Vreden 2011

We used the long weekend around 3 October for another nice shopping tour. The direction was quickly decided, and the first shopping destination on the list was Obelink.

As we were travelling with several motorhomes, we agreed on a central meeting point and met up in Ibbenbüren on Friday. According to the pitch directory there were 50 motorhome spaces – but the reality was a bit different.

The 50 spaces refer to the entire car park of a hotel and a supermarket, where motorhomes are allowed to park. The good thing is that staying overnight including electricity is free if you eat at the hotel restaurant. After breakfast we quickly set off for Obelink.

An hour later we "finally" reached the largest camping accessories shop in Europe: Obelink in Winterswijk in the Netherlands.

www.obelink.de

Obelink is a dream for campers: over 65,000 square metres of retail space for the camping enthusiast, from a simple light switch to a caravan or a pool. As soon as we drove in, we noticed that the grass area next to the car park had been closed off with barriers. About 2 years ago these areas were still Obelink's motorhome pitches, where overnight stays were tolerated, so we had to squeeze into the tarmac parking spaces, which wasn't always easy.

But that didn't spoil our enjoyment of shopping. After 6 hours of shopping, a lot of money lighter and tired, we got back to our motorhomes. We had actually wanted to stay overnight in the car park, but council staff check the car park after closing time and ask motorhomes to move on. So we went to the motorhome pitch in Vreden. The pitch is at a sports ground in the countryside. Electricity, fresh water and waste disposal are available and included in the overnight price of 8 euros.

You register at the sports club house. You can't hear any noise from the sports ground or club house at the pitch, but you can hear the nearby main road. Bread rolls are available at the petrol station 800 metres away. As we liked it, we stayed on the pitch until Monday – and first of all we saw to dinner.

On Monday morning we went to our last shopping destination, the Oosterik garden centre in Denekamp in the Netherlands.

www.oosterik.nl

This centre has everything for the garden on over 64,000 square metres. My personal shopping frenzy had already been satisfied at Obelink, so we only bought a few "little things".

Even the nicest time comes to an end, and on Monday afternoon we headed back to Hanover.