Enjoying the blues in De Panne

As previously reported, a true friend of the funbus and highly esteemed human being - namely A Jefford esq, received an open invitation to journey with us together with another damn fine gentlemen and all round good egg .. M Ralf esq.

The weekend had arrived and so off to jolly old Belgium we did tootle. On the recommendation of friends of the Bish we decided on a coastal resort, namely De Panne that promised a lot and delivered most of it.

Suffice to say the trip proved to be a real hoot.....more to follow but I am very tired and lacking inspiration so dear readers watch this space.....

Having survived the trauma of the beautiful one packing for her girls trip to the Algarve and dropping her at the airport at 5.15 this morning, I am now back in the land of the living.

Interesting stuff about De Panne -  it is the most western point in Belgium and borders France. Famous people that lived or died in De Panne include King Albert I and Queen Elizabeth of Belgium (lived there during World War I), and

John Aidan Liddell, VC, who died in De Panne in August 1915 (hero pilot of World War 1 - pictured above). De Panne is home to Plopsaland, a themepark aimed at young children and located at the former Meli-Park(from outside it looked a tad run down and somewhat shabby - however I am sure very young children love it whilst the rest of us just chuckle openly about such a silly name for a children's theme park - might have well have called it Poo World!). De Panne was also the place where the first land yachts intended for sport were built and used by the Dumont brothers in 1898. 17 July 1831, Leopold I, the first Belgian king, sailed to Calais from England, and arrived in Belgium in De Panne. The Leopold I Esplanade, which includes a statue of him, commemorates his arrival

To bring you up to date - there are a large number of bars (good thing) and eating places (good thing). Evidently popular with Belgiums and French (bad thing) but not many Brits (good thing).Drinks not too expensive (good thing) has a naff cocktail bar that we got into a bit of a tizzy with when I innocently asked for a glass of water. (bad thing). Most of the people seemed to have fallen out of the proverbial ugly tree (bad thing) and some obviouisly hit every branch on the way down (very bad thing). In fact the theme tune for the trip was 'The Adams Family' duh duhing with finger clicking. Followers of the tweeting amigo will be aware of the Deliverance reference with banjo !!!
 
A big plus is the tram that runs along the prom alll the way to Ostend. So in true funbus spirit off we jollied to a sunny enclave called Newport (en route to Ostend). What a fine afternoon we had watching the world slip by as wine flowed and cheese was nibbled (very good thing). Somewhat flushed due to the sun and replete, it was back to the more salubrious De Panne and the Stella Artiois bar with a big screen.
 
M Ralf esq. is a Chelsea fan through and through, as a 30 year season ticket holder few can match his knowledge of the Blues and  his technical grasp of the round ball game. With the biggest game of thier history about to start it is to his eternal credit that he chose to enjoy it with us as opposed undertaking the pilgrimage to Munich.  The rest they say is history and the triumphant Blues were heartly cheered throught the bar.
 
After a leisurely start on Sunday the pilgrimage to our spiritual Belgium homewas made. Veurne is a very quaint town only 4-5 km from De panne. It might as well be 4 -5 hundred miles given the differences. The indigeneous people are either old or rather comely in a rather fetching way who obviously are more afluent than their fellow countryfolk residing in De Panne. Oysters and frites for me with a rather pleasant house red rounded off an excellent few days. My fellow travellers all enjoyed large portions of Croques monsieur (cheese and ham toasties) with salad. Then it was off to the shuttle whereupon we boarded with ease and shared the journey in the company of a polish hearse (...in use!!).