Rushing to Belgium

Having left the van behind us in Europe's most depressing town, Charleroi, Belgium, we now find ourselves in Ireland on the bus to Derry after a very enjoyable 36 hours or so in Dublin where we not only managed to have a good look around the Guinness storehouse but found the time to sample some of the best local beers so far on the trip.
Leaving Bratislava we made our way to Vienna where we successfully hooked back up with some friends from the canoe tour who managed to get us a place with their couchsurfing host for the two nights that we spent there. Our days were spent wandering the beautiful city, bumping in to family members who were unexpectedly in town and even checking our the local trash punk scene..
We left Vienna and made our way to Prague where we were expected in time for dinner with someone who I have know for a long time but who sadly, I had not seen for years. The drive was not particularly eventful with the only real challenge being that we had not paid for a vignette and so could not use the motorway system in either Austria or the Czech Republic. Nevertheless we arrived jut as the torrential rain came to an end and were greeted with cold beer, a bath and some great food.
Although Prague is without doubt the most touristy place that we have been, we very much enjoyed our time there exploring the castle area, sampling some of the better local Pils and getting some great photos overlooking the beautiful city. One of the best things that we did was to make the most of the free tours that are on offer, we were shown around by an American woman who was teaching in the city who could not only tell us some of the great stories that the city holds but do it in a way that only an American can – it was super-awesomely-cool..
Leaving Prague we were aware that we had a long few days ahead of us in order to get to Charleroi in time to meet our couchsurfing host so that we had a few says at her house before we caught the plane. Its all part of the way that couchsurfing is not just free accommodation, you have to spend enough time for your host to get to know you and vice versa, people really don’t like hosting for only one night. We hit the road after a good night’s sleep and made it a good distance into Germany before falling asleep in a truck stop for the night.
We awoke late to our first challenge of the day when the van wouldn’t start. Luckily the service area that we had slept in was long enough to get good push start and even had a slope so we could get some speed up; sadly, we were parked at the bottom of the slope. Pushing the van up the hill wouldn’t have been so bad if it wasn’t for the truck drivers sitting in their cabs and watching as we struggled with the van, nevertheless I was very grateful that we had invested in such a small van! We eventually made it to the top, took a few photos and half a minute later we were sitting in the van at the bottom of the hill celebrating our first successful hill start whilst revving the engine, much to the confusion of all those around us!
The day that followed was relatively hassle free, the van even started when we had to stop for petrol which was a relief, as we were still shattered from the morning’s efforts! The only stop we had planned to make whilst in Germany was in the city of Cologne where we wanted to have a look at the cathedral before continuing into Belgium to head to bed. Cologne was an all round success, the cathedral was one of the best we have seen and the nearby starbucks was able to fulfil our wifi needs. However when it came to leaving the city, the van, as we should have expected, wouldn’t start. Sadly this time, we were not in a spacious lay-by but on a small, one way street just opposite the cathedral. Undeterred we pushed the van out into the street much to the annoyance of the locals and pushed for all we were worth. Once again, the van started without so much as a cough and we were back on the road to Belgium.
After one more failed attempt to start the van in Belgium we eventually resorted to digging out the battery from underneath all of our clothes and looking for a jump start. However just as our new friend in his shiny VW was ready to help us out, I discovered the cause of the problem and had it fixed before we even had the jump leads connected to the car which, although a little embarrassing, was a huge relief.
Finally on our way we made it to Charleroi without a hitch and had a relaxed afternoon recovering in our hosts beautiful house. She insisted that we not leave the country without visiting to the capital and so, given that we had a total of 3 days in Belgium we decided that we had the time to spend a day and a night in Brussels and so headed to couchsurfing for somewhere to stay. We not only succeeded in finding ourselves a place to stay but also found an American guy who was willing to show us around the city which was fantastic. Brussels proved to be a beautiful city and restored our faith in Belgium and the flat that we stayed in that night had some of the best views of the city available. The only down side was that we had to get us early to get back to the car before the timer ran out on the parking metre!
Our bus to Derry should arrive in a few hours and we plan to stay and chill out there for a few days before heading to Galway on the west coast on Thursday.

Stats of the moment:
Days on the road: 73
Miles covered: 4900
States visited: 13
Nights not spent in Van: 29
Run ins with the Police: 1
Money spent on accommodation: £30.00