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)