Devall Travels

Phew. What a scorcha! We were lucky with the weather. When we arrived at the tunnel there was a Harley and two Vespas in front of us in the queue. The Harley guy was wearing an Arsenal scarf but heading to Belgium for a Harley rally, we weren't wearing any Arsenal gear but were heading for Amsterdam. Partly for a weekend away, and partly to go to the ArenA for the LG Tournament (see elsewhere on the Blog). By the time we got into Belgium my odometer was showing 60 miles since fuel. I needed a drink as I hadn't had any breakfast so we pulled into the new services after Veurne. I filled up and we had coffee. We were in no real hurry. The route I had planned for the GPS was scrapped as for some reason the Quest was on the fritz again. Unable to find satellites. I persevered for most of the journey to Amsterdam and it wheezed into life a couple of times. Maybe for 3 miles in 230 travelled each way! As we approached Breda (with Amsterdam not on any road signs) I took t...

Another bit of pre-season silverware for the Arsenal to add to the trophy cabinet. We arrived halfway through the 2nd half of the early game in time to see three quick goals from Athletico and Lazio. Athletico Madrid running out winners in the end, 3-1. The Arsenal supporters were crammed in the away supporters area, surrounded by perspex walls and toothed razor topping! You can see it in the picture on the left! Our seats were already occupied and we were told it was a case of "sit anywhere". So we sat a few rows up. Then the ticket holders arrived and forced us to move. Nice to see some Arsenal supporters are so understanding. We went down and almost reclaimed our seats, sitting one to the left of where we should have been! The knobheads dancing and shouting right by us eventually sat down so we could see. The game went off okay, us in control and them kicking us up in the air all the time. Some dubious tackles on Robin van Persie, the "sporting" whistles when on...

As I had to cancel our trip to Gouda a few days ago after months of planning, we were left with a Shuttle booking that I need to change before the Gouda trip, this Friday (the 6 th July) or lose the fare as a no-show. We both thought we'd like to go to Holland again. On the Gouda trip our chosen day out was to have been Amsterdam, so we decided to make this new trip to Amsterdam. It so happens that Arsenal are involved in the Amsterdam ArenA Tournament over the week of 2 nd and 4 th August, which fits in nicely when we want to get away. Although getting one of the 1800 (!) tickets allocated to Arsenal supporters may prove a problem as it is so close and the away ticket people get first bite at the cherry over us mere Gold members. Okay we have paid at least £885 for a season ticket this year. I've re-booked the Shuttle for 3rd August earlier than we were going with the Kent Centre to Gouda. This is purely so we can plough up the motorways to get to the hotel ASAP and then d...