Day Nineteen: Apeldoorn to Arnhem: (Year 19: 1986)

October 9, 2017

Flash Back to 1986:

Even though we may have thought of the 1980's as a time for quiet family raising on the farm, the photo record proves that we could be quite on the move. Dodie's Dad accompanied me to Nepal. We trekked by Annapurna and Dhaulagiri and even stopped off in Tokyo and Bankok. With Walter's help, this was by far the furthest and most adventurous thing I had ever done.

At dinner one night Steve expressed an interest in trekking in Nepal. Let's do it, said Dodie's 75 year old dad. So off we went.

Not to be outdone, Dodie took the four children to Oahu, Hawaii over their Spring break. Dodie remembers the trip fondly but the girls claim that they were being really difficult teenagers.

Hawaii is a common destination for West Coast Canadians, just as Florida is for people in the East.

Joni went to a French immersion summer camp in Quebec. This was the start of her involvement with French language studies that would eventually take her to France and Spain.

This song expresses the feelings of parents as the children grow up and begin to leave home. The original was written by Malvina Reynolds in 1951.

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All the staff at the Bastion hotel have been so kind, and have followed Dodie's recovery day by day. So this morning as we appeared in full Grampies costume ready to go, it was kind of a big day for them too. Not everyone works every shift, of course, but I did snap a shot of Selina at the front desk, so we can remember her. Sorry Selina, but I also took a shot of the breakfast buffet area, so I can remember it.

Selina, one of our friends from the Bastion front desk

The extensive breakfast buffet area. I will miss the bacon and eggs and soft cheeses, ...

Dodie and one of the girls who prepares omelettes to order at the Bastion breakfast buffet.

We quickly joined the morning cyclists heading to work, school, or daycare and were interested all over again to see the variety and number of bikes in use. Very quickly we were through downtown and out in the southern suburbs. Here the grand houses of Loolan St. near our hotel were replaced by more modest ones, but they were still totally solid and all in good repair. I again started to notice and evaluate the window decorations, but you will be glad to know that I have convinced myself not to take a photo of every window in Netherlands.

Morning in Apeldoorn features lots of Baksfiets

I am offering the following shot of a "lawn". How about that for by a little suburban house?

Now we come to one of those classic cases where the Grampies stumble into something great or important only half (or less) knowing where they were going or what the thing was all about. It turns out that between Apeldoorn and Arnhem lies a national park. It is called the Hoge Veluwe park and it is a place with a unique geology and ecology as well as history.

I think Veluwe may be the name of the geological area and Hoge part of the specific park name, but I haven't been able to get any Dutch people to clarify that. Anyway, the place is a raised area, almost hilly, which is a big thing in Netherlands. The park materials refer to it as an "island". I think there is a good analogy to a "hammock", as they call raised areas in the Florida Everglades. Hoge Veluwe is about 12 km north to south and 8 km east to west, if you are pedalling. Otherwise one could measure it as 13,950 acres. You could compare that to our own Banff National Park, which is 1.6 million acres, but that is not the point!

The point is that Hoge Veluwe contains quite a few special treasures. First, the land. This has evolved over the centuries, with one of the original landforms being shifting and sand dune like. But in the last couple of centuries tree planting has resulted in a heavy cover of fir and pine over a significant area. Then there are ponds, but we are not sure to what extent these are man made or original.

The sandy soil supports a broad variety of burrowing insects, plus mammals like badgers. The most evident is the wild boar. Everywhere that is not fenced and protected by grillwork gates ("Wildroosters") is dug over by the wild pigs. There are also deer and foxes and rabbits. A visitor centre in the middle of the park has a unique museum in which you descend several levels into the ground and see displays about fossils found buried in the area, plus the various animals, insects, and plants that use the sub-soil region.

From our point of view, the most fabulous feature of the park is that it is criss crossed by paved cycle paths. This allows completely peaceful cruising of the forests and heaths, and maybe the chance to see some wildlife. Even in a country of cycle paths, the chance to pedal here must be a big thing because the park provides free bikes at each entrance or visitor centre. But putting it that way does not capture the scale of the whole thing. There are thousands of the bikes, all white, and in all sizes in massive bike parking lots just waiting to be taken for a spin. A staffer at an entrance told me that there are times when all are in use. Not only that, the main visitor centre features just three buildings: the ecology museum and gift shop, a restaurant, and a large bike garage and repair shop. From the garage you can rent all sorts of specialized bikes, in case one of the lovely white free ones does not suit you. In short this park is bicycle crazy.

Just a few of the white bikes at the e Veluwe park

One of the specialty bikes available from the park. This is a wheelchair carrier, Bionx powered.

Another interesting aspect is in the park's origins. It began when a wealthy businessman began buying up land in 1909 to support his interest in hunting. At the same time his wife was buying up artwork, as an avid collector. In 1913 they hired a famous architect/builder to create a hunting lodge for them in the centre of the area, by a large pond. The builder was something of a genius, and he set about creating a unique architecture as well as planning the grounds and even the crockery in the dining room. The building, or yachthouse - Jachthuis - was dedicated to Saint Hubert, so it is the Jachthuis Sint Hubertus. It was closed today, a Monday, but still interesting to look at.

Mushrooms like the damp weather and pig tilled earth

A representation of the Jachtshuis from a poster

In the underground display, a Three Horned Dor Beetle

The White Bikes are famous. You can get a tee shirt memorializing them

Overview of the Jachtshuis from the movie

After watching an excellent film in English about the ecology of the park, touring the museum, and checking out the gift shop filled with unusually high quality and not overpriced items, we decided to try lunch at the restaurant. This had a large and pleasant interior, with even easy chairs by a wood fire. The cafeteria style, where you can order hot dishes at the counter, was reminiscent of Ikea's restaurants, and was backed by a large and clean looking open kitchen area.

We shared a salad of roasted vegetables and fresh high quality lettuce, and Dodie got a great tasting pumpkin soup. Then we split a unique tart which had a crumble topping and firm but creamy rice based filling.

Here is where the story gets a little muddled or uncertain. I had found the salad and tart of remarkably high quality. So much so that I was filled with energy as we cycled though the park in what was now a quite heavy rain. I was thinking a lot about how good food can make you feel so good. But by the time we reached the park gate, Dodie was in distress. We sought out a port a potty in the parking lot, and she spent 30 minutes in there with diarrhea, and reported that she almost passed out. She recovered enough for us to make it to Arnhem and get into our hotel, and then went through it again. All we can possibly identify as a cause is the pumpkin soup. What a difference in what we each "took" from lunch.

In the restaurant, one of the pastries we did not choose. Maybe it was Russian roulette about which thing you chose.

Having rolled straight in Arnhem with our nose in a GPS track, we have no real impression of the town as yet. We have seen a few low rise but modern design buildings, but really nothing else.

Our hotel, near the train station, is called the Hotel Old Dutch, sort of. They have an annex, a km away, called the Dutch Hotel. You have to register at the Old Dutch, and that is where secure bike storage is, as well as breakfast. But we are in the Dutch. That sets up kind of a merry dance, to get luggage and bikes and us back and forth as needed. The hotel people solved this mostly for us by stashing our bikes and running us and our luggage down to the annex in a car.

This was not standard procedure but just an idea from a visiting family member of this family run place, as he listened to us trying to puzzle out the logistics. It turned out well, because it got Dodie up to the room all the faster.

The terrific Park, new health challenge, and double Dutch hotel arrangement have certainly erased any boredom we felt in Apeldoorn. Tomorrow should be interesting too, as we jump on the Rhine and head for Germany.

The path passing through open sandy land.

Today's ride: 48 km (30 miles)
Total: 458 km (284 miles)

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