The beach at Dunkirk.
The specs in the distance are kites pulling people on tricycles.
Our immediate aim is to drive through France, Belgium, Netherlands, Germany, Czech Republic, Slovakia, and Hungary and begin our "sight-seeing" again in Croatia.
Sadly that means we miss Peter and Margaret by a couple of days but hope to meet up in Greece or Turkey.
Near the Aires is the Spinnewyn Mill.
Its a post mill (remember thinking about mill types at Marsh Mill in Lincolnshire).
Rebuilt in 1993 to celebrate the 1793 Battle of Hondschoote in which the French gendarmerie beat off the invading Anglo Hanoverian alliance.
Nearby is Panska Skala.
Basalt organ pipes.
Now preserved, previously quarried.
A result of slow cooling of molten rock.
We've travelled 720 km today. Our longest drive! Started early, had a couple of rests, and managed sight-seeing.
We've gone from almost twiddling our thumbs waiting for visas to gathering some momentum.
Mostly plaster veneer falling off the stonework.
Lots of elaborate window decoration.
The joins in the concrete are just the right distance to cause the front wheels to be falling while the rear are rising. And vice versa. About a 100 - 150mm vertical movement in the cab. About 2-3 times per second.
Harsh thumps rather than rolling undulations.
Just a tad uncomfortable as well as some stress to the truck.
An attempt had been made in places to scrape the surface level with some improvement.
No comfortable safe speed so we found the older major road roughly parallel.
Probably just as well - we think there's some sort of toll for vehicles over 3.5 tonne but haven't figured out how it operates.
A small sandy track about a km into the woods.
Temperatures above 20 degrees again.
Inspection suggests the truck, and new shock absorbers, survived the E65 hammering.
No fodder, but salt lick.
Some tracks of deer. We think. Feet are too small for cattle.
And not too far away a shooting hutch!
Europe's second longest river, after the Volga.
The Elbe that we crossed a couple of days ago flows north west into the North Sea. Near where Germany meets Denmark.
The Danube, known here as The Donau, and a few other names elsewhere, flows east to the Black Sea.
We are headed south east.
Lake Balaton in Hungary runs north-east to south-west across the country while we are driving north-west to south-east.
In November 2011, about 17 months ago, we drove parallel to the lake after passing from Ukraine through Budapest. This time we drive around the south-west end on our way to Croatia.
Our host, Peter, remembers us!
Its a bit greener than last time. And warmer at about 24°C.
Having rushed (for us) across Western Europe we'll now head through Croatia, Albania, Greece and Turkey at a more leisurely pace.
