19 November 2014 - Day Trip Luteren to Nijmegen

It was a good night’s rest at the Belmont 50/50 Hotel near Lunteren, Holland. I have had the pleasure of sharing dinner with the Conference delegates from all around The Salvation Army world. Conversations have been interesting but often also hilariously funny. It is all great holiday therapy.

I want to give a special mention to my superhuman PA back home, Joanne Paull who is covering for me so I can have a really decent break. I am locked away from my Lotus Notes emails entirely, and Jo is handling everything in my absence. Jo is such a blessing! My phone is turned off, so it will be a month of no phone calls either. Otherwise, emails and SMS’s can be so seductive that simply means that the benefits of a good holiday are merely eroded by the intrusion of regular work.

Today my mission was to ride to the famous WW2 city of Nijmegen. Actually, Nijmegen was the original capital of Holland prior to Amsterdam. It is also the central point of the country, situated some 25k south of Arnhem on the southern branch of the Rhine River, the Waal. The Rhine comes from Germany. When it enters the flat lands of Holland, it was originally a series of deltas and marsh, but over the centuries the Dutch have developed a series of dykes that actually created two tributaries of the river, the southern one called The Waal, which runs past the city of Nikmegen. The northern one takes the name Neder Rhine.

The bridge across the Waal at Nijmegen was one of the numerous bridges that had to be captured as part of Operation Market Garden in WW2. The US 82^nd Airborne were responsible for this. After much fighting, the bridge was captured, but it all came to nothing because it also depended on the bridge into Arnhem being taken simultaneously, but which subsequently failed, hence it all failed.

Nijmegen was badly damaged, like many Dutch and German cities. I will try to upload a photo from WW2 to the blog, showing the utter desolation of the ‘Centrum’, the old historic centre with the bridge in the background. I sat and had lunch there today. The city has been entirely rebuilt. The Cathedral survived.

Not being fully aware of actually how far it was, I headed away from the Hotel at 9:40am. It was a ‘balmy’ 5C, overcast but no hint of rain. There was so much moisture though in the air, that it may as well have been raining. Every few kilometers I had to stop to wipe my glasses due to the build-up of heavy moisture. My rain jacket was wet all day.

I traced my way back to the town of Ede, some 6k to the south, still not sure of the route to take. I was drawn to the way I knew, back to Oosterbeek, but just after leaving Ede and heading into the vast beautiful forest, I saw the tiny little signs to Renkum, a village to the west of Oosterbeek on the edge of the Neder Rhine (the northern tributary of the now divided Rhine river.

I took it, still in the forest, the scenes breathtakingly stunning. I have never seen anything so beautiful as the forests of Holland. The track zigzagged through the vast forest. I concentrated hard on not missing the tiny sign posts that are very low to the ground and could easily be mistaken as small white painted stones.

As I approached the village of Renkum, I was conscious that I was now in the drop zone for the 1^st British Airborne in 1944. The thousands of paratroopers were dropped over Renkum and Oosterbeek. Winding my way through Renkum, I eventually saw the beautiful Neder Rhine in the distance. Now, I had the challenge of the best way to cross, and then to determine how best to get to Nijmegen, much further to the south.

I had already cycled almost 30k, so it wasn’t a joyful moment to see ‘Nijmegan 29k’ on the road sign as I crossed the bridge to the southern side. That would make the trip 60k, plus another 60k return. Doing some maths I realized that I didn’t have enough daylight remaining if I wanted to explore the city once getting there.

The bikeways however dart ‘hither and thither’. Once off the bridge, I took the bikeway east, initially toward Elden (just south of Arnhem, but turned south again to Elst which is in direct line to Nijmegen. The bikeway signs showed Nijmegen much closer. It would be a 44k trip which made the maths work a little more comfortably. I could be home by 4:30pm, just beating the final curtain of darkness, if nothing went wrong!.

Going through Elst, I was now lining up with the rail bridge across the Waal into Nijmegen. I could see the tower of the Cathedral standing tall, unfortunately surrounded by scaffolding like a tightly woven web, hiding the tower totally. The riding was excellent, long stretches of flat paths allowing the bike to really cruise. I was without panniers today. The bike was lighter and a pleasure to get it rolling at a really good clip at times. I mounted the bridge, which was a very long bridge much like all of the bridges so far. I stopped in the middle to enjoy the scene before me. I could see the entire ‘Centrum’ of the city, the older heart of the old city. Sadly the original buildings have mostly been destroyed, but the city was still elegant and stately, with some of the original buildings clearly restored. The Cathedral stood out on the rare high ground. Further down the river, but not too far I could see the entirety of the bridge that was captured by the US 82^nd Airborne, wondering if I should have taken that route. However, it was nicer to see the bridge from a short distance like this, and to get the photo and also the city.

I rolled off the bridge. It was not yet 12:30pm. Not 3 hours with all the stops to cover the 44k to get here. Assuming it would take all of that to get home (if not lost) I gave myself until 1:30pm to stroll the city and have lunch.

Just off the bridge I discovered the city park. I just had to dwell a while – it was yet again a most stunningly attractive sight – the large pond, ducks and swans, the large trees with the magnificence of the colours of autumn, the ancient fort-like towers behind – all making this one of those scenes that force you to stay and enjoy.

I walked through to the main centre of the historic city. It was crammed with people all going places, talking and skylarking as well. It was good to enjoy the stroll taking in the sights and sometimes the evidence of ancient beauty, before enjoying a salad roll in the café with a window view of the central plaza area.

Reluctantly at 1:30pm, I rolled the bike back over the bridge, taking in one last long survey of the city from the height of the bridge, and the historic bridge just a few hundred meters away, reflecting yet again on the events of WW2, the landing of thousands of US paratroopers, and also the devastating impact of the war on the local Dutch population.

I wanted to see some new sights on my return trip, so I headed back through Elst, but then due north to the tiny village of Driel, almost to the banks of the Neder Rhine. I then had a decision to make – right or left to cross the Rhine. Left would mean going back over the same bridge into Renkum, so I chose right, noticing a small crossing just to the east. Sadly, that crossing depended on a small ferry that was clearly not working. I was then stuck. It was go all the way back and cross to Renkum, then due north to Ede, or keep going east to Arnhem which was closer than Renkum, and cross back over into the city, then come all the way back to Oosterbeek, from where I knew my way home. I chose the latter.

It was a long open run, the bike got flying and I was covering ground quickly. Sadly I had forgotten to charge the GPS which had now died. I estimated my distance now to be twice the 44k plus an extra 10-15k due to the long detour back through Arnhem and Oosterbeek. It would be a 100k day by the time I got back.

It was good to be on familiar ground. There was no need to keep checking my map for a while until I came to the village of Wolfeze, deep within the forest west of Ede. I decided then to take new ground, and cut north, crossing the railway and into some more beautiful forest to the north. I was now carefully watching the signs again, making sure that I did not get lost. Darkness was now closing in. I had no time to get lost.

My route now meant that I bi-passed Ede altogether. I was cutting through wild country. The forests had faded for a while, revealing some of the most desolate country that I had seen since Frankfurt, quite a contrast to the rest of Holland. It was marshy, if not like an English moor, desolate without trees, with just miles of tufts of grass that looked as if it was no good for anything.

I knew I was closing on the area of the Hotel, but by the back door route. The farms returned, with stretches of beautiful forest. I knew now that I was getting close to the Hotel, but by a parallel road to the east of the Hotel, somewhere. As the kilometers clicked away, I had the feeling that one of the next roads to my left was ‘Goorsteeg’, the road where the Hotel is located.

It was therefore a relief to see the small sign pointing left to ‘Goorsteeg’. It was a few kilometers long, and passing farm after farm with their horses and chickens and ponies, I could see the lovely estate of the Belmont 50/50 Hotel coming into view.

It was 4:30pm. My estimate was 100k. It was still about 5C but invigorating. It was a thoroughly enjoyable day, with many more stories to tell.

Tomorrow is another Rest Day. I am not sure what I will do. My thinking is to attempt an easier day, and explore more of the villages to the north which are all situated in and around the large stretch of forest in this part of Holland which apparently is the largest concentration of forest in this part of Europe.

Until then, I send my love tonight from the edge of the Luntersche Buutbosch, and the De Hoge Veluwe National Park, in Holland.