De Verre Brug

 Today was the last long bike ride of my trip. It was a total of 33.3 km in just under 4 hours. It started off a little on the underfed side as I had bought some groceries the night before to have for dinner/breakfast instead of paying the hotel 40 euro for something I didn't want, but also to avoiding a repeat visit to another place near-by that was nice, but... let's face it, I felt like saving some money.

Alas, I forgot that I didn't have a can opener. Never mind, a bunch of tortillas goes farther than you think and on the way down the hill to Nijmegen I ran into a place called Buddy's that had a perfectly good breakfast. What I think I liked most about it is that the menu really just has one thing on it for breakfast, and it's just called onbijtje - little breakfast.

This helped a great deal. I mean it helped me get from Nijmegen to Arnhem without having to stop at another place I was planning to, but it didn't help me avoid getting lost trying to reach the Waal bridge.

But I did reach, and cross the Waal bridge quite ok. It really is a hefty bridge. It was apparently quite a big deal in its time, I believe something like the longest arch-span bridge in Europe. 

This days trip felt like the shortest, even though it was just as long as my first day when going from Eindhoven to Uden. I think the scenery was nice and maybe it is something that I have become more used to.

No trouble anyway. Got lost in Lent, naturally.

The first town after Lent is one that is called Elst. It was a little sad arriving here because unfortunately, this is as far as the British tanks were able to get before becoming bogged down in a savage battle. It was here, along the Linge river, that the front line seemed to stagnate.

On a small square in the town there is a monument to the liberation and some of citizen who were killed there.

I, unlike the British tankers, had the luxury to continue on to the next site.

On my way into the next village, I caught sight of a Spitfire flying overhead, and behind it, two other airplanes of the era of a type that I could not identify.

The village of Driel was where on 21 September the Polish 1st Independent Parachute Brigade landed in order to provide some relief to the British 1st Airborne division which was trying to capture the bridge at Arnhem. Their arrival is credited with staving off what would likely have been a devastating counter attack by the Germans, but was unfortunately not sufficient to change the outcome of the operation.

Next to the main memorial was another just for Major General Stanislaw Sosobowski. He was the leader of the Polish paratroopers, and was played by a hammy Gene Hackman in the film "A Bridge Too Far".

The humble monument is in a small square by a supermarket and is across from a church which also presented commemoration for this Poles.

Along with myself, there were several visitors who were clearly speaking Polish. They were dressed as re-enactors.

The next part of my journey would take me on a dyke that runs along the souther banks of the Nederrijn. As I rode along it became apparent that once again I had gone to the wrong place. In front of and above me a C-47 was passing over head, and I knew almost immediately what was going to happen. I knew I needed to pick up the pace in order to get to the Royal Engineers memorial as fast as I could.

And then it happened. Before I could even see it happen, there were a trail of paratroopers strung out behind the airplane. I thought I had missed the whole show, but the plane came around three more times, each time dropped another 6 re-enactors.

There was of course a large crowd that had gathered to watch, and I was finally one of the lucky ones who got to see the even up close for the last pass-by.

There was nothing more standing between me and the last, far bridge over the Nederrijn and on to Arnhem. I took the scenic route along a peaceful public space that runs along the river.

I got lost along the way. I'm usually a very good navigator, but today was I was a bit off my game.

Finally, I made it to the John Frostbrug, named after Lieutenant Colonal John Front (no relation to Jon Snow, I checked) who was played by none other than Anthony Hopkins in the movie!

This is it! This is the last bridge. The one that mattered the most, and the one that could not be held after such a tenacious struggle.

This bridge let me over the river into my final destination, Arnhem. I got lost, of course, but eventually found my hotel.

I am grateful for having finally arrived, and am looking forward for a bit of a rest.