We are woken earlier than expected at 5:30am by a bing bong. We thought it was an 8am BST exit from the ferry but obviously it was 7am European time.

After a quick shower we order a drink and a bacon sandwich to share in the restaurant. Just over €9 for the lot. The chef throws in a second butty for free too as it’s the end of service!

We’ve decided to get some miles under our belt so literally drive through the Netherlands without stopping. Roads are good and traffic levels ok.

We experience a land border in Europe for the first time. The German police have shut one of the two lanes on the A37 on their side and had the option to stop and search set up. We saw one car being checked but the rest of us were waved through.

Our destination is Cloppenburg simply because it’s about the right distance and we’ve found a cheap spot to park. We stop at Aldi first and fill the fridge plus buy lots of German beer for later in the trip.

Our pitch is literally at the back of a car park with motorhome sized spaces. It’s full already. Happily a van is leaving just as we arrive and the driver kindly gives us his ticket worth €5 which will last until tomorrow afternoon. We’re feeling lucky today.

A late lunch in the van followed by a much needed nap.

Around 6:30pm we go out to explore Cloppenburg. It has a new town sixties feel to it at least the bit we see. We find a pub literally called Bierhaus and sit at the bar. It’s full of smokers which feels weird and we try a small glass of Bitburger Pils which is very nice. It takes an age to pour the beer as it’s very frothy. Lots of people, mostly men, are playing a dice game we discover later is called Schock. After a second slightly larger glass of pils we wander out thinking of food.

We try a second pub which according to google does food but obviously not today.

After some exploring including photo ops outside Woolies and Coats n Ats, we find a Vietnamese restaurant which is about to shut at 9pm but says yes to serving food.

We enjoy a delicious meal of spring rolls, chicken noodles and crispy duck and red thai curry and rice with food to take home!

Back to the van where I manage to get an internet hotspot going on a spare phone so we can watch Netflix on our firestick. Enjoy the movie Nonna’s before bed.

A good start to our trip.

28:05:25