Driving 'The Beast' through Africa
We're about to depart
by Isabelle Demaeght, november 5th, 2024
Time is flying by: we have been in Europe for 700+ days (my days-counter app keeps counting: 23,000+ days since my birth; 5740+ days since Valentine's Day 2009). I have some catching up to do since our last blog:
As of January 2023, I was working for ASD (Aide et Soins à Domicile) in Wallonia. Adriaan flew to the US in March, shipped The Beast and then picked it up (in England) in April. The car was then put in storage for repairs. We bought a new rooftop tent, as the old one was destroyed somewhere between Houston and Southampton.
The Beast took September and October off for a visit to friends in southern France, a family vacation in Majorca and a few quiet weeks through Spain and Portugal.
As of November 2023, we started living in Hasselt.
On Feb. 14, 2024, we were joined (romantically, on our 15th anniversary) in eternity by marriage. It was an exceptionally happy day.
When the refurbishment of the Hasselt house was finished in April 2024, I went hiking solo. I actually wanted to cross the Alps (The Dream Path, from Munich to Venice) but in May all the mountain huts and some passes were still closed. Postponing was out of the question; I had promised to return to work as a home nurse in Wallonia in June. It became the Eifel, where I slept on wildcamping sites in the “Naturpark Hohes Venn-Eifel” (think: “German Ardennes”). A solitary hike through a beautiful piece of nature is definitely worth repeating. The weather was not cooperating so I was completely soaked and cold on the penultimate day. And then there is always a knight on a white horse with a heated Audi....
The Hasselt house quickly found new owners - fortunately they took four months to sell their own shelter(s), so we and the boys could slowly pack up and wrap up nearly 29 years (10,520 days) of Hasselt history.
The house at Lentestraat 10 was transferred in September and we are now permanently in Wallonia. I returned to home nursing for a while because there is an acute shortage. And because I like the work, especially here in Wallonia. As a bonus, I worked another two weeks in October to help them out.
Meanwhile, Adriaan was diligently working on preventive maintenance and improvements to The Beast. We were quietly but surely preparing for a “new” continent: Africa. Every day we took small steps to leave on November 1, 2024: we bought a ticket for the ferry from Barcelona to Tangier on November 3. After that, we will only travel further south: “Keeping the Atlantic Ocean on the right side until Cape Town.”
I am very much looking forward to it. Adriaan has his reservations but ... it always works out. And so we begin new blog episodes.