west and quickly agreed that we could not go through Netherlands and not visit our Dutch family in Limburg in the very south of the country.

We found a lovely welcoming site a short distance from Puth, Netherlands. It was just what we needed, sheltered mid-sized site with all the facilities we needed (and more!) plus we were the only non-dutch visitors… which we always love.

As usual, the we received a warm welcome from the site manager and the locals sat having an afternoon tipple outside the bar. We did the formalities and then found a pleasant spot and pitched up for the night.

A branch of our Dutch family, Puth, Netherlands

The following evening we had been invited to have dinner with Bjorn, Els, Max and Pim so we decided to make the most of the day and visit Maastrict as it was so close.

Thorn, Netherlands

We have been taken to Maastrict before and had really fond memories of the place. Our memories were not let down by our repeat visit. The place is steeped in history and just has such a nice feel about it. We did our usual aimless stroll around the city streets occasionally coming across somewhere we have been before. Needless to say, we loved the visit.

Maastrict, Netherlands

Soon enough it was time to head on towards Puth and the lovely dinner that awaited us. We couldn’t turn up empty handed so picked up a cherry flan and ice cream as we knew both would be a hit with the family. No surprise, but we had a great evening with them, they are always so welcoming! We talked the afternoon and evening away all too quickly and then it was time to leave them to prepare for the week ahead and we headed on to our stopover point less than a couple of miles down the road. A short but wonderful visit to the Netherlands.

On our way out of Puth the following day we dropped in to another village that we had visited before, Thorn - or the White City. For anyone that is in this area, this is a stunning jewel, around the waterways and right on the border with Belgium. In fact, during our cycle around, we took a wrong turn and released that we had, in fact, ended up crossing the border! The number plates on the cars soon gave that away.

Again, all too soon, it was time to be on the move again with our destination being another familiar (and free) stopover in France.