Wednesday 2^nd October 2019

Xanten – Wolfheze    Holland

88kms

I signed off the blog yesterday in the expectation that the final 68!? Kms would be without incident, merely a formality in reaching our destination. How fickle is fate?

We woke to the clanking of scaffolding being erected on the building next door to our hotel ( a very noisy operation) BUT the sun was shining. Al had mentioned quite casually, that winds today would be blowing from the north but not to worry they were not expected to be very strong. WRONG! We were to battle with a nostril wind gusting at up to 30 or 40 mph and consistently whooshing at about 20. This was unpleasant and very hard work – a bit like riding through treacle. As if the winds were not bad enough, some joker had decided to dig up a vital part of our route with scant mention of a 7kms detour – the second of the day! Lunch time was spent catching fleeing bun bags as the wind strength continued to rise.

Undaunted (well, maybe a bit), we arrived at the first ferry of the day and a piece of good luck. We would only have to wait for 30 minutes instead of the 2 hours we would have had to wait had we arrived just 31 minutes later. (Winter timetable – they all seem to start in October) Be vigilant. A second ferry crossing, this time a continuous toing and froing, and we reached Arnhem and faced the usual dilemma of which of the five or six roads we should take at the junction. Al’s machine and the wind direction concurred and we headed north.

Now, along with many folk, we had been led to believe that Holland was a flat land except (yes, you have guessed it) for Arnhem! Not big hills but after 75 kms of a gruelling ride we had to call on our rapidly reducing reserves and , with some considerable relief, found signs for Wolfheze.  An hour later and 20 or so kms longer than we planned, we were welcomed by the guardian of the camp site and collapsed into the chalet of friends where we planned to take a day off and leave the bikes.

NB.  As points of interest go on this journey, none was more obscure than the nuclear power station that was built and never commissioned as a result of the Chernoble  disaster. Built at great cost, it is now a theme park sporting many attractions but shut at the time of our passing. Enterprising though.

We have now really done with our ride down the river Rhine. It has proved to be one of our favourite routes with a huge variety of urban and rural scenery. The GPX files have been excellent as an accurate and comprehensive source of route finding even though it has sometimes been difficult to know exactly which country we have been in as frontiers are not even a line in the sand.( Thanks to the EU!!!) Nonetheless the differing cultures, languages, history and diets have been a constant source of education and interest. And , as ever, we have met so many lovely people. So, where next?

Rotterdam Market Hall