Fietsmuseum, Nijmegen

Ride lighter on a "JOCO"

It was easy enough to locate my vriend op de fiets (cycling friend) in Nijmegen, in a residential zone west of the center. Marina Pool lives in a curved apartment complex on Floraweg. Her flat is on the sixth floor with a balcony overlooking a park. Marina, in the same age bracket as Ricky and Mevrouw Janssen, speaks English perfectly, is rather shy. I noticed there were mezuzot in the doorways and I pretended to kiss one by my room.

Rondje Gelders Rivierengebied - Day 3

Through the Maas & Waal heartland.

Breakfast with Ricky Rieter, my cycling friend in Megen. Like many people in this part of Holland, Ricky is a serious walker. (Nijmegen's biggest event is a four-day walking marathon, held in mid-July). A small woman in her 70s, Ricky just got back from an aborted hike from Salamanca to Santiago de Compostela, along the Ruta de Santiago--after 300 km, her sister's knees gave out. But Ricky has already walked from Megen to Santiago and wrote a book about her pilgrimage: Pelgrimeren, lopend stilstaanall. She's also walked all over Holland, including along the entire borders with Germany and Belgium.

Rondje Gelders Rivierengebied - Day 2

Groesbeek is unusual for a town in the Netherlands: it's hilly. The highest point is 90 m above sea level, no big deal but for Holland that's significant. Excavations show that Groesbeek (GROOZ-bake) has been inhabited since Roman times--according to the text on the knooppunt marker board, which also tells me that wild orchids bloom around here in June, turning the fields pink.

Rondje Gelders Rivierengebied - Day 1

I was at another Mezrab event last night, chatting with some kids, an Aussie/English woman named Leni and her Dutch boyfriend. Leni asked me what I do for a living and my first answer was, I ride my bike around. "I like taking trips around the Netherlands," I said.

Her boyfriend's response was typical: "There is nothing to see in the Netherlands." Typical of an Amsterdammer, that is, the smug perception that there is nothing worth experiencing beyond one's own city. I vaguely protested but what's the point in arguing.

Instead I am back out there, this time going to Nijmegen, "oldest city in the Netherlands," to embark on a three-day tour of southern Gelderland, the zone that spreads around the Waal river.

IJsselvalleiroute

Wet IJssel, west side. 

So here it is, the day of my big bike ride and ... it's raining. A light rain, as predicted. Maybe I'll have a leisurely breakfast here in Deventer and hope it stops. The idea is to take the IJsselvalleiroute, which starts on the west side of the river, a part I have not explored yet. The route follows the IJssel valley south, crossing the A1, then going by a ruin of some sort, then striking west through woods to reach a recreational lake, the Bussloo. Then it skirts the lake, crosses back over the A1 and meanders around the town of Twello before heading back to the river: 40 km.

Lebuïnusroute

Potential soccer louts arriving outside Bijlmer Arena.

Approaching Hilversum. The skies look tropical with low-hanging bluish clouds, sun poking through at times. At Amersfoort I will change for a train to Deventer. I missed an earlier direct train to Deventer due to a delay, probably not related to the masses of soccer fans out today for the Ajax match. When I arrived at Bijlmer station, fireworks were exploding rousing the throngs to a peak of excitement. Bellowing Ajax war chants.