Summer Vacation, Day 1: Venlo

July 11, 2026 · 2 min read · 8 visits

We finished packing the California this morning without any rush, we are traveling light; no big awning tent to assemble, no bikes, no roof box, just the pop-up tent that is with us again.

California with the roof up on a shaded pitch, camp table and chairs in front

Six hours and 520 km later we made it to Venlo, the Ruhrpott section with its traffic jams, speeders, and endless switching from one city autobahn to the next was the part we could have done without, a reminder to myself to never drive through it again.

Nadine searched for a campsite spontaneously on the way, we knew we wanted to cover about half the distance to Calais, and she settled on Heiderust in Baarlo, a village on the Maas in Dutch Limburg, five kilometers behind the German border, just south of Venlo. The site is small and quiet, around 30 pitches, self check-in and check-out, so arriving late in the day is no problem. She had planned everything well, setting up was done in a few minutes, and together we made the child seats, travel bags, and a lot more disappear into the pop-up tent. On arrival we were greeted right away by the owner, who briefly told us how everything works, check-in, water, the sanitary building. The next greeting came shortly after, from two magpies.

Magpie on grass with a morsel in its beak

Magpie from behind, head turned sideways

Topics: Travel, Photography