Category: Holland

Over the past number of years we have often reported back on our boules tours from a group perspective so this time we asked Terry Basson, one of our new members this year to provide some feedback on his first club tour.

“It all began during a casual conversation with Chris McGinn telling us about the Alkmaar Boules connection. We showed interest and before we could say ‘Jack Robinson’, a very detailed email about the trip arrived from Diana Lockwood.

For Di Greenaway it was a first visit to the Netherlands, and my only experience was at 18 years old during my Army National service when I arrived on a troop ship suffering the effects of a very rough sea crossing! But, empowered by the detailed information we decided to go and with ease booked the flights from Bristol and the Grand Hotel Alkmaar as suggested.

The beautiful city of Alkmaar is famous for its canals, cheese market, historical houses and windmills. Following a successful Club tour in 2010, a second tour is being organised from 5th to 8th October 2012. This coincides with the Celeritas Open Doubles Tournament, and Alkmaar Liberation celebrations. A number of social events and a friendly match are planned as well as participation in the Tournament. Hotel rooms are being booked well in advance because of the high level of demand for that weekend. If you would like to know more about the tour, please contact Diana Lockwood at dmlockwood@tiscali.co.uk or 07967 711120

In April of this year the City of Bath Petanque Club recently went Dutch when they visited the twin city of Alkmaar,  in the Netherlands to challenge the local teams. Eight intrepid travellers met up at the Hotel Stad en Land on Friday night allowing themselves plenty of time to discover the nightlife on offer.

On Saturday we were invited to the Sportlaan Club where we joined our hosts for a challenge match won by Bath by 13 games to 12.

On Sunday we were invited to the Celeritas Pétanque Club where we were kindly treated to lunch before heading into our second tournament of the weekend. Unfortunately this time we finished second in a competition of 32 teams.The trip provided plenty of inspiration as Celeteris has a large indoor boulodrome attached to their bar, something the Bath club would like to replicate.