Deventer to Hoenderloo: over the river and through the woods

May 3, 2012

WEATHER: foggy and cloudy all day, cool but no rain

At about 7:30 Eva peeked through the curtains onto the terrace. Yep, the German guys were already out there smoking--or maybe they had been there all night. The river was partially obscured by fog and low cloud, so we were not in a hurry to rush out, especially since our ride today would be a short one.

We enjoyed talking with Marc and Margreet downstairs over a good organic breakfast with homemade bread, a delicious selection of cheeses, and eggs from their Brahma hens. (The smokers had already left for the day.) This was one of the few B&Bs where breakfast was a sociable affair with the hosts, the way it is in France. Here in the Netherlands we had usually eaten on our own in the room, and although quite convenient, we had sometimes missed the interaction with the B&B owners. Marc and Margreet told us they had owned their large house for some time, and at first it had been a commune with fourteen residents. When they decided that they no longer wanted 'to share everything with everybody', they stopped replacing members who had moved on, and finally after seven years they had the house to themselves, and turned it into a B&B. We discussed the political situation in the Netherlands (the government had just fallen), organic food and other interesting topics before we decided it was time to get moving. Today we were heading to Hoenderloo, the closest town to the Hoge Veluwe National Park, which we planned to visit tomorrow.

The sky was very gray as we pedalled along the riverside path to a small pedestrian/bicycle ferry which would allow us to avoid the busy bridge across the IJssel. We continued along the river on the west side for several kilometres past a windmill and farmland. There was constant boat traffic on the river including many long narrow ones carrying all kinds of cargo, each with a windowed cabin at one end and an automobile parked on the deck. We learned that each ship was privately owned, usually by a family, who lived on board, and made a living hauling everything from coal to consumer goods from one river port to another.

Looking back at the skyline of Deventer from the ferry dock on the west side of the river Ijssel. It was so overcast that this was the only photo we took on the ride this day.

Freight traffic along the various branches of the Rhine was steady, with ships often loaded to the gunwales.

Our route generally circled to the southeast and south of Apeldoorn, avoiding the busy ring road, sticking to very quiet roads through rural areas with neatly kept farms. Lunch was at a pannekoek house in the small town of Beekbergen, on the edge of the woods leading to the Hoge Veluwe National Park. After lunch the sky brightened a bit, but it never got sunny.

We started through the "forest" (actually a series of plantations managed for timber production) and noticed that even though there was no wind, we were working a little harder than usual. It wasn't until we suddenly started to coast a bit, that we realized we had been riding uphill! It completely snuck up on us! We looked on the map later and discovered that we had gone up to the rarefied elevation of 110 metres.

A nice downhill run took us into the holiday village of Hoenderloo. Our hotel was further along at the north edge of town, only 200 metres from the park entrance. We had chosen the Hotel Buitenlust because of its location. The next day we planned to leave our bikes at the hotel, walk to the entrance and then use two of the park's 1700 free 'white bikes' to get around. That way we wouldn't have to worry about leaving our bikes unattended while we toured the Muller-Koller art museum and the nature centre in the park.

It was still low season in this area, and we were pleasantly surprised by the quality of our reasonably priced hotel, which featured secure bike parking, a newly renovated room with a bathtub, and an excellent restaurant with large windows overlooking the enclosed terrace. For dinner that night we had dorade with dill sauce served with scalloped potatoes, mixed vegetables and a rhubarb compote (the first rhubarb we'd encountered). Al finished off with apple pie and ice cream. There were a few other patrons, but no loud music, and the atmosphere was very pleasant.

Today's ride: 34 km (21 miles)
Total: 589 km (366 miles)

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