Hilarity100

It's our last day and we're currently driving towards Calais to board the ferry that will take us back to the UK (where the hilarity shall officially end). But as we were just beetling across Belgium we saw a turn-off from the motor-way for none other than Plopsaland. Much excitement erupted in the car, originating mainly from myself.

Some of you may remember Plopsaland from earlier in the trip. I certainly do.

So yes, the excitement built as we followed the signs and, sure enough, we arrived at the shiny gates of the promised Plopsaland.

Matt arrives at his happiest place on Earth

...and still finds it unnaturally hysterical.

Now I officially feel that the Hilarity has reach a natural end. I've achieved all that I came here to do. Good times.

Posted by Matt at 1:08 PM | Permalink | Comments (3) | TrackBacks (0)

We're on our last full day here in Bruges, Belgium enjoying the waffles, beer and frites. Tomorrow (Sunday) we pile back into the car and drive to Calais, catch a ferry across the Channel to Dover, then drive back to London, where we'll officially end the hundred days of hilarity.

In case you're wondering where we've been, we've made a helpful map showing our merry path across Europe. The little dots indicate places we stayed, and everything's divided up by colour:

• Green lines and dots are for everyone travelling together;
• Red lines and dots are for Mot and Ness;
• Blue lines are for Matt and Si (with bonus guests Steve and Loren since Lyon, France).

Check out the map and marvel at the silly back-tracking Matt and I did around Germany.

Posted by Si at 6:20 PM | Permalink | Comments (1) | TrackBacks (0)

Posted by Ness at 1:35 PM | Permalink | Comments (3)

While we were in Stockholm we ran into some Belgians who gave us a shortlist (which was actually a long list) of beers to try while we were in Belgium.

With this in mind, we started taking photos of every different beer we tried in Belgium, then kinda forgot to stop as we moved on through the Netherlands and Germany.

We'll post the list of beers (and our progress through it) on here soon but in the meantime, you can check out our gallery of beers to get a taste of the selection.

Posted by Si at 6:11 PM | Permalink | Comments (3) | TrackBacks (0)

Staying in a tent has been fun (not to mention cheap, oh-so cheap) but when the sky over Antwerp starts throwing high velocity ice at you, the hostel option seems to be the logical decision.

Posted by Matt at 9:36 PM | Permalink | Comments (5) | TrackBacks (0)

It may be just me, but come on - a theme park called Plopsaland?!

I've been told that I find that name unhealthily entertaining.

Posted by Matt at 9:39 PM | Permalink | Comments (4) | TrackBacks (0)

When Brussels was hosting the 1958 World's Fair they decided to take your everyday iron body-centred cubic crystal and scale it up by a factor of about 165 billion. This left it big enough to house a number of rooms, crowds of people and generous quantities of 50's design. I like their thinking.

Posted by Matt at 12:05 PM | Permalink | Comments (4) | TrackBacks (0)

The demise of Cranky the Townace has certainly been well documented on this site, and we're now back touring around in a Ford Modeo, but there is still one last loose end to tie up. What to do with the keys to the townie.

Continue reading "One last post about Cranky*" »

Posted by Matt at 12:50 PM | Permalink | Comments (3) | TrackBacks (0)

Camera ready. Head down. Start pedalling. Snap!

Posted by Ness at 12:16 PM | Permalink | TrackBacks (0)

An early start was required to get from Brussels to Liege given the 117km distance (although that does include a few small circles to find a suitable bakery for lunch).

We've come to the conclusion that a lot of the large cities in Belgium are in fact holes. Both Brussels and Liege feature steep descents into the city centre and then big climbs back out the other side. Admittedly Brugge isn't in a hole but as the door-to-door-door-salesman we met at lunch said, "Brugge isn't really part of Belgium - it's just a town created for the tourists".

Posted by at 12:14 PM | Permalink | Comments (1) | TrackBacks (0)

Sometime in the fifteen hundreds the main church in Antwrp had a "everything must be chucked outside" sale when it was changing hands. A passing publican spotted all the catholic icons sitting about and suddenly realised how he could jazz-up the rather boring pub he was running right next-door to the church.

Described in the tour guide as having religious figures from "knee-high to the ceiling" I demanded that Simon and I go to "T Elfde Gebod" for a beverage. Hence the shot of myself sharing a drink with St John the Baptist. He's a great drinking buddy but I don't actually recall St Jay buying a round when it was his turn. But we'll forgive him because a couple icons over he was standing about minus his head.

And I'm very sad to report that my personal favourite - all time most entertaining - saint was unfortunately absent from the pub. My life-long dream of buying St Sebastian a pint remains unfulfilled.

Posted by Matt at 12:12 PM | Permalink | TrackBacks (0)

We made our way to Brugge, and from there we rode to Brussels (because Ness had to find out if that is where the sprouts come from). We are yet to spot the sprouts, however we did find that waffles make a fantastic substitute. As well as smelling the fresh country air, we have had the great opportunity to interact with the locals whilst riding. A special mention to the brussels policeman (Politie) who is coming to Adelaide next year for the World Police & Fire Games. We didn't catch his name but his four foot tall German Shepherd, Brutus was quite friendly. Whilst Mot is keen to work out directions by finding a map... Ness just wants to ask anyone in a uniform ( she's already obtained a personalised toilet map). I would say "goodbye" in Belgian...but I am not sure yet what language that actually is.

Posted by Ness at 12:11 PM | Permalink | Comments (1) | TrackBacks (0)

When we first arrived in Belgium and set up camp, we headed out into town to sample some of that fine Belgian beer. While we were out, a thunderstorm came through and Matt and Simon discovered why tents have doors.

Continue reading "A Trap For Young Players" »

Posted by Ness at 12:09 PM | Permalink | TrackBacks (0)

Once our UK based regrouping was completed we needed to get back over to continental Europe. Which involved a ferry pass for one car containing four passengers. Also, vast amounts of luggage and two bicycles. There was very little room to spare. Mot and Ness managed to contort themselves into small ball-shaped bundles of uncomfortableness in order to slide into the back seats.

Once we hit Belgium and located a campsite, everything exploded out of the car and Mot and Ness set about reassembling both their bikes and their ability to use their legs. Si and I passed the time at the campsite's zoo.

Every camp site should have a zoo.

Posted by Matt at 12:47 PM | Permalink | Comments (2) | TrackBacks (0)

The internet has proved to be pretty elusive so far in Belgium, so updates are a little thin on the ground. As it stands, this post is coming to you from the carpark outside an apartment block in Leiden, in the Netherlands.

To bring you up to speed: Matt and I are meandering about Europe in Matt's car (a swanky greenish Mondeo) while Mot and Ness are taking things a little slower and touring by bicycle. Our plan is to meet up every few days, exchange stories and mutually rant about the lack of street signs in Belgium's cities.

To make things simpler, Mot and Ness are known as The B Team (B is for Bicycle!) and Matt and Si make up 100% of The C Team (C is for Automobile!).

As everyone knows, The A Team used to drive around in a van.

Posted by Si at 12:15 PM | Permalink | Comments (3) | TrackBacks (0)

This morning I turned the key in our car and it started: just like that.

All the cold Belgium camp-site air that had been slowly freezing the engine overnight could not impede the Mondeo's morning spring into life. No twenty minutes spent trying to coax a toyota diesel engine into crawling out of slumber.

And with that, we're back in the business of touring randomly across Europe.

Posted by Matt at 4:18 PM | Permalink | Comments (3) | TrackBacks (0)