Groessen

As we crossed the border I thought we had got lost and arrived home early. This area is so much like home, the houses look the same, the landscape is the same, the bird life the same, the only difference is the strange place names. Like the Fens it is beautiful in its own right, even if it doesn’t have hills. The site could be any small camping and caravan site in the UK and at €14 it’s dearer than we have had to pay for a while. We also have nearly as many mozzy bites as we would have back home, something I avoided in Italy.

A bridge too far, a tune I have played many many times – September 1944 Arnhem became a battle scene as British and Polish soldiers tried and failed to take control of the bridge. 3000 people were killed in these battles, later the Americans bombed the bridge leaving the Germans to finish the job when they retreated. Tracey’s potted history version may not be the full story or totally accurate, but Arnhem is an easy cycle ride from here and full of history about this battles that razed the town. It’s worth a visit, it certainly makes you think about war. Arnhem is now mainly a modern town!

Nijmegen the oldest town in the Netherlands celebrated 2000 years of existence in 2005 was our other port of call. A pretty enough town, a few nice buildings, unfortunately the churches charge an entrance fee in Netherlands (something I object to) so we didn’t look around the church. We did pay to do the bicycle museum mainly because it was raining, some of the old multi-seated multi-wheeled bikes were fascinating. This town had a laundry and so we also spent some time watching our sheets being circulated in water.