Transiting Through Belgium

[haganap]

I am intending to go and compete (i use that word loosely) in the European Ironman championship Frankfurt on the 15th August.

I have almost sorted everything out but I am beginning to think the race will be the easy part.

So, test to go 72 hours prior to entering France. (I'm double chipped with an appropriate Bill Gates one, not the cheap Indian version) - Shamefully, despite being tested twice a week by PCR for work, it's no good to accept that one? because it's free I suppose? So managed to get two randox priced ones for £45 each (Nikki is coming).

So, so far I am in France. Now to get to Germany I could do with transiting through Belgium. Lets face it no one ever does anything different to that. Not like Gent is the must see metropolis of Northern Europe. Ypres is poignant and Bruges is alright for 20 mins.
This is therefore where I appear stuck. The rules seem really unclear. SO my plan is to do what I always do and bend them. Considering that I won't be stopping in Belgium, I am in my high powered car not the motorhome. My plan is to just go for it. Is there actually border controls at the borders again? would anyone know?

I know we are on Belgiums "red list" I know they accept some form of EU vaccination certificate but nothing about the NHS one.

When I reach Germany, it's plain sailing, just got to do another test prior to being allowed back in to plague island. Then on arrival in Plague island I have to have another test at day 2 which again cant be my work one despite it being a PCR one because Hancocks girlfriends brother has a load of private ones he needs to get rid of before the country wakes up.

If you have read this far, can I go through Belgium or not? What will they do if they catch me? throw me in a hotel for 10 days? fine me?

 

[Chris Laing]

You need to watch yourself there will be certain posters along shortly to tell you that 'you can't pick and choose what rules you break'.
I'm also heading to Germany but plan to to travel south in France then across by Stuttgart. The transit question is important because most of us would normally travel through Belgium or Luxembourg so I'm also interested in the answer to this.

 

[jongood]

Its a tricky one, they're unlikely to man the borders again just to catch the occasional third country rebel but if a Belgian policeman happened to notice ,would they be bothered?

If it was me I would time it for tje afternoon ( when they're mostly hiding to sleep their lunches off) and have a fallback plan to either drive further south or give up. If they wanted to take it further my defence would be, " this stuff changes almost daily, how are we supposed to know? "

 

[Googlebot]

I am a stickler for rules normally.

But let’s get real, you won’t catch COVID in a car on your own driving along. I would just go for it. That is with the caveat though if you stop or end up mixing with others, add £1700 and a two week stay in a hotel on return.

Good luck with the triathlon.

 

[Raul]

I’m in the same situation, going to drive south and cross at Metz Saarbrucken

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[orridge]

Probably unlikely to get stopped but if on GB plates might be a bit of a giveaway but they won’t know you haven’t been there for sometime. Currently no border checks on the main roads. There were first lockdown between BE and NL but not recently from my colleagues over there.

 

[Raul]

I’m in the same situation, going to drive south and cross at Metz Saarbrucken

Actually, after I have seen the floods in Germany Belgium, I will detour further south and cross close to Strasbourg going via Stuttgart heading east. There is more to come during Friday and possibly Saturday. There will be plenty of disruption in vicinity; best to avoid it.

 

[Westbarn1]

We ‘slipped’ into Belgium a couple of times recently but didn’t stop, we did however refuel and stop overnight in Luxemburg, at Schengan, but apart from having a bit of a ‘confrontation with 2 traffic cops’ in the Shell garage whilst refuelling (I parked in the car parking bays in front of the shop, they wanted me to move, I said I was waiting for my Wife who was inside, but they were too lazy to get out of their car, or more likely didn’t want to spill their takeaway coffee!

 

[Bucket]

I came back from Netherlands a few weeks ago having driven via Belgium.
I was fully prepared for border or police patrols but I can say there was never any sign of thejse the whole trip. If France to Belgium is as open as ever I can't see why the German border would be different.
In the country the few police I saw did not give us a 2nd glance.
Oh and if you want to save a few quid you can get your official covid test free this month in Holland!

Covid tests are Free in Netherlands during July and August.

Here's something different from our governments approach. The Dutch authorities have made all travel related covid tests free for the main summer months "to help people on their vacations" I make no further comment.....

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