We Got Stuck
It started in the morning. We drove off with our electrical hook-up still attached, which twisted our plug and broke the housing it sits in. Thankfully we didn’t damage the campsites plug, but it was only a sign of things to come. We were en route to the town of Tournai, which we thought we might explore. However, as we drove south, the roads got busier and the weather got rainier. The surrounds of Tournai were not especially pretty, so we decided instead to skip the town and explore a chateau we’d heard was the “Versailles of Belgium”. The drive to the chateau took us through some picturesque farmland, but on arrival, we discovered the chateau was closed for the winter! By now, the sun had come out, so we enjoyed a quick lunch in a pretty lay by, surrounded by forest.
With two of our planned trips cut off, we thought we would make some headway into driving through Belgium and go much further south than originally planned. This area of West Wallonia was turning out to be pretty industrial, so nothing was stopping us from passing it by. We lined up two free park-ups in an area called L’eau D’Heure – a popular spot amongst locals with 5 lakes surrounded by forest. We drove through the afternoon, leaving behind the busy towns and welcoming the sweeping pastures and wooded valleys. The first park-up turned out to be close to a waterpark and had a strange feeling to it. We decided to give it a miss and head to our second spot, further into the lakes. By now it was getting dark and we’d had a full day of driving. As we pulled into our second spot, we saw that it was a large grassy area with a single gravel track running through. Exhausted, we drove up and tried to find a spot for the night. But soon, disaster struck!
As we were reversing to get the van into a better position, we drove onto the grass. The wheels span; the van wouldn’t move. We tried moving slowly, only to feel the wheels spin more behind us. Realisation dawned and our hearts sank. We were stuck in the mud. I ran out to take a look and saw we’d driven into soft grass. The mud was impossible to see from the surface, but all the rain had clearly created a bog underneath and we’d driven straight into it! I always imagined us getting stuck somewhere remote, on a dirt-road maybe, falling off the verge perhaps. Not on a level park-up designed for motorhomes, 10ft from the gravel drive!
We tried everything. We had some mini-sleds my Mum gave us for a laugh, and shoved these under the wheels. Nothing. I scooped gravel from the road and piled it up beneath the tires, nothing. I even sacrificed our yoga mats to the thick mud, but every time we tried, we just sank a little deeper. We do have AA breakdown cover, but were hesitant to use it. We only get 3 call outs per year. We were somewhere well known, not too far from civilisation, 1 week into our trip. It seemed a waste to use it when all we needed was a tow of about 6ft. As we sat there thinking through our options, a friendly Belgian couple approached us from another caravan.
Patrick and his wife (I never caught her name) gave us their traction mats to put beneath the wheels. I’m so grateful for their help. He spoke a little English, and with our broken French, we managed to understand each other. Although it didn’t take much translation for them to see we were in the shit! We pushed, they pushed, we tried reversing. We were sinking deeper. By now it was clear we needed a tow, so I asked Patrick if he would mind explaining to the mechanic where we were. I managed to find a tow-truck, and Patrick chatted away, telling us they would be on their way as soon as they had someone free.
With a bonne chance! from Patrick and his wife, we sat in the van, made a cup of tea, and waited. By now it was pitch black and I couldn’t see how the tow truck was going to find us in this unlit park-up. However, two hours later some beautiful orange lights began twinkling in our front window. The tow truck had found us! Ben ran out waving and got the van ready to be winched. I stood outside and watched as Sophia was pulled from the mud. It was the most underwhelming thing I’ve seen! The winch pulled us out so cleanly and quickly, it was as though she’d been sat on dry tarmac.
I can’t explain the relief as Ben drove her onto the gravel road. She was fine. As the rain came down, we thanked the tow-truck guy, only to realise he takes payment in cash only. With only 20 euros in notes, he kindly trusted us and gave us the office address to pay tomorrow morning. We waved him off and collapsed into bed, exhausted. Tomorrow can only get better, right?
