George and Jean's Tandem Tour 2007: Belgium and Southern Holland day 7

Tuesday 18 September: Venlo - Nijmegen

The rain had stopped when we set off at 9:30, following the east bank of the Maas through farms and woodland. A ferry carried us across to Grubbervorst and we passed through villages to Lottum where we were delayed briefly by a puncture in the front tyre. The rain started again as we repaired it and we continued in waterproofs. As on the previous afternoon, it was warm and the rain was light but accompanied by some wind.

We crossed the river once more to the town of Well. The river was particularly wide here and as the main bridge carried quite a lot of traffic the highway authority had thoughtfully provided a separate 'slow vehicles' bridge. We followed the LF3 past a big lake but then onto some farm lanes that were covered in mud left behind by harvesting machines. We got heavily spattered, as did the bike. Eventually we reached a track that was too soft to ride and we had to leave signed route to follow roads for a short distance. The rain stopped and the sun broke through the clouds. We found a convenient picnic table alongside our 'unofficial' route at Afferden where tried to clean the bike and dry the maps. We ate an improvised picnic based on leftovers from previous days and the eggs that our hosts had pressed on us at breakfast. We continued on our improvised road route into Gennep another small but charming town where we found a community-run cafe that served us with very welcome coffee and apple cake.

We rejoined the LF3 and after Middlaar we were directed onto a specially-constructed track that ascended a steep hill and continued for several kilometres through a wooded park as it approached the outskirts of Nijmegen. As often happens to us when approaching large towns, we had difficulty in entering and reaching the centre of Nijmegen. We made a fatal wrong turn that probably added 4-5 kms to our distance. But in one sense this was fortunate; since we discovered a fault on the bike = a snapped gear-changing cable - that could have delayed us badly the following day. As it was, we were able to repair it in the garage at our very hospitable B & B using the spares and tools that we carried with us.

The helpful landlady gave us directions for getting to the centre by bus and we wandered near the Stadhuis, another attractive gabled building with brightly-painted shutters, past the cathedral and the small number of old and reconstructed buildings that had survived the wartime bombings. We arrived on the bank of the very broad river Waal (as the Rhine is called in the Netherlands) where we found Quirin's floating restaurant. They serve mainly Portuguese espetadas, an extra-large grilled brochette of fish or meat served on a stand in the middle of the table. Here is a photo from the restaurant's web site showing us eating our espetadas while watching the impressive procession of river traffic made up of huge river-going barges from several countries, heading up and down to the port of Rotterdam. The evening was very cold but rather than wait 30 minutes for a bus back to the B & B we chose to walk it, which also took 30 minutes.

 Today's distance: 85 km, weather: wet at first, then weak sun, cold in the evening, accommodation: B & B 303 St. Annastraat, +31 (0)24-3501808.

Gennep	Nijmegen	Nijmegen
Nijmegen	Nijmegen: the Waal