40th anniversary photos - (part 4) more from the tour
Having left Doesburg, we headed on through the countryside to
this working windmill, which is kept running by volunteers. It is partly financed
by donations of visitors, and you can even buy flour inside. I guess a trip
to the Netherlands wouldn't be complete without this. Below are my brother and
sister in front of my sister's R4.
It didn't take long for several more Renault 4's to follow us.
Wherever we went that day we could guarantee a convoy of a few R4's throughout
the route.
This picture was taken from inside the windmill - I had tried
to capture it just as a sail flew past the window but failed. The power, size
and speed of the sails rotating outside was awesome. I was standing just next
to them outside and imagining being scooped up on one, wondering how far I would
be thrown off into the neighbouring fields. Before I left England, my friend
wished me luck in finding a little Dutch woman who lived in a windmill surrounded
by tulips, and wore clogs and made cups of tea. I'm now beginning to rather
like that idea. If you match that description let me know.
Following the road from the mill, we arrived in Bronckhorst -
the smallest city in the Netherlands, which included a visit to a tiny Dickens
Museum. In fact it was like a tiny village, it makes Wells in England look like
a seething metropolis. And then it was on to Alderink Classic Sportscars, a
sort of museum cum showroom, with many splendid examples of perfectly restored
old vehicles. Before getting there however, we had to cross this river on the
ferry boat, for which we had free coupons.
Around 8 cars at a time packed onto this ferry, and of course
it was all R4's that day.
That's me in one of my usual awkward photographic poses, and my
sister to the left. I think I can spot my brother on the far left secretly getting
in on the picture too.
Onwards to Dieren, and a visit to the TV Toys Museum, which had
all kinds of memorabilia for children to run past and ignore and adults to gawp
at slowly (well that's how I remember museums being anyway). It was a very interesting
place, though I didn't spot Mr Benn anywhere, so I presume he never appealed
to the Dutch audience. This R4 was parked opposite, and appears to have made
the journey from Italy, with 'Roma' written on the number plate.
Next stop was a resting place in the woods, where we were handed an apple
and had to fill out a very tough questionnaire about the R4. I'm sure we weren't
in the running for any prizes, I only knew about half the answers. There was
one last stop after this at an ice cream shop, before returning to the campsite.
Much of this tour features on the video footage which you can now find on
the site.
Some more pictures from this tour have been sent by Bjorn Bjerkeskaug in Norway, click here.