Delft – Dordrecht via Schipol Airport

Today was Helen & Andrew's last day of visiting, and it didn't start well. Torrential rains from about 4am coupled with a big thunderstorm meant that they had had another interrupted night's sleep, everything was a bit boggy (there was some concern about getting the van off the pitch) and everything had to be packed up in the rain.

It also meant that we couldn't make a brew or anything in our current state (we now have gas but still no inside plumbing) because it was too wet to cook outside!

So, Helen & Andrew got themselves packed up – wearing the fetching Paris Marathon ponchos – and we went out for 'breakfast' (it was gone 11am) – to Ikea! Well, you know – it was just up the road and we knew that they do really good value food. Infact, in the Rough Guide to Sweden it even says that if you are looking for good value food you can't go far wrong if you go to Ikea restaurants!

It's true as well. We had 4 main courses (meatballs and chips or chicken kebab, veg & chips) and 4 coffees and it was €20 – and it was nice. Can you go wrong?

Of course their clever trick is directing you to the exit through the store, but I managed to resist buying anything, although it was a close call!

After brunch we went to The Hague. It was close and we thought we should – and thought that it might be quite nice/interesting. It wasn't really. There's not so much to see – it's more of a businessy place I suppose, lots of offices and that sort of thing – it's not so attractive as some of the towns we have visited, the one museum we might have gone in was closed on Mondays – you know, all that sort of thing. There are some cool modern buildings there though – really nice in fact. I think I said that already as well – the Dutch have some amazing modern architecture, really striking.

So. After wandering about the shops, Helen buying us a big umbrella (to be kept in the van and no doubt used often) and the final sticker required for the magic table, failing to find a pancake shop and getting a bit bored, we decided to leave. Our intention was to go to Leiden on the way to the airport – which we did – but we stopped at the seaside on the way. Only for 30 minutes, but it was enough for a quick walk on the beach, a tiny paddle in the (North) sea and a face full of sand: it was very windy down there!

Leiden then. Sounded like a nice place in the book, and from what we saw (which was very little in the end) it seemed more like what we had seen in other places and liked – canals, tall houses, etc. What happened though was that we got to the main meeting square (described in the Rough Guide as “ugly” but actually was rather attractive – maybe they were there in the rain or with a hangover or something?) and straight away we spotted a pancake house! Well, I have been going on about having pancakes for a while now, so we couldn't not go in.

Blimey. You would have thought that one pancake surely couldn't be enough – but even Andrew, who could eat for England, was struggling to finish! Of course we all did finish, but it was an effort. They were lovely though – I had a savoury one (bacon, cheese & apple) which I split with Jon who got a sweet one (apple, cinnamon icecream and cream), Helen had something with Grand Marnier, and Andrew had cherries, ice-cream, cream and half a bag of icing sugar. They were amazing, and totally perfect – exactly what we had been looking for!

We waddled out of there and on the way back to the van I spotted a hardware store on the other side of the road where I thought there was potential for some gas hose purchasing. Jon was totally dismissive of the idea, but the other 2 were all for having a look, so we went in. After waving the old bit of pipe at the chap behind the counter and confirming that it was for butane and that we only wanted the same length again (he asked “how many metres” but it's only about 30cm long!), which he seemed to find quite amusing, he went away and came back with just the thing – all for €1.40! Perfect. We like Leiden!

Then we were on our way out of there for the final stretch of motorway up to the airport.

We made it in good time and dropped H&A off for their flight home.

As you can see, they looked gutted to be going home – despite having to sleep in the tent (there were complaints about the ground being too hard), and the rain, they both said they enjoyed themselves and would definitely have carried on for longer if the option had been there. We enjoyed having them to stay also, it was lots of fun! Cheers guys. :)

Then it was just us again, so we drove back south, passed Delft and on to Dordrecht and a small campsite in a nature park, next to a youth hostel. Jon has fixed the new gas pipe onto the various fittings and we can't smell gas – which is a good start – but we will be switching the gas off at bedtime until we are sure it's OK. Good to have everything back together though and the option to cook indoors again – and, not having to rely on sites with electricity again, as we can now run the fridge on gas if we need to.

Relaxing tonight, although can't believe we only have 4 days left – current plan is to be home Friday night! Where did all the time go?