This week our Europe motorhome road trip continues… and what was supposed to be our peaceful rest stop in a beautiful Dutch town suddenly comes with a warning label 😳🚐

After the chaos of Brussels, we carry on into the Netherlands and head to Valkenburg, where we find a 4-star campsite for the motorhome and finally think we’re going to slow down for a couple of days.

But almost as soon as we arrive, we’re handed information about natural hazards, evacuation routes, and what to do if the campsite needs to be evacuated.

Not exactly the relaxing rest stop we had in mind 😂

Before reaching the Netherlands, we leave Ypres and realise completely by chance that it’s Belgian National Day… so obviously the best way to experience it is to take our motorhome to the capital.

We find a place to stay in Anderlecht, work out the metro with four kids, and head into Brussels city centre to see what Belgium’s biggest celebration is actually like.

There are crowds, flags, music, military parades, flypasts, street performances, food, chaos, and one very overwhelmed British family trying to work out what is going on around them 😂

But just when we think we’ve found the perfect place to watch everything, we realise we’ve accidentally ended up inside a park that gets locked down by the police while the celebrations are happening… and we can’t leave.

Not exactly what we expected from a family day out in Brussels.

After that, we cross into the Netherlands and head to Valkenburg, a Dutch town that completely surprises us. It’s beautiful, lively, full of history, old streets, caves, hills, restaurants, and the kind of place we probably wouldn’t have known about if we weren’t travelling through Europe this way.

Our campsite looks like the perfect family reset after a few busy city stops, with proper facilities, a pool, space for the kids, and finally somewhere to catch our breath.

But then we read the warning.

The campsite is in an area known for flood risk, and after seeing the evacuation information, we quickly realise this beautiful Dutch town has a much more serious side than we expected.

Of course, we still can’t just have a normal relaxing day.

Instead of taking the chair lift up to the toboggan ride, we decide it would be a good idea to walk through the woods, up a very steep hill, with four kids… including two babies in prams.

It was not one of our best decisions.

Somehow we make it to the top, completely worn out, and the toboggan ride ends up being one of the best things we’ve done so far on this trip.

This episode has a bit of everything… Belgian National Day in Brussels, getting locked in by police, metro chaos, flypasts, parades, crossing into the Netherlands, a beautiful campsite with a warning, Valkenburg town, unexpected history, a brutal forest climb, two prams, four kids, and us once again wondering why we make things harder than they need to be 😂

This is honest family motorhome life… one old motorhome, four kids, no proper plan, Belgium, Brussels, the Netherlands, National Day celebrations, Valkenburg, campsite life, travel chaos, family adventures, and us discovering that Europe keeps surprising us in the best and strangest ways.

We love reading your comments so let us know…
Would you stay at a campsite after reading an evacuation warning?
Have you ever been to Brussels for Belgian National Day?
Or tell us where are you watching from! 🌍

Thanks so much for watching 💛

Mark, Ashlie, Henry, Alfie, Bertie & Charlotte
Six In A Van 🚐

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