To Nijmegen then along the Maas

August 26, 2012

We thought it would be a hard day today and it was. About 78 km which is not a huge distance but we had to get through Nijmegen which is a big spread out city and we had a very strong head wind all day.

When we arrived in Nijmegen a market was being set up which always attracts us and we were able to get our bread and fruit there in the lovely old heart of the city. In the square are some stunning buildings, one had a date on it of 1610 and the clock incorporated a carillion which was playing some Bach to celebrate 9am.

Getting out of the city was a bit of a problem as sometimes numbers were missing. Anyway I had a brilliant idea, there is a canal going between the Waal and the Maas and on the map it appeared to have a cycle path beside it. I was surprised when we started along it that there were not lots of other cyclists but the reason was soon apparent we kept coming to flights of stairs which were going up to roads that crossed the canal. It was clearly not the smartest idea and we aborted it and tried the sprawling suburbs. I thought they would never end. When they did I think that we must have relaxed a little too much as we arrived in Gennip three times. I am pleased to say we have at last left it and will not be spending the rest of our lives there. After that a combination of numbers and the universal saviour the GPS got us to Venray and we even found the hotel I had booked.

After all that moaning it doesn’t sound as if we had a good day but we did. We saw the old centre of Nijmegen; we watched little boys playing soccer (in Gennip of course) ; we marveled at the complexity of the water ways in this area. Apart from the Maas , which has a separate course the rivers all join up with the Rhine (and the Maas is joined to one branch of it by a massive canal), Therefore my conclusion is that the Netherlands is really just a massive delta of the Rhine. We will be getting to know the Rhine well as when we join it again we will be following it to its source

Coming into Venray it is a medium to small sized city. Like nearly all Dutch towns its centre has no cars which make it lovely to explore which we will do as soon as I have finished this.

The Dads on the sudeline are just as vocal as thse in Brisbane

Lots of these guys complete with battle axes but we were safe

Today's ride: 78 km (48 miles)
Total: 1,309 km (813 miles)

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