We looked at local campsites,
we asked several people who looked blankly at us; we tried the
police station but it was shut. We decided that we were
in the wrong place or in the right place at the wrong time. Our
final hope was a Shell service station on the main road through
the town, but they had not heard of the meeting either. We
filled up with petrol and were about to leave when a yellow van
drew up alongside us and the driver (who’s name was Tony)
said “Hello, are you going to the van meeting?” We
said we were but that couldn’t find it”. “Ah
yes” he replied, “It is not easy to find. It
is not in Amerongen it is in Leersum (the next town). I
think I can remember how to get there”. So we followed
Tony back through the town, at Leersum we turned right off the
main street along a winding road with fields on both sides to
the Boeterbloem B&B and mini-camping site.
We drove
past the house and the barn into the field where the meeting
was being held. Tony, who is from Germany and had his
young son Johannes with him, introduced us to the organisers
of the event.
After setting
up, we spent time talking to people. We noticed a rather
strong smell of petrol coming from our van which was instantly
investigated by several other van owners. Dick located
the cause of the problem - a leak in the petrol hose under
the car. No-one had a new pipe but one of the attendees,
who arrived in a bright yellow classic 2cv Wegenwacht (Dutch
AA) van and works for the Wegenwacht, said he had one at home
and would fit it for us. So we left the meeting and followed
him to Dordrecht where he replaced the pipe for us. As
he was about to start his shift we followed him, this time
in his modern Wegenwacht van, back to the motorway where we
went our separate ways.
Back at the
meeting the vans had gone on a convoy which took them on a
pleasant route that involved crossing the river on the ferry
twice. Photographs of the convoy are posted on http://members.lycos.nl/citroenazu/newpage4.html
In the evening
we had a joint barbeque, which went on late into the night. In
the morning several people had to leave early, but at 11 0’clock
the games started with an “identify the van part” competition – a
collection of small bits and pieces were on display and you
had to write down (in Dutch of course) what they were. Dick
was undaunted and filled in the entire form. The forms
were taken away and the points added up. Tony was presented
with a bottle of wine for coming second. Dick was presented
with a special prize (for enthusiasm I think) for his amusing
answers. The winners from Belgium were presented with
a 2cv van manual – in the wrong language which we all
found hilariously funny.
Next there
was the van slalom competition. The course was marked
out with flowerpots (this is Holland after all), one by one
the vans were driven around the course, which included reversing
into a tight parking area, against the clock. The surprised
winner was from Holland.
It was now
lunchtime and many people had to leave to be back home ready
for work on Monday morning. We said goodbye to a really
good bunch of 2cv-ers and hope to return next year.
