Last leg of the Eurail Pass

Friday, June 20, 2014
Hoek van Holland, Zuid-Holland, Netherlands
Did I mention that the KD ferry on the Rhine was free with our Eurail passes?

A bit of a sleep in today . It was a bit wet & windy and we weren't leaving until 10.13. We paid extra for the breakfast here - a whole 2.50 Euros each. It had all the goodies except for a variety of fruit and no yoghurt. It was also worth paying 2.50 for the internet, as we had no trouble with it.

It only took 5 minutes to walk to the station - and the rain held off. The train was rather full - there seemed to be a lot getting off at Cologne. Oh!! EVERYONE had to get off at Cologne - and another train would pick us up to finish the journey. This of course made us late - so we missed the next train.

No worries though, as the ferry doesn't leave until 22.30. We booked the Rail & Sail tickets on the internet last night. Great value - can catch a train from anywhere in Holland to Hoek van Holland Haven; take the ferry (day or night) to Harwich; and then the train to Liverpool St in London, or other major East Anglia cities. We'd booked late so our tickets were 61 Euro each - they start at 45 Euro . We decided to take the night crossing with an outside cabin - which was an extra 61 Euro. We'd missed the cheap fares on the Eurostar, and this way sounded much more interesting.

Back to the train trips. So got off at Dusseldorf and went to the enquiry/information centre and got a new timetable. On to Utrecht, and from there to Rotterdam. Missed the 16.02 Sprinter to Hoek - it wasn't platform 16, it was 1b (the guy back in Dusseldorf wrote it down). We found 1b - and the train actually left from 1a. No worries. There is a train every thirty minutes, so we had a free cup of coffee in the First Class lounge.

I have to say something about all the garden allotments - or have I already done that? They are all over Europe beside the railway lines coming into towns. Some of the garden sheds on these allotments are more like miniature houses. Some grow vegetables and others have flowers. Because they're so close to the railway line, it was hard to get a good photo . We also saw large areas of allotments - one place was so fancy, I thought it was a retirement village! But the 'houses' were too small - only just though.

There were a lot of things I didn't manage to get photos of. The piles and piles of wood which were stacked up beside the houses; the solar panel farms that covered several acres in Germany; cats (saw heaps of dogs - on leads, strays, on farms); the majestic swans out on the rivers; etc

Got to the Stena Line office at Hoek just after 17.00. Paid for our reservation and picked up the tickets. (We could have got a 30% discount off the crossing (not the cabin part) with our Eurail passes, but then the train tickets to London would be so expensive that we'd be paying the same.) Then went for a wander around the town. If the weather had been nicer, we'd have checked out the beach at the Hoek van Holland Strand. Had dinner at an Italian place - as we were early it was hard to tell which places sold food as well as beer . Then we went to a pub which was on the main corner, and watched the world go by. Very interesting. Chatted with a local lady.

We could book in at the ferry after 18.45. We booked in about 17.45 - and went straight onto the ferry. We'd read that boarding started 90 minutes before sailing, so we thought we'd have to sit in a lounge area (like at an airport). We had a huge cabin on deck 11 - especially compared to a train one! There was a double bed with a bunk above (we folded it away), and a king size single with a bunk above.

After going down to deck 9, and exploring all the cafes and facilities, we managed to snaffle a table right at the front (okay bow). Watched the world go by over a couple of drinks, and then watched as we left port. Last year we saw the birth of the Rhine, and this year we went out the mouth.
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