Another beautiful sunny day. It is
getting boring already (not) We are sorry to be leaving our little
bit of heaven. We have really enjoyed this site and we will certainly
return if and when we use the Newcastle to Amsterdam ferry. We feel
as if we have only scratched the surface of Amsterdam and we like
what we saw.
A10 (Amsterdam ring) to A4 to Rotterdam
to A29 to Bergen-op-Zoom with a detour on the N59 to Oude-Tonge. The
signs in Holland are easy to read and give you lots of warning when
you need to take ane exit (uit)
Oude-Tonge is a lovely friendly little
town. We arrived and tried to find someone who knew the story of the
crashed Lancaster bombers. We found a few people but the directions
were all different. MMM if in doubt stop for lunch. The central cafe
at which we stopped had an owner who spoke excellent English and knew
where the memorial to the crashed Lancaster bomber was. He was
exceedingly helpful and drew a plan of how to get to the crash site
which was about 3 kilometres from the town centre. Remarkably we
reached it on our bikes without major detours. Unfortunately it was
the story of a Lancaster bomber which crashed on July 21st
1943. Wrong bomber but interesting nevertheless. On the way we
stopped at the cemetery at Oude-Tonge but there was no reference to
the brief enterrement of the October 6th crashed airmen.
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Thirty minutes saw us in the
beautifully kept extremely moving war graves cemetery of Bergen-op
Zoom. It took us a while to locate the grave of “Flying Officer
Charles Wallace Crawford pilot who died on October 6th
1944 aged 24” in Row B 20 grave 9. The graves are beautifully
tended.
The ramrod straight rows of white gravestones shimmering in
the mid afternoon sun contrasted with the randomly dotted trees of
the natural forest next door. It was a very sad occasion because it
is unclear whether any other member of the family has ever visited
the grave previously. Although we had never met Charles Crawford
(obviously) standing by his grave through up a surprising lot of
personal feelings which by their nature should remain personal. It
was impossible to avoid noting the incredibly young average age of
the young men who were buried there having lost their lives fighting
for our country.
We are now in a designated parking area
for motorhomes on the waterfront in Bergen-op-zoom. It is not quite
as peaceful as last evening but it is FREE.
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| Chrarles Crawford's grave stone |
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