Old South Amsterdam – Amsterdam
Sleepy tram ride.

Amsterdam – Roosendahl
International trains are one of my favourite types of transport.   There is nothing quite like stepping onto a train in Switzerland on a journey from Belgium to Austria, mingling with dishevelled bag packers, smartly dressed business people and locals on shopping trips.   The Benelux train that plies hourly between Amsterdam and Brussels serving Rotterdam and Antwerp though is a slightly different affair.   The Netherlands and Flemish-speaking Belgium blend almost into one at places, so travellers barely know which country they are in.   The service is operated by a Belgian locomotive hauling a mix of Dutch carriages (how organised) and is fast, comfortable and efficient.   Proper coffee is also available from a proper coffee machine wheeled up and down the train by friendly staff.   And the toilets are always immaculate.   I bought a return ticket from Amsterdam to Antwerp and broke my journey at Roosendahl, almost at the Belgian border.
 
 

Roosendahl – Yerseke
I caught one of the so-called MAT64 class of EMU trains from Roosendahl.   As I was crossing the platform, I suddenly realised that I didn’t have a valid ticket for this portion of the journey – and I had no time to buy one.   I decided to risk it, and sat down on one of the flip-up seats at the door.   This service stopped at a lot of major lamp posts and a few minor ones too.   Eventually, with one stop to go a beefy, burly ticket inspector appeared.   However, she was not impressed with my enormous ticket (for some reason all international tickets are the size of computer punch cards).   Despite pleas in English (the old tourist trick, even though I’d been resident for nearly three years at this stage), she demanded an excess fare of 40NLG (about £15).   Thwarted, I duly paid up.

Yerseke – Perkpolder
Still reeling from the stupidity of my train fine (my stupidity not their’s), I managed to miss my connecting bus for the ferry.   Somewhat unhelpfully the bus destination was “Zelzate” in Belgium.   But after careful consultation with a map and the omnipresent bus stop timetable, I deduced that this was indeed the bus for me.   I therefore waited for an hour, at Yerseke station, beside the lamp post.   Once on the bus, to my disbelief, it boarded the ferry at the Kruiningen terminal, and all the passengers got out.   Once on the other side of the River Schelde, all the passengers got back on the bus and it disembarked and headed for the bus stance.

Perkpolder – Hulst
The service to Perkpolder had been operated by a mid 1980’s Den Oudsten bodied DAF from ZWN (South West Netherlands).   It was one of the last delivered to this design, being coach seated with bonded glass, and was a travellers delight.   The vehicle to Hulst was a standard modern DAF/Den Oudsten and had a clock at the front that told the correct time.   At Hulst I had a slap-up lunch (by Dutch standards) of a ham and cheese toastie with chips and fritesaus (mayonnaise is mandatory).

Hulst – Antwerp
BBA operate a truly international bus service from Hulst (NL) to Antwerp (B) to Breda (NL).   I caught the Berkhof/DAF coach and paid my fare in Dutch Guilders.   No sooner had it left Hulst, than the driver was accepting Belgian Francs from the next passenger as it had crossed the border.   One language (Flemish), two countries, two currencies, no problem.   The service stops at the central bus stances in Antwerp which is where I got out.   Antwerp is often overlooked by tourists, despite its variety of cafes and restaurants, its old town full of specialist shops and its abundant transport systems (buses and trams everywhere).   I passed several hours there till I caught the train back to Amsterdam from the most impressive central railway station.

Antwerp – Amsterdam
Sleepy train ride

Amsterdam - Old South Amsterdam
Sleepy tram ride