Thursday, August 27 - Stage 27 - 3 miles, Day 42 - zero in Rotterdam - The 600 pound Gorilla

We woke up in our tilted cube this morning and checked the weather. If the report was sour, we would explore Rotterdam all day and postpone the trip to Hoek van Holland until Friday when the weather improves. If it had improved since we checked it last night, we would go. 

The weather report was not good. We decided to wait it out. This now gave us time to contemplate the other question, how do we get Sally's battery and bike home?  

When we purchased the bike, we considered all manner of possibilities, European to US electrical adapters, 220 current in Europe vs the 110 standard in the U.S., internationally available components and more. We thought we had all our bases covered. But, while buying a torx tool in Duisberg I was discussing our bike and flying it home with one of the sales people. He questioned how I would get the battery home. I said I was just going to throw the bike in a box, put it on the plane and go home. He blanched, expressing real consternation at the thought of transporting a Li-ion battery on a plane. He sited the rules and restrictions regarding the transport of these batteries. I had no idea they were so regulated and restricted regarding transport. 

Over the next few days, I casually looked into it further and found there was quite a bit of hub bub out on the Internet regarding flying these batteries on commercial airliners. I let it rest while we cycled over the next few days, making our way here. With our free morning, it seemed a ripe time to pursue the issue. 

As we dug into it this morning, the picture got more and more bleak. After reading UPS's and FedEx's manifestos about battery transportation requirements, I thought it best to call them. We were thinking we could transport the bike on our plane and ship the battery via another carrier, such as UPS. 

I got through to them and made my inquiries. I was told the only way they would ship them was if they were packaged by a trained hazmat specialist. I could take the training and package it myself, or I could hire a hazmat company to package them for shipping. Either way, the cost was prohibitive. 

Sally found a company that specializes in shipping bikes. We called them, got a quote of $480 to transport it, but they would have to get back to us about the battery. They did via email later in the day. No. They could not shop the bike with the battery. 

Hmmmm. If we can't ship the bike with a battery, what if we left the battery in Europe and bought one when we got home. No bike shops were open in the U.S. yet, what with the nine hour time difference. I cruised Amazon, Performance Bikes, REI and other U.S. websites. No one listed the Bosch system or its parts. Curiouser and curiouser. I texted Andy and Jeff, asking if they would do a little stateside research into the availability and price of battery replacements, when they woke up. 

It was now 11:00 am, and checkout time. We moved to the diningroom/lobby, set up camp and continued our quest. By this point, we were changing goals. Instead of bringing the bike home, maybe we could sell it in the Netherlands where bikes are king and ebikes are popular. I Yelped bike shops and began calling. I got no's from the first three, then a yes on the fourth call. We negotiated a price over the phone, site unseen. It was less than we wanted, but at least we could recoup some of our original outlay. Further calling resulted all in no's. 

The predicted rain was now falling. We discussed our possibilities. While we worked the problem, one of the girls cleaning up the hostel starting talking with Sally and was soon apprised of our situation. She suggested a Facebook group in Rotterdam that acts similar to Craigslist. She friended us, and invited us to join the group. It did not go through, so after monkeying around a bit we let it be. 

We decided we should go to our new hotel, drop our bags, and then visit bike shops. I went out to get our bikes from the locked storage room and attach all our bags. Sally was a long time coming out. When she did emerge from the hostel, she invited me back in. Somehow (you know Sally) she got into a discussion with the manager of the hostel about our issue. His best friend runs a shipping company. He was sure he could figure a way for us to transport the battery. He was on the phone to his friend for 15 minutes. When he got off, he took our text phone number and said he would text us when he found something. He mentioned a bike shop down the street and suggested we stop by. Suited up in our rating gear, we hit the streets, headed for the shop. 

The bike shop said no to buying the bike. But he did suggest a shop at the main train station. We thanked him and headed for our next shop on the list, the one that had agreed to buy it. As we rode across busy downtown Rotterdam, we realized the shop we were headed for was the same one the last shop had suggested. 

The Rotterdam central train station is another piece of architectural art. It is also big. We were told the shop was below the station. It took us 15 minutes to find it. In the process we discovered the largest bike storage area I have ever seen. It was reminiscent of the last scene from the first Indiana Jones movie. Vast and full of bikes. Thousands of them. 

We brought the bike to them. They were very kind and truthful. We agreed on a price, but told them we had to finish our ride to the Hoek van Holland, which they happily agreed with. We told them we would try to find a better price by selling it via the Internet or our friends, which they again said was fine. Just give them a call a day ahead so they could get to the bank to get the money. We said we would. 

We rode to our hotel, checked in, locked up the bikes and walked back to a couple Chinese restaurants we passed earlier. We shared a meal, then walked the outdoor shopping plaza, stopped for groceries and then headed back to the hotel. 

I decided to phone AirCanada to simply ask about the battery. The woman I got on the phone, very helpful and friendly, did some cursory checking and said it would be fine to fly the bike on the plane!  I asked her to email me documentation that verified her claim. She balked, then put me on hold to do more looking. After 35 minutes she had not returned. She either forgot me or was so engrossed in her reading she didn't notice the time?  Anyway, I called back, got a different agent. She put me on hold for 5 minutes, then came back on to say no way. We could not put the battery on the plane. 

So tonight we go to sleep with the 600 pound Gorilla running loose in the room, uncontrollable. We will most likely sell him to the bike shop, along with his attached bike, on Monday or Tuesday, but will try some Internet postings first, to see if we can get a better price. 

Friday, August 28 - Stage 27 - 30 miles, Day 43 - Rotterdam to Hoek van Holland - Worth the Wait

We awoke to clear skies. As is my habit, I checked my phone first thing and found our invite to the Craigslist-like user group on Facebook had come through. I looked through the offerings and noticed most wree rather inexpensive, low end kind of stuff. Old book cases, old bikes, hair dryers, that kind of stuff. Ours would be the most expensive posting. But, worth a try. I constructed an ad for the bike, went out to take some pictures and posted it.  We will see what happens. 

Showers, packing up and breakfast out of the way, we were on our bikes on the streets of downtown Rotterdam by 8:15 am. A few clouds lingered, but the sun was poking through and the day looked promising. 

Our route took us through Rotterdam, headed northwest. Using the GPS, we navigated through the busy downtown area, rounding traffic circles, passing over canals, bumping down brick streets and making quite a few wrong turns or missed turns. It all sorted out and soon we were next to our old friend, the Rhine (or at least a channel of it out in this sprawling delta), headed for Hoek van Holland, the town where the Rhine meets the North Sea. 

I saw we were receiving comments on Facebook, so I brought them up. One person tried to argue thatbshipping the battery was no problem, companies do it all the time. Another accused us of being crack heads and trying to sell stolen goods. I posted that we had the original receipt and thanked them both for their concerns and comments. After that, we received no further comments or inquiries. 

The bent toward innovative architecture continued. We peddled past two buildings, they looked like apartment buildings, with some innovative designs.  Modern windmills slipped by, as did many ships in the river, moving both up and down stream. 

We had read in our guidebook that we would be passing the largest moving man made structure in the world. As we rode, we were searching downriver for signs of some monstrous object that could move. We saw gigantic windmills and cranes on the other side, part of the port project on the south side of the river. They were big, but did not fit the description. However, a white object started to come into view, lying low, next to the river. This had to be it. 

In 1957, a combination of a severe rain storm  and storm surge from the sea overran the dikes and flooded part of Holland. Many thousand were killed, homes and farms and factories destroyed. To stop this from occurring again the dikes were raised and strengthened, but that did not solve the problem of the threat of another storm surge racing up the Rhine to inundated Rotterdam and the surrounding countryside, all below sea level. To solve the surge problem, they built a movable steel wall that can be swung out to block the river and the incoming surge. The two halfs of the wall sit on either banks. Controlled by computers and tied to weather collecting monitors, if it senses a surge coming, the walls are swung out onto the river and filled with water to sink them to the bottom. These walls are huge!  Even resting on the bottom they rise many feet out of the surface of the river to block the storm surge. How big are they?  Each one, if stood up, would be as big as the Eiffel Tower. They are big!

We stopped by the visitors center and paid our €2 entrance fee. We were the only ones there on this Friday noon. We watched the movie. It explained the size and purpose of the barrier and how they fit into the larger water control system. It was fascinating. We had an apple pancake/crepe at the snack bar, then boarded our bikes for the rest of the journey to the mouth of the river, now not more than ten kilometers away. A quick stop for groceries as we entered town and we navigated to the campground. Once found, we left it to complete our ride to the North Sea, just ten minutes away on the other side of the dunes. 

This area is very reminiscent of Long Beach, with arcade type businesses, but has a line of restaurants at the top of the beach. We rode down to the end of the pavement, about 100' from the water's edge, and took our picture (many of them). Somehow the timing worked perfectly that it is our anniversary today, our 38th. We have been together for 40 years. Wow!  Are we that old?

We rode around a bit, then headed back to the campground to register and set up the tent. We were starving. It was now 1:30 pm. We had purchased sausage and potatoes at the store, so we fried up dinner/lunch. Delicious. 

We had read that you could ride out onto the jetty at the mouth, so we rode back to explore that option. My GPS maps did not show any such road/route, so it took a few trials before we found the right path out onto the breakwater. When we reached the end of rideable/walkable surface, we felt we had completed our ride of the length of the Rhine. 

We stopped for a beer and a pop at one of the shoreside restaurants, then headed back to the campsite for a rest and to charge Sally's gorilla. The campsite office was closed, so our only option for charging was the restroom plugins. We had had my phone battery stolen a few weeks ago, so we were a little leery to leave it unattended, but we did and it survived. We put it in the women's restroom, trusting to that sex's more honest nature. 

We went back to the restaurant for our anniversary dinner. When first married we were quite short of funds, both still in college. We would make home made pizza crust, then sprinkle vegetables from our garden on it for toppings, cutting beets to look like slices of pepperoni. We took to calling this creation "beet pizza". We still laugh about it, and in honor of our humble beginning, often have pizza at our anniversary. That is what we did tonight. A beautiful setting sun, blue skies, light wind and seated inside a glass walled booth on the beach, we were quite content. With the sun nearly dropping below the horizon and the temperature cooling, we rode back to our campsite and snuggled beneath our favorite down comforter for the night.

We did it. 1106 miles and 40 years. Both satisfactory accomplishments.   

Wednesday, August 26 - Stage 26 - 26 miles, Day 41 - Schoonhoven to Rotterdam - It's Almost Over

The guidebook we have been using, "The Rhine Route", by Mike Wells, divides the entire ride into 27 stages, each about 50 kilometers long. Today, we ride stage 26, Schoonhoven to Rotterdam. It is one of the shorter ones, listed as 37 km. Logically, that means we should ride the last leg, Stage 27 tomorrow. But, keeping a watchful eye on the weather, we see that tomorrow's forecast is for rain most of the day. Yet, Friday the weather looks sunny. This has been a wonderful adventure. Why end it on a down, dreary, drippy note?  If we postpone a day, and we have plenty of extra days, we can ride the last leg in sunny style, camp without cowering from the rain in the tent and enjoy the North Sea coastline. That is what we plan to do. If you have followed this blog much, you can guess who came up with this alteration in our plans. Hint: it wasn't the Supertanker. 

Neither of us slept much before 1:00 am this morning. The wind was delightfully blowing, rustling our down comforter as we lay in the Tarp Tent. Unlike an enclosing tent that blocks the wind, a Tarp Tent lets the air move through in an attempt to lessen condensation on the inside of the waterproof surface. And so it did last night, something we both enjoy. Between the wind, the ships motoring up and down the river 200 yards away and the sheer warmth and comfort of our cozy nest, we just couldn't sleep. 

We woke up at 7:15 am this morning and enjoyed the luxury of a picnic table to aid in packing and eating breakfast. The wind was still at it, but the sun was peeking through, lending a little warmth to the activity. We had finished breakfast and were in the final prep to leave, when Michael, an Englishman and our neighbor of the night walked by. Due to the rain, we had not met last night. We introduced ourselves and got immersed in a conversation that lasted half an hour. We finally had to excuse ourselves to get on the road. 

At this point the Rhine is in its massive delta that includes Amsterdam, Rotterdam and all the land in between. It is divided into multiple channels, all contained by dikes. We rode half a mile to a ferry dock and crossed to the other side of the branch we are following to Rotterdam. 

Once on the other side the wind continued its punishing push from yesterday. We alternately rode up on the dike and down in the flatland. When off the dike we rode through bird preserves and other points of interest, always on roads and bike paths surrounded by ditches and channels full of water to within a foot of the level of the ground. Although we did not realize it at the time, all those channels were flowing the same way we were riding, to pumping stations to raise the water up the 2 to 5 meters required to get it up in the river and out to sea. Later in the day we learned that they must pump 24/7 to keep the land above water. 40% of the country is below sea level. If the pumps couldn't run for three months the area would be under a meter of water. The job of pumping started about 1739 and was done by windmills, 20 of them, manned by . . . Millers. 19 of those 20 windmills still stand, nicely restored and are a major tourist attraction. We rode into this double row of elegant machines from the land side and were caught off guard by the crowds of people. We toured one of the windmills, spinning in the strong wind, vigorously pumping water. After my experience with the windmill a few days ago I was suspicious that this mill was actually powered by the wind. Granted, the wind was really blowing, but they had no canvas unfurled over the lattice of the blades so that the width of the blades actually catching the wind was quite small. I did not look into it further. Now I wish I had, as I am curious to know if that windmill was authentically wind powered or electrically spinning for the hordes of tourists. Either way, it was magnificent to see these symbols of Holland's past and present. We enjoyed the movie in the visitor's center that explained the origin and purpose of the windmills and the engineering that keeps the ocean off Holland. 

We caught another ferry, crossing the Noord River, depositing us in Ridderhaven. From here it took us about a hour to ride into downtown Rotterdam and to our Hostel. 

It is always a shock to ride into the big cities after riding country roads, lanes and deserted bike paths. This time the shock was two fold, the bustle of cars, buses and trolleys and the masses of bikes zipping everywhere. Every street has a dedicated separate bike lane parallel to it, with red pavement to denote it is for bikes. It is nice to have a lane to keep the cars away. 

I am thrilled about our hostel for the night. It is housed in the famous "cube houses" built in the early 80's. Each "house" is a cube standing on its point on top of a 30' high hexagonal column.  The cubes have three floors inside (they are big!).  39 were built, each house is connected to the one next to it, in rows and clusters of six, each cluster forming a hexagon. Can you see why, as a former geometry teacher, I think this is so cool. The hostel company bought 9 of the units and connected them with other walls to create a very cool living environment. My description does not do it justice, and unfortunately, neither do my pictures. In fact, I wandered through the complex scratching my head, trying to understand the arrangement and how it all fit together and I am still a bit confused. 

After we moved into our portion of one of the cubes we wandered out into the city to find a bite to eat. Once out and about we discovered  what an amazing collection of architecturally unique building this city has. It is really cool!  I have a few pictures of some of the buildings, but it doesn't do justice to the whole of the city. 

Once back in our room we began planning the next phase of our trip, namely getting the bikes to Paris on trains that don't allow bikes, unless in boxes (back to this game). We fell asleep with the conclusion we would take regional trains all the way from Rotterdam to Paris. These allow bikes. It will require about six train changes and take about 9 hours compared to 2 hours and 45 minutes and no train changes on the high speed trains. We also were checking updates on weather forecasts to finalize the decision of whether to ride the final stage to Hoek van Holland at the North Sea tomorrow or on Friday. Of course, the 600 pound gorilla in the corner that we are ignoring for the moment is the 400 watt hour Li-ion battery that powers Sally's e-bike. They are not allowed on passenger planes. How will we get it home? That is tomorrow's adventure. Stay tuned. 

Tuesday, August 25 - Stage 25 - 32 miles, Day 40 - Wijk bij Duurstede to Schoonhoven - How Do They Do That?

Are the Europeans better at predicting the weather, or am I just paying better attention?  Each day we look at the weather forecast for the day and the days ahead and plan our schedule around their hourly forecast in our attempt to dodge riding in the rain. Most of the time it works amazingly well. 

For example, today the forecast showed rain starting at 6:00 pm with it continuing until 11:00 pm. We never ride until 6:00 pm, so getting into camp before the rain began was not a problem. During our ride the wind was fierce, and directly against us the entire day. It brought some dark looking clouds overhead, but they didn't dump on us, just as forecast. We pitched our tent in a large, lushly green lawn at the marina/campsite right on the river's edge. Gorgeous. We took a nap and woke up at 5:00 pm. We needed to get groceries in town, Schoonhoven, half a mile away. We quickly rode to town and sought out the grocery store on Yelp, knowing the rain was coming soon. It started to drip on us as we approached the store. We made a quick round of the store, gathering our supplies and scurried back to our bikes outside. The rain was light, but provided good incentive to ride back to the tent with haste. We crawled inside just as the sky let loose, about 5:55 pm. How do they do that?  We have been in the tent these past four and a half hours, cruising the web, cooking dinner and listening to music, all with the constant drum of rain on the tent. The wind has also been constant, rattling the tent fabric and keeping the condensation off the inside of the tent. Really, a nice afternoon. The forecast showed the rain stopping at about 11:00 pm. 15 minutes ago it stopped. We high tailed it to the restrooms 200' away to do our business and brush our teeth. Back in the tent, it has started to sprinkle again, but I have faith it will quit in the next 45 minutes. I will let you know, as I will still be writing this entry at that time. 

We woke in our hotel this morning after listening to it pour last night, congratulating ourselves on the foresight of a hotel room. Breakfast was served at 7:30 am in the restaurant downstairs; hard boiled egg, bread, meat, cheese and tea. 

We were on our bikes by 8:45 am and out of town by 9:00 am. We are heading generally west now, and the wind was blowing decidedly east, at about 25 mph, with higher gusts. My speedometer stopped working this morning, but Sally's showed our considerably reduced speed, about 6-8 mph, as we pushed against the flow of North Sea air rushing at us. The lighting was amazing as the sun came in and out from behind the passing clouds. For the past week I have been extolling the wonders of riding on the top of the dikes, the views it affords, the level path and the fine, smooth paving.  Today I discovered the disadvantage. This high vantage point in otherwise totally flat land gives the wind a straight shot at you with no obstructions.

Here is a measure of the energy required to battle the headwind. Sally's eBike has a battery meter on it with five bars. For the past weeks, with it on "Tour" mode, she gets 12-14 miles per bar. By the end of our day, covering 35ish miles, she has used two bars-maybe the third bar winks out as we pull into camp. This includes using the "Turbo" mode to climb the occasional short hill. Today, we travelled 32 miles into the wind. By mile 28 she had used four bars. As we rolled into the marina/campground her range estimator said she had 2 miles left. It was a workout. 

Today, as yesterday, we rolled by the most amazing farms. Large, beautiful brick houses, brick barns, bricked area around the barns, lush, green lawns, beautiful, large flower gardens with trimmed bordering hedges and acres of either corn or green fields. It was beautiful. We also spent some time down off the dikes, riding through that farmland and through some neighborhoods. That was a sight to see. Most of this land is at, or below sea level. The water table is about two feet below the surface. Nearly all the houses had ditches, or small canals 5-6 feet wide, bordering on three sides. It was a little creepy to see these beautiful homes so close to the water level, especially in August, although I don't know that this is their driest month like back home. I do know the Rhine is quite low on water this year due to high temperatures and low rainfall, but that was affecting the middle Rhine and might not play into this portion which is at sea level. 

Today's ride was all about controlling water. We passed lock after lock and dike after dike, all playing some roll in keeping the water in its place and allowing towns and farms to exist. Tonight we are camped at Schoonhoven. It is 2 meters below sea level. If global warming isn't stopped, this area will be 4 meters below sea level in 50 years. I'm not sure even the industrious Dutch can maintain water control measures to keep their country dry. I have always heard, ever since grade school about the Dutch dikes and farms, the boy who put his finger in the hole in the dike to save his town. It is marvelous to ride a bike through the country and see the real thing, up close, literally inch by inch. Add a trip like this to your bucket list. This has been an amazing experience. We only have two days left to the Hoek van Holland, where the Rhine dumps into the North Sea. We both hate to see it end. 

However, we are now planning to delay the end by a day. The weather forecast says heavy rain all day Thursday. That was the day we were going to ride from Rotterdam to the Hoek van Holland. We really want to camp at the mouth of the river, but don't want to camp after riding in the rain all day. The new plan is to spend two nights in Rotterdam, Wednesday and Thursday, wait out the weather and then ride the last 30 kilometers on Friday when the weather forecast is good, spend Friday night at the beach, and then ride back to Rotterdam to spend a few days with the couple we meet back in Chur, Switzerland on day 4, who live in Rotterdam.  

It is now 11:32 pm and guess what?  The rain has stopped. How do they do that?

Monday, August 24 - Stage 24 - 21 miles, Day 39 - Wageningen to Wijk bij Duurstede - Picturesque Holland

It rained last night. Hard. Not continuously, but  in long spurts of heavy downpour. It did not rain for the last few hours before daylight, still I expected the tent to be heavy with condensation on the inside, what with all that moisture hanging about. It was not. Dry. The dynamics of moisture escapes me. It was nice to get up without rain falling from the sky and to pack the tent with the inside dry. The outside was still very wet from rain. 

A fog all the way to the ground surrounded us as we pack our panniers, ate breakfast and cycled out of the campground. We were about 2 miles off route. We cycled south through residential and farm land to reach Eurovelo 15 on the banks of the Rhine. 

It is Monday morning and the commute is in full operation. Many, many cyclists pass us on the cycle routes along every road. There is more car traffic this morning as well. 

Once on the route we again stay mostly on the dike that protects the communities from the Rhine when it comes rampaging during high water. About 10:00 am we hit the 1000 mile point as tracked by the odometer on my bike. I set it at zero at Oberalppass and it has been recording every inch we cover, whether on the route or off to the grocery store. 

The last five miles into Wijk bij Duurstede is through gorgeous farm lands. From our vantage point on the dike we can oversee the field of corn, pasture land and hay. This farms have expensive looking houses and outbuilding. These farmers do well. 

Wijk bij Duurstede boasts the only windmill with a drive thru tunnel for a base. Of course, we rode thru it. The town is absolutely beautiful. As picturesque and quaint as if on a movie set. Treed central square. Narrow streets with row houses. Shops. And more cyclists and pedestrians than one would expect from such a small town. No doubt, we are in the Netherlands. 

 We arrive at our hotel at the same time as the owner, about 11:30 am. This boisterous lady checks us in and shows us to our room. We took an hour to get organized, then spent an hour riding our bikes through town and gathering groceries. 

Our goal today was to get as close to a zero day as possible. We were both feeling fatigued and needed to just lie around and let our bodies catch up. We succeeded pretty well, except for a trip out for a beer and soda two blocks away at about 3:00 pm. Crackling thunder and pelting rain sent us scurrying for our hotel room and forced us back to our sedentary ways. We used the time to make arrangements for our Paris stay, map out the rest of our route to the North Sea (only three days left!) and research how to get our bikes to Paris on the French trains that do not allow bikes. We are back to the bikes in boxes fiasco. 

The weather forecast is improving. Less rain, and when it does come it is mostly in the evenings. Hopefully, we can end the trip with a dry tent.  

Sunday, August 23 - Stage 23 & 25 - 33 miles, Day 38 - Millingen an der Rijn to Wageningen - Tail Wind and Market Garden

We woke this morning to a strong wind. We knew the forecast was for rain tonight and it appears the wind is the forerunner bringing it in. But, our big question was, is it blowing our way, or will we fight it all day?

The tent was perfectly dry, a first this trip. The wind must be removing moisture. We got up, packed our gear and sat on the dry grass to eat breakfast. I have found Muselix to be my breakfast of choice. It is like granola that was not fried in fat and slathered with sugar. Just rolled oats and other grains with raisins, hazelnuts, sliced almonds, dried bananas and other stuff. It is the one cereal you have to let soak in milk for quite a while to make it enjoyable. I usually add a whole banana and a sliced nectarine mixed in. Good. 

Once on our bikes we found the wind pushing us up the dike, much to our satisfaction. I noticed that the route on the GPS app was now labeled EV 15, "Eurovelo 15" and has numbered marker points that match the guidebook we are using!  This makes navigating even easier. Our author often leaves the established route to avoid towns or bring us to a point he deems worthy, which adds an element of confusion; which route should we take?  Sometimes we stick to the EV15 route as laid out, sometimes his, and in today's case we left both to take a shortcut to our camping site. We have never been lost, and only rarely get off route by more than a few hundred feet before seeing our mistake and turning around. 

Within the first five miles we rode through the town of Pannerden, a small, very neat and trim community. Our route took us through the middle of a residential area that was having a huge community garage, or in this case, street sale. The town cops had the traffic barriers up, someone had put speakers up and down the half mile winding course of the road and the road was lined with all the neighbor's garage sale goods. We rode through, taking pictures. It was only about 9:00 am on a Sunday morning. It appeared the whole town was out selling. We wondered who was left to do any buying. 

We had another ferry crossing this morning, and 20 minutes after Pannerden we took the turn to the landing. As we approached, we wondered if we were going to have to wait for the ferry to start running on this Sunday morning. As soon as we were in sight we could see our fears were unnecessary. The ferry was on our side of the river and was waiting for us. We rode on, paid our €1.90 fee, and were quickly across. Two miles and we were Huissen, a town on the outskirts of Arnhem. 

We noticed an increase in cyclists as we approached Arnhem. Must be in the Netherlands. 

Arnhem was the center of the WWII battle coded named "Market Garden", the largest airborne assault to date; an attempt to capture bridges behind German lines and expedite the defeat of Germany. It did not work like that, the Germans overpowered the 10,000 men that parachuted in, held the bridges and killed or captured all but 2000. The area near the bridge is all modern buildings. The fighting and artillery was so intense in that area that no building survived. The British took refuge in a oval shaped perimeter in the town and the Germans flattened every house and building in the area in an attempt to stop them. 

A hotel in nearby Oosterbeek served as headquarters for the British and is now a museum about the ill fated attack. We spent an hour or two in this excellent museum which  covered all aspects of the attack and effect on the towns people, in detail. 

We left the museum about three and rode the couple miles to the Doorworth Castle. There we snooped around a bit and had a piece of pie at the snack bar, before continuing our ride to the campground. 

As always, the campground seems more like a mobile home park with a green area for tenters. But, as we learn more, we find many Europeans come for many weeks, if not months during the summer on "holiday". 

The reception was closed for the day, so we found the restaurant and paid for our camping €19.50. We found a patch of grass not too far from the WC and pitched the tent. Sally sought out a camper who would let her charge her bike battery. She found a kind gentleman of 70 who had been here two months. He lives only 20 minutes away. He was the aide de camp to the queen.   I found a nearby neighbor to charge my phone battery. We cooked up a dinner of new potatoes and sausage, fried in our pot. Excellent.  The forecast was for rain starting about 7:00pm and they were right on. We scurried into the tent as it started to fall, blogged and slept. The weather for the next week will be "dodgy", as the British say. We are hoping to dodge the rain storms each day by watching the hourly forecasts. Today we were successful. It can rain all night, but we hope it quits in the morning. It is no fun to pack up in the rain.