Where glaciers once ruled..........

[Francois_Dumas]

Late September my trusty Nikon D70 developed a problem.... the chip (that replaces the film in conventional SLR's) got dirty and had to be cleaned. I found a company in Nijmegen that specializes in cleaning them (and did well!).

 

Nijmegen may be known as one of the towns involved in WW2 Operation Market Garden.... the attempt to capture the bridges over the IJssel and Rhine in order to thrust northwards into The Netherlands. Or the movie after Cornelius Ryan's book 'A bridge too far'.

 

I crossed the bridge after an hour and a half riding in really nice Autumn weather. Since I knoew the memory chip would have to be clean, I did not take any picture on my way down there..... but riding back home (via a detour of course !!!) I made up for it.

 

I took one of my favorite routes, taking me through the center-east of the country, through a region called De Veluwe.

 

This is a pretty special area... and the center consists of a large Nature Park. The landscape is special in that it has been formed by, and not much changed since!!!, the last ice age ! When the great glaciers that covered most of Europe retreated they left sand dunes and large boulders, little pools and puddles all over the place. One of the few areas where this barren landscape remained is De Veluwe.. and it is kep tthat way with very little housing except for some old villages, no agriculture.

 

The only living things you'll find there is wild animals and sheep (used to graze on the heather fields so they don't have to be maintained manually..... if the heather would be left alone it would change in forests....

 

There are two other areas like this.. one in the south and another one near the German border, even more southwards.

 

Main traffic here (except for the through roads) is bicycle traffic !

 

 

 

September i svery quiet of course, although this day there were a lot of bicyclists around due to the very warm september weather.

Here is the RT on a deserted parking near the Deeler Woud (on eof the very old forests the area features), and near one of the largest military bases too.....

 

 

This is one of the roads leading around the Deelen Airbase..... there IS agriculture in patches around the actual Park.... but still ver small-scale, nothing like the big farms up north!

 

 

I guess the defense spending cuttings that happen everywhere in the western world also negatively influence things like military museums. The Air Museum at Deelen looks 'shabby' to say the least :-(

 

 

The roads around this part of the country are a joy to ride on the RT, but also on bicycle

 

 

.... and who said we don't have MOUNTAINS in Holland !!!???

 

Oh well..... curved land then... THERE !

 

 

Many of these forest roads criss-cross the region. Nice and shady in summer time. No fall colours end of September yet.... :-(

 

 

The area is maintained and controlled by the State Forrestry Service....

 

 

It was a weird day weather-wise.... rather warm for the time of year (as is October !!), with sometimes gray skies, sometimes soummer clouds....

 

 

... and the odd drop of rain to make things green (and wet)....

 

 

The houses and dwellings are different too in this area. The farms are older and much smaller than up north. Pretty cozy......

This is actually where my family dwells from, the east of the country.... although I was born in the west. I like the houses....

 

 

And here is one of the famous heather fields...... bike paths criss-crossing through them everywhere.....

 

 

The equally famous sheep 'maintaining' our heritage....

 

 

Just to keep the sheep IN, not the visitors OUT ;-)

 

 

And the roads leading along the heather field in the previous pictures.. the little road on the right is for the bicyclists of course

 

 

.... then End !

[g_nuse]

Great photos.

 

The jet in front of the museum looks like it has shrunk with the military budgets.

[Whip]

Francois

 

Very green for late September I imagine.The road surfaces look perfect, smooth and fast. I didn't see any cameras in the trees. Looks like fun.

 

Thanks

Whip

[Ben_Ricci]

Nothing worse than a dirty sensor.

 

Very nice photos. Those roads look so inviting. Thanks for sharing.

[Firefight911]

Thanks for sharing. Beautiful stuff!

[BamaRider]

Enjoyed your pics and trip report. Good work.

[George]

Nice ride out and pics there Francois, can't believe the Autumn this year. Last night we had a Halloween Party down on the canal boat, and it was around 15C at 8PM

[Francois_Dumas]

Yeah, crazy !!

Well, they 'promised' us a drop to 10 second half of the week !!!