On Monday, we went on a trip across the North Sea to the town of Brugge (Bruges) in Belgium. One of my colleagues had found a two-for-one deal with P&O ferries so this was the opportunity for my daughter to experience a ferry and for both of us to get a glimpse of a neighbouring country.
It’s actually quite common for people in Europe to nip over the border for a bit of shopping in another country, though if you’re going from Britain the word ‘nip’ is stretching it a bit…. Fourteen hours on a ferry (one way) does, however, add to the spice.
view from our cabin coming into port this morning – the first time I’ve had such a room with a view
Now, in my endeavours to tread more lightly on the Earth, my motivation for going to Brugge was purely to wander round its streets, soaking up the atmosphere, but in a supermarket I came across pasta in a cardboard box. So that’s a few months’ supply without unnecessary plastic packaging. Yippee!
The weather was not at its finest, as you will see in the photos below, but hey Northern Europe is what it is.
And I was surprised to see primroses in bloom here. You can’t tell they are primroses from the photo but I’m glad we found this park before heading for home.
The primroses certainly weren’t in bloom when I got home this lunch time. On the other hand, the goji berry bushes have started to go into leaf, only a few short weeks after losing the last lot.
I also noticed something sticking out of the compost bin hatch. Which turned out to be, er, compost ready to be taken out. This I duly did, so now the apple tree has had its first mulching.
I can’t believed the compost was ready so quickly – it must be the bokashi mix which went in last month. I’m particularly pleased because I need as much compost as possible as soon as possible for mulching. Not just the tree but where I’ve put cardboard down as well.
Growing out of chaos 
What a nice experience! Lovely pics of the river. Are those swans?
Thank you, Natalia. Yes, they are swans. Bruges (or Brugge) is like Venice in that there are a series of canals in the town, so I believe that is what the photos are of.
Absolutely lovely
Awesome on the compost! That’s fantastic…a perfect batch to help your plants grow wonderfully! Cheers, Koko❀
I was taken by surprise as the compost doesn’t normally for that quickly, especially in December!
It’s been very warm. As I type this on my phone, I am standing outside in a very warm sunshine! Not typical of this area this time of year. I am not complaining though. 🙂 Happy Christmas! Hugs, Koko
Happy Christmas to you too, Koko x
Awesome many thanks for sharing have a blessed day
You too, Linda.
What a nice experience and beautiful pictures…thanks for sharing. If I decide to go over the river, I end up in Philly or York, not quite as romantic or picturesque. Merry Christmas Helen!
Where are Philly and York?
Most of Europe is picturesque, with a few glaring anomalies (e.g. where I come from!).
What a wonderful trip! I’m so glad you found a good deal and that you and your daughter could go on an adventure. I was in Bruge in 1989…a long while ago. I enjoyed my time there, too.
I’m glad you enjoyed your trip to Bruges as well, Alys. Merry Christmas!
Merry Christmas…or perhaps happy Boxing Day by the time you read this. Xox
Still Christmas Day – just – thank you! Will tomorrow be a holiday for you, too?
Oh, I’m replying in reverse order. They don’t celebrate Boxing Day in the States, though we did when I lived in Canada. Since it’s a Saturday, though Mike is home from work and the boys don’t return to school until January 4th.
Interesting that Canada has Boxing Day. In the past Boxing Day here used to be pretty much like Christmas Day but now more people are about doing ‘normal’ things.
Anyway, I hope you have a lovely day with your family, whatever you plan to do 🙂
I guess it means a lot of different things these days. Who knew? https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boxing_Day
I didn’t realise that Boxing Day was celebrated so extensively (as Boxing Day rather than St Stephen’s Day/Second Day of Christmas).
It’s amazing what you can learn from Wikipedia!
Yes indeed! Where would we be without Wikipedia and the Internet 🙂
Back at the library, spending hours no doubt! Oh how spoiled I’ve become.
I guess so!
How wonderful to get to ferry over and go to Bruges. I like your goji berry, I want try it here, it did well in Seattle. Seattle has lots of ferry rides, which are great fun, took my grandkids to Bremerton which is about as close to picturesque as we get on this side. Happy boxing day and new year too.
Thank you, Rebecca. As I only got the goji berries from my dad recently, I have no idea how well the will do (he didn’t get any berries) but I am intrigued to find out. My forest garden is coming along – even though the gojis are still in pots.
I’m afraid I don’t know much about Seattle but sounds like you had a good time with your grandkids.
Seattle was awesome, I am from the northwest. Californians retire in Oregon and Washington and bid the prices up to high for me to retire there. Oddly enough, I bought this property so discounted, I have enough equity to move to Washington coast, about 2 hours from my grandkids. It is a temptation and my son says he will fly in and haul me home. It is hard to start again if I do. I will have to wait until spring, in any event. Your climate is cool and wet, right? Like Seattle. Give them full sun against a south wall for more berries.
Thank you for the suggestions re the goji berries. Not sure my climate is wet (depends what you are comparing to – under normal circumstances we have about as much rain as somewhere like Israel, where I live). It is generally cool, though.
Hard decision to make regarding a relocation!
You live in Israel? All this I thought England.
No, I live in England and the blog is about my garden in England. The rainfall here in the North East is comparable to what they get in Jerusalem. Sorry about the confusion – should have changed the word order of the sentence in my previous comment.
Close to my 16 inches average?
Less actually – if I’ve got my maths right – about 12 inches.
On the other hand, just over the Pennines which are hills running down the centre of Northern England, they get double your annual rainfall.
Over my hill they get under 7 inches. It is why I moved here. If I moved back to my grandkids… 35 to 80 inches. Water is everything. I would spend all my time hacking things down. 🙂
How does the infrastructure cope with up to 80 inches of water?
300 foot evergreen trees, massive maples that suck up 2000 gallons a day, each. Huge rivers that may only be 50 miles long. Much larger drains under the streets. Moss grows on home roofs! Mainly the trees sucks up that water. Large drainage pits in subdivisions hold small lakes during extra heavy rainfall, until it can drainot into the system. My grandchildren’s library has a parking lot that retained the massive trees… you wind through to tiny parking spaces between them. It is quite pretty. Areas that cut trees down for fancy housing on the slopes end up destroyed in mudslides.
Trees are great!