I forget how pleasant and relaxing holidays where you don’t do much can be. When I was in my 20s the thought of going on a holiday away from rock used to fill me with horror - any time when traveling had to be dedicated exclusively to finding something to climb. I doubt if I left home on a trip anywhere without at least my boots and chalk bag in my luggage, even if it was a packed social weekend miles away from any climbing. They were a kind of security blanket.

Of course the pace of life was different - I didn’t work half as hard as I do now, and had no where near as many demands on my time. Nowadays a nice relaxing holiday away from climbing and, more importantly, the Internet, is essential.

Over Easter for the past few years we have spent a week in a series of Dutch holiday farmhouses - no danger of encountering anything to climb there, or any Internet for that matter. This year it seemed even more welcome after a hectic early year which has involved one book published and another taken to the brink of publishing. A short school term and the day-to-day complexities of UKClimbing have added to the workload.

So it was nice to pull up at a (rather large - see photo, and there were two other buildings) farm in rural Achterhoek in the Netherlands near a place called Borculo. In England this farmhouse would have been developed into 5 separate holiday cottages all charging a fortune. This particular organisation don’t seem too bothered about maximizing income from their asset and very grateful we were too.

On previous years these houses have been comparable pricewise to shabby UK holiday cottages with tiny rooms, carpets in the toilets and fridges that haven’t been properly cleaned for the last 5 years. This year the strength of the Euro has made it a little more expensive - Staatsbosbheer if you want the link, but you will need to be able to read Dutch. Not all Dutch holiday cottages are huge farmhouses - many are in purpose built holiday parks - but they are all relatively cheaper than the UK (Euro permitting) and you won’t ever find carpet in the toilet or a mucky fridge - or climbing!

The week passed without too much incident. One trip to the Dolphinarium at Hardewijk and several great bike rides. It was great to do very little actually.

On Monday it was back to the Internet and 453 emails and after a week I already feel like I need another holiday.

This entry was posted on Saturday, April 12th, 2008 at 9:53 am and is filed under Family. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.