Wednesday 4 June 2008

A tale of two rivers

Went on a cycleride this evening, during a dry spell. It poured with rain most of the afternoon, but between 5 and 9 it dried up. So after supper, we headed off to the river IJssel, south of Velp. We took a shortcut to the bridge at Westervoort (sorry about picture quality, the light was lower than I guessed), thence onto a new bridge, which spans the river Rhine. The Rhine [Neder Rijn, Lower Rhine at Arnhem] splits a mile or two east of Arnhem, with the IJssel going north and the Rhine continuing west. A bridge, carrying a dual carriageway, spans the river just downstream from the fork. The bridge is called the Andrej Sacharov Bridge, after the famous Soviet dissident.

On the far side of the river lies the town of Huissen, which used to be an independent state in the 17th century. We proceeded west along the river dyke to the old village of Malburgen and a small nature reserve. A family of ducks served to demonstrate the speed of the water. Two canoeists braved the force of the current, which is much greater than you'd think. And to think the waterlevel is at its summer low. In winter, the river can rise up to 5 or 6 metres (17 to 20 feet) higher than it sits at the moment.

We crossed the Rhine again via the John Frost Bridge, the same crossing that was the focus of "A bridge too far". Operation Market Garden came to grief here in September 1944, when the push to liberate Holland from occupying Nazi forces foundered on poor intelligence and poor communication. Read more of John Frost onWikipedia.
For reference, the movie was shot at the town of Deventer, 22 miles north of Arnhem.

Pictures (incl. map)

6 comments:

Anonymous said...

Glad that it dried up enough for you to have that nice ride around. Enjoying your photo's as always. Love Sybil x

Anonymous said...

I have been over that bidge ,didnt realise that was its name  or maybe I did at the time ! just always knew it as 'A Bridge To Far ',and I remember ,shopping in Arnhem,before going to the war musem ,and cemetary to see the war graves there ,a very moving experiance ..love Jan xx

Anonymous said...

Hey Guido,

Sorry you are having so much trouble with aol.  Computer problems are verrry frustrating.  You may just have to show aol you are more determined than they are!!  Or should I say hard-headed?  LOL

Enjoyed your pictures, as always.

Take care, my friend.
Frances

Anonymous said...

I love how you can take us on a site-seeing trip no matter where you are.  I will try to be back soon to catch up with your entries and check out your photos.  Hope you are doing well.
Lori

Anonymous said...

It sounds like you had a nice ride out.
Loved the photos, as always. The river looks so wide, and the barge so long, ducklings were so cute and the farmhouse looks so pretty.
Hugs
Carolxx

Anonymous said...

Thank you for the photos, sounds like you had a good ride
hugs Jayne