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Belgium &
Leiden
by Eva McCracken
©
2005
Join Eva McCracken
as she and her husband, David, share access insights of their short trip
to Brussels, Leiden and Brugge.
Home again after our
Brussels/Leiden/Brugge/Zeebrugge trip. You want to hear about
access.
I used my manual chair to make it easier to get in/out of transport and
house. My arms aren't strong enough to self-propel more than the shortest
distances over smooth surfaces, such as in a toilet. Normally I use an
electric wheelchair all the time, indoors and outdoors, so I am
independent. Relying on my husband to push me around is frustrating for
both of us. Towns in both Belgium and Holland have tall, narrow, old
buildings which don't all have lifts and they also have a lot of old
streets paved with cobbles and kerbs which have not been lowered for
wheelchairs, so over the 5 days we were away we both got pretty tired
coping with steps, bumps and pushing/being pushed everywhere. We were also
on 8 trains, 2 buses, 1 long car journey, 1 plane, and 1 ferry across the
North Sea.
Our Brussels' friends had never
realised how difficult w/c access in their beautiful old town was. Finding
restaurant/coffee shop with level access and enough room to manoeuvre
around tables/chairs proved difficult. However, not as diff. as finding a
w/c accessible toilet!
Leiden has the most marvellous cycle path system which accepts w/c as
well. The pace is gentle and we saw a few motorised w/c & scooters winding
their way through the busy town centre. Kerbs are dropped to accommodate
cyclists so it is better use cycle paths than pavements. However, the same
limited access to restaurants/cafes/shops was found in
Leiden. I had to use gents T (unadapted)
in the City Hall rest. as ladies was downstairs.
We travelled by train to Brugge. On
our daughter's advice we visited the station 24 hours before day of
travel. They sold us tickets and told us to phone for "assistance" 030-235
78 22 Because we were crossing from Holland to Belgium it was a bit
complicated but eventually we were booked with "assistance". However, we
were re-routed to accessible stations and a 3 hour journey became 4 hours.
Our 4 trains varied greatly but all needed ramps on & off. Only once (out
of 8 times) did "assistance" fail to arrive promptly and fellow passengers
"assisted" me off. 2 of the trains were new and had good w/c T.
Our final train from Brugge to
Zeebrugge was a mistake. We later
learnt that we should have taken the 4pm bus from Brugge to Zeebrugge but
we thought we had to be there for 4pm! I had to be lifted up 4 very steep
steps onto a very, very old train which took me sitting in w/c on the
boarding passage. At final stop 2 men had come 'specially to lift me back
down. We then had a 3 mile walk to the Superfast Ferry - if only we had
taken that bus!
The Ferry to Rosyth was terrific. The
cabin was spacious & its facilities fully accessible. What I loved most
was the public T with its 3 electrically operated doors - heaven!
Accommodations
We stayed
with friends in Brussels. We stayed
in the Golden Tulip hotel near the
station in Leiden, NL. What they
said was "disabled friendly" was far from w/c friendly. The shower was
step-in and like a cubicle steam-room with water spraying from all
sides. It was very nice, but I did find it very hard to get in and out
of it. The hotel entrance/reception/dining/sitting areas were spacious
and lovely. The lift was adequate but I am small.
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