National Park

As it is a glorious, sunny day, with only a few benign clouds, temperatures well up in the 70s and a pleasant breeze, we went to visit the National Park. It is called the Hoge Veluwe / High Veluwe, and lies some 4 miles north of Arnhem near the hamlet of Schaarsbergen. Better put your teeth back in after trying that one for pronounciation. The Park has two other entrances, one near Otterlo in the northwest and the other just west of Hoenderloo in the northeast. Don't mistake the suffix "loo" - it is a common one in Holland, and totally devoid of sanitary connotations. There is even a royal palace at Apeldoorn, 15 miles north of Arnhem, called Het Loo.

Back to the Park. It covers 50 square kilometres (20 square miles), and harbours a great variety of habitats. Broadleaf, deciduous, marshland and sandblown. Species like wild boar, elk and deer roam freely in certain areas. You pay €7 at the entrance (that's £ 5 or $10). That covers the use of a "white bicycle", and that's exactly what it says on the box. A pushbike painted white.

Within the Park is contained the famous Kröller-Müller Museum - not included in the entrance fee - which was established in the 1920s. There is a memorial to General De Wet, who fought in the Boer Wars around the turn of the 19th/20th century. Next along the way is a hunting lodge called St Hubertus - that being the patron saint of the hunt of course.

We went there on the pushbike, 8 miles there, and 8 miles back, in addition to a 19 mile cycle track around the park. Needless to say after 35 miles in the saddle we're pretty knackered. The scenery was quite stunning, particularly with the weather we've been having today. No thunderstorms expected for a change - it's just too dry for that. The humidity has finally gone.

I am in the process of uploading the 66 pictures I took today onto the Veluweman site on Flickr. Give me about 20 minutes to finish them off, after I post this entry.