Post It from Municipal Camping de L’Orient, Tournai, Walloon Region, Belgium. Monday 22nd June, 2015

The day started off badly in many ways before we even left the camp site at Luxembourg. Firstly the rain that was not forecast to arrive until around 1100, after we had left, started as we were having breakfast. I was glad I had decided to put the canopy away the night before but it still left me with a few outdoor tasks to do in the rain.

Then a really bizarre thing had happened to the van. I tried to wash the windscreen as I was about to drive off and no water came through the washers. I assumed it had run low on screen wash, which I thought was very unusual as I have never had to fill it before whilst we have been away touring. I prepared some of the screen wash with the additive but when I started to fill the tank I noticed it was very full. I could not readily see what the problem was but after trying the pump again I soon discovered what had happened although I cannot explain how it had occurred. The large bore drain pipe from the channel at the front of the windscreen had come adrift and the metal fixing ring connecting it to the channel was missing. The pipe was lodged over the washer tubing and water was squirting out with great force. A closer look at the washer tubing showed it had been severed quite badly leaving a huge gash along its length. I found the metal clip under the van and think that the pipe clip had cut the tubing as it had come adrift. I made a running repair by tightly wrapping quite a bit of duct tape along the tube and although it did not stop the entire screen wash from escaping it reduced it enough for me to be happy to drive with it like that and be able to get some onto the windscreen. I would try and find a Fiat garage on route or call Fiat assist from Boulogne and at worst fix it when I got home.

I had read on the Club forum many comments about the poor quality of the Belgian roads and in particular the route we were going to take north to Namur then west to Mons and our intended night halt at Tournai, near the Belgian/French border. This was a common route from Luxembourg to Dunkirk and I had read also that it had been improved in 2013 with many road repairs. Well I have to say in large parts it was a disgrace with deep troughs in the tarmac. There were lots of roadworks sectioned off but not much evidence of work going on!

Then there was an accident on the A15 motorway which closed it at Charleroi but the overhead gantry signs actually said it was the A25 and so I was not concerned as we would not be using the A25, wherever that was. Little did we know it would affect us and we had a 90 minute detour of stop start to jump the one junction around the accident on minor roads.

After a late lunch once we were back on the motorway again the heavens really opened like I have not seen for many years and the volume of water on the road was frightening, especially coupled with the road surface condition. On a couple of occasions a passing car had entered the trough and thrown up so much water onto our windscreen like a wave that we could not see anything at all for a short time, frightening!

We were not sure what this municipal camp site would be like but I guessed it would be grass and was now concerned about putting our 4000kg van onto a grass pitch. We had recalculated our route to Nieuwpoort where we had stopped on the way down as we knew they were tarmac pitches but it was a further 75 miles and in the heavy rain we did not fancy doing it. We decided to go as planned and if we did not fancy our chances at getting off the grass the next morning we could make a decision then, a good decision in the end.

Camping De L’Orient is a small site about a mile from the town centre and located near a water activity centre. The pitches were all of a good size and hedged with neatly trimmed high Laurel bushes set amongst mature trees. They had 16 amp electric, possibly not earthed, and water and waste on the pitch along with our very own waste bin. In my very best schoolboy French I explained my concerns about the grass pitches and would you believe it he understood and directed me to probably the only tarmac pitch on the camp site, which was not occupied.

A lucky end to the day we thought until I decided to go out for a walk to try and find bread to have with my paella. I walked just up to the main road where I knew there was a service station at the corner and a Lidl about a mile away. It was raining a little when I set off but once again the heavens opened and quickly there was so much water congregating on the very uneven roads and paths. The passing cars had no regard for my being there and I quickly had all my legs wet through from their spray and my feet were getting wet from the deep puddles that covered almost the entire path surface. To cap it all off, the service station had no bread and the boulangerie I found was shut up. I decided going the further distance to Lidl was out of the question and I returned to the van like a drowned rat from the waist down.

Being on tarmac made up for it though, although I have no real photos to show you I did manage to get a few of the camp site and the resident cockerel. Not sure when I shall get the chance to post this story as the next site is also new to us. Regards, Roy