Venturing Out
In spring of 2025, and as part of my readjustment to being single, I decided it would be good to take a holiday somewhere on my own. Kind of a “just for the hell of it” thing. Obviously it needed to involve a bit of geocaching, but also I felt it needed to involve a bit of nostalgia. Remembering, if you like, what things were like for me when I was younger. So what better way to achieve that than to drive up to Assen at the top of The Netherlands for a mega event. That would give me a few interesting cache types, and allow me to do the monstrous Assen Carpool series of labs. It also meant I could justify spending a night on the way in my old haunts at Hellevoetsluis and Brielle.
A Place to Stay
I planned to make the trip up rather leisurely, so I made two stops on the way. I set off on the evening of Easter Sunday, driving down to Ashford. On Monday I picked my way through France and Belgium and along the Dutch cost to Brielle. And then on Tuesday I drove around the top of The Netherlands to Assen. My hotels were:
- On Sunday night, the Premier Inn Ashford Eureka Park. It was functional, as Premier Inns tend to be.
- In Brielle, the Fletcher De Zalm. Again, it was functional.
- In Assen, the rather weird De Bonte Wever. It was massive, and was also where the caching event was being held. It was weird because I couldn’t figure out whether it was a conference centre or a resort. Maybe it was both. Anyway, the rooms were good and quite large. The buffet breakfast was average and the restaurant I ate in most nights was excellent.
Getting There
I took the new cachemobile through the tunnel for the first time. I’d only had the car for a week when I set off, so it could have been a bad experience, but thankfully all went well.
The Caches
The mega event was much as I expected. I have to say though, that the quality of caches in the area was exceptionally high. All were in great condition, and all were nice quick, easy finds. With one exception, which we can come to in one of the detailed posts.
Extras
I renewed my liking of Dutch and Belgian beers. There weren’t a lot of other extras because it was, primarily, a geocaching trip. Lots of geocaching was done, although I barely scratched the surface in that area. Oh, and I ran a parkrun beginning with a “Z” too.
Individual Posts
Here is the day-by-day account of my week in The Netherlands in 2025.
