Day Seventy Nine Thursday 6th October

Last posting from foreign lands - well, foreign seas to be exact because we are already aboard the ferry at Hook of Holland.

It has been a lovely last day. Woke to a beautiful, bright, chilly Autumn morning, and we could have been on the Norfolk Broads. (I have to make a correction to yesterday's posting; we are beside the River Ijssel, not a canal). It is a splendid site.

Gouda, halfway between Ijsselstein and the ferry port, was the obvious choice for a last day of exploring, and proved to be an excellent one. It is like a mini Amsterdam, really lovely. We found ourselves in the old centre very quickly, all one way roads beside canals, and decided to park in one of the canal side parking spaces. I vetoed the first one Geoff wanted to go for - very,very close to the edge of the canal with no barrier at all, and we found one with a little bit more room to manoeuvre, but not much! The parking fee was gulp-making, but it was very convenient, and our last day! The meter refused two of our cards, but happily accepted the third. No idea why.

It was a short walk along the canal and down a narrow, picturesque lane of interesting shops to the Markt, with the rather ornate Town Hall in its centre. It was market day too. We first checked out a place Geoff had discovered online, where we fancied having a late lunch, of which more later. Then St Johannes Kirke, which was like a Tardis, and is particularly famed for its stained glass windows. It apparently has over half the surviving 16th century stained glass in the Netherlands.

From there we returned to the other side of the Markt, to the Cheese Museum. Here we had our own "guides" on each of two floors in what was originally built as a warehouse in the 17th century, climbing up two long spiral staircases. We learnt how Gouda cheeses are made, and saw all sorts of cheese making paraphernalia . Of course they were selling cheese, and yes, of course, we bought supplies. This tastes nothing like the Gouda Cheese available in England. One is a Goat's cheese, and there are others at various stages of maturity.

The lady guide, being rather disloyal, had told us about the best other place to buy cheese. We found that one, of course, and it was amazing. We were getting a bit peckish by now, so tasting all the cheeses available was very pleasurable. We had to find a basket to collect the ones we wanted, and the choice was difficult. We got chatting to the lady in charge - manager or owner, not sure, but she referred to' my cheese'' - and it transpired that her parents-in-law live in the same very small village in West Sussex as James and Natalie! Small world!

Then it was time to eat properly! so we decided to leave the town museum, with its Erasmus exhibition, for another time. The little Indonesian place was a real find. It is a shop, selling all sorts of Indonesian ingredients, and also ready cooked Indonesian dishes. It also has a nicely laid out table which can seat up to six in the window so that you can eat there. There were lots of different meat and vegetable dishes to choose from, and we had the set price meal - two meat and two veg dishes with rice. It was all very tasty indeed.

Strolling back to the Campervan we agreed that this was a place we would be happy to revisit.
An hour's drive along the now familiar horrendously busy A20 and we were at the Hook of Holland by 5.30, very early for check-in which wasn't scheduled to open until 7.30, but happy to be in position and make ourselves comfortable in the Camper with a cup of tea. We were then taken by surprise when they opened the check-in at 6.30, and by 7.30 we were all aboard and settled in our cabin. Which even has a double bed!

With so much unexpected time here, we grabbed the DVD player to bring on board with us in case we fancy an episode or two of Mad Men.