Day ride to Arnhem and Oosterbeek

We decided last night to stay an extra night at the hotel (we have to change rooms) and to do a day ride to Arnhem, the site of a major battle during WWII. Tony’s going to use his GPS to get us there so that we don’t need to buy any more cycling maps. It is 34 Ks each way according to Google Maps to Oosterbeek so we’ll see how GPS does.

We had the hotel breakfast as we don’t know what options we’ll have on the ride. It’s quite a pleasant breakfast, you can even make your own bacon and eggs if you want. Fully bloated we packed up our 

gear and gave it to the hotel, they’ll take it up to our rooms when they are ready.

The weather is lovely and warm again so we set off just after 9. There’s no point being any earlier as nothing is open before 10. So how did the GPS do? Well comparing it with Google Maps it can only be described as weird. The route does a big long arc skipping all the nearby towns and in the end added almost 30% to the ride distance. It was fast riding but very round about, if the wind hadn’t been still in the morning and a roaring tail wind in the afternoon it would not have gone down well. We suspect it struggles with all of the one way roads in the towns which all have exceptions for bikes…

Any way there was very little wind and we made good time to Arnhem. We tried to find the Tourist Info but gave up and had a drink in a café instead. Tony sat there while I went and had a look at the Cathedral. On the way I walked past an archaeological dig; yes they were working on the road beside the church!

The church itself is a bit disappointing as it is being repaired and there is not much to see. The church was repaired over a 20 year period after the war but it turns out they used a type of stone that does not wear well. So now there is another 6 year period of repairing the repairs. One thing that survived the war was the grave map; so they do know where the bodies are buried!

There was a bit of weird 'art'? on the way out of town...

We then went to the Arnhem bridge which was only a block away and had a walk through the free museum there. Interestingly they tell the story from three perspectives, English, Dutch and German. After a photo we rode on to Oosterbeek. As we were going through the town we saw a sign to the war cemetery so we stopped and had a look at that. A very peaceful spot, but they are all sooo young.

Next stop was the Air Museum which also tells the story from multiple viewpoints. Quite interesting, it was spread across several levels with a large mock-up of the town during the invasion with bombs going off and guns firing.

Once we’d finished we stopped in the town for a quick snack, just a roll and a drink, before we had the rip snorter of a tail wind back to the hotel. Tony had tried a different setting for the GPS but it still picked the same path. Oh well, the tail wind was so string we made it all the way home in less time than it took to get to Arnhem on the way out.

We both did our washing and had a rest then I went to the outside terrace and had a HUGE G&T. It’s easily the largest one I’ve ever had; also a couple of boules of sorbet since it was a hot day. Tony joined me after a while for a drink and then we thought we’d have dinner on the terrace.

It was a nice dinner with a Lobster soup starter for me, trout for the main and tart tartin for dessert all washed down with a glass of Riesling J We sat outside until about 10 when it started to get cool. Then back to our rooms and I, finally, decided on what I was doing tomorrow. I’m going to ride to the nearest town in Germany and then catch a train to the Vosges region, but still in Germany so that I can get all regional trains. Bed close to midnight.

And just to prove that we were together at least once...