Suddenly the sun is shining and yesterday’s irritatingly roundabout route is today’s pleasant pootling. We have left Germany behind, and this little corner of the Netherlands is charming. Tree-lined roads and unexpected discoveries – like today’s agricultural museum which also offered Koffie en Appelgebak along with hens to hoover up the crumbs. Ruurlo has a castle which houses the Museum of Modern Realism – an art gallery rather than a philosophical institution, I have discovered.

And tonight we are staying in one of those late 19th-century/early 20th-century brick-built Dutch buildings that I love.