Stage 8, country 8…
Here we go. The last country. One more horizontal trek and I hit the big wet space surrounding old Blighty. I can almost taste the salty air! Or maybe that’s the remains of the KFC I scoffed…
Gelsenkirchen was my scheduled stop here, but I couldn’t get accommodation in this actual borough. Instead I walked through to Gladbeck. A huge thank you to Antjé, Jana and Niko for their hospitality here. These folk aren’t even couchsurfers - they only knew to expect me as Manfred from Röetgen called them and told them I was a friend stuck for somewhere to stay in the area. I had to explain about my walk (that got some open mouths and slack jaws) and about the whole couchsurfing thing. They thought I’d met him in England when he was working there a couple of years ago!
Despite all this, I was treated like one of the family. Folks - thank you so much.
I was hoping to get a shot of me with a “twinned with Newcastle” sign on the way into Gelsenkirchen but I suppose they can’t have them on every road. Annoyingly I passed about three on the way into Gladbeck, but I’m not too fussed about a sign that says “twinned with Enfield”.
While in the area I did get to see the amazing Veltins Arena, home to FCShalke04. The guided tour was all in German, but a beautiful young local (Kathleen) kindly translated everything for me so I didn’t miss out. unfortunately getting a ticket for the game wasn’t a possibility as the few remaining seats were far too expensive. I settled for seeing the game in a bar with some of the locals. Shalke won 3-0 so it was a good day for everyone!
Again, I was irked by the lack of signs as I wanted a “Welcome to Holland” one for my collection (of photos - I’m not carrying road signs home) but at length I did enter the Netherlands and my first city stop within the country of Arnhem. There I was met by Tamara who would be my host for a couple of nights while I did the tourist thing. First stop was the local KFC where I indulged in a Mexican Wrap. This is a foodstuff, not Latino gangsta music. But I kind of like that idea. I feel a novelty number one hit coming on…
I spent the rest of the evening fixing her PC so no evil nasties (like Norton Internet Security *spit*) remained on it.