lost in belgium

[GARY_5129034]

Has anyone else got lost in the torrid country of belgium? I have just done again and speaking to other caravanners on the boat, I am far from being alone. The problem seems to be that Belgium road signs do not indicate far away places like FRANCE or ZEEBRUGGE. They only indicate the next town ahead and without a map there is only one place to go and that is LOST. The roads are bad enough as it is but trying to make up speed through potholed roads with only NORTH on the compass does not inspire confidence. Has anyone else fell foul in Belgium?

 

[rob_jax]

Gary,

No - Belgium is as well or poorly signposted as other European countries. For example, the E40 A10 motorway has France (Calais) and Zeebrugge on the overhead motorway signs at Brugge - well before the actual motorway split.

And going the otherway - the signs have Gent and Brussel / Bruxelles indicated for at least 100 km

Where did you have the problem?

Robert

 

[chrissie2]

Gary, did you really not have a map? All that I can say is, 'Silly you'! A road atlas is a fairly basic and cheap addition to the equipment for any journey and I would not recommend leaving home without one. And, no, I have never got lost in Belgium.

 

[Guest]

We have friends who live near Heist-op-den-Berg and Gent. Have never had a problem with Belgium at all.

I'm a sat nav convert and it sounds as though you need to join the club with a Tom Tom or Garmin with European mapping!

 

[TripHazard]

No i never get lost anywhere in Europe have sat-nav with european mapping.I would have thought that at least a european atlas was mandatory i still carry one.

Martin

 

[vi]

Satnav is useful for the roads it covers, though that is by no means all of Europe. However we still wouldn't travel without a good map even for the areas that hare mapped for satnav....in our experience you cannot totally rely on it.

Vi

 

[Angela_5076436]

there are also handy wee Sites like Via Michelin and Mappy wich will lett you get route and then print it.

We used Mappy last year as we had tried the Rosyth Zeebrugge crossing - and the supplied Route was fantstic - no problems at all

 

[GARY_5129034]

there are also handy wee Sites like Via Michelin and Mappy wich will lett you get route and then print it.

We used Mappy last year as we had tried the Rosyth Zeebrugge crossing - and the supplied Route was fantstic - no problems at all

It was the use of Mappy that led us astray. Having used it in France throughout, Mappy was brilliant. Always spot on for milage, timings and never leading us astray. In Belgium, the signage did not match up with what was on the overhead gantries. Mappy sent us in the direction of 2 Belgium town names. The Belgium signs split these 2 towns, one going right and the other going left. We chose the wrong one and got awefully lost

 

[GARY_5129034]

Gary,

No - Belgium is as well or poorly signposted as other European countries. For example, the E40 A10 motorway has France (Calais) and Zeebrugge on the overhead motorway signs at Brugge - well before the actual motorway split.

And going the otherway - the signs have Gent and Brussel / Bruxelles indicated for at least 100 km

Where did you have the problem?

Robert

The problem occurred when motorway spilt into 2. The Mappy directions we were following were sending us in the direction of 2 Belgium town names. The Belgium signs on the gantry split these 2 towns, one going right and the other going left. We chose the wrong one and got awefully lost

 

[GARY_5129034]

Gary, did you really not have a map? All that I can say is, 'Silly you'! A road atlas is a fairly basic and cheap addition to the equipment for any journey and I would not recommend leaving home without one. And, no, I have never got lost in Belgium.

we travvelled with an atlas of france although we were following the direction printed from Mappy. The route planner was faultless in France but useless in belgium. Mappy sent us in the direction of 2 Belgium town names. The Belgium signs split these 2 towns, one going right and the other going left. We chose the wrong one and got awefully lost.

 

[bernadette_5039937]

we almost did whta you did...left home with directions from via michelin and the French atlas. I realised that I wouldn't be able to reverse the directions easily to get back to Zeebrugge so bought a map of belgium for 5 euros from Carrefours

 

[rob_jax]

Hi Gary,

I don't think you can blame Belgium for a problem on the Mappy site.

I know some people find it difficult in Belgium with the Vlaams and Walloon place names - Brugge and Bruges - but no more so than driving in Wales - Abergavenny and Y Fenni.

For driving in Europe I have a TomTom 700 GPS - electronic maps for the whole of Europe - and some simple paper maps of the UK, France, Belgium, Netherlands, and Germany - as back ups.

Robert