MOTORHOME TRAVELLERS' DIARY FOR OCTOBER 2004

HOLLAND

What follows are extracts from a diary we kept during our travels in mainland Europe by motorhome, bicycle and sometimes motorbike in the years since we early-retired in 1995. We travelled through Holland as part of a journey from Greece to the UK. The route was Greece - Bulgaria - Romania - Hungary - Slovakia - Czech Republic - East Germany - West Germany - Holland - ferry from Rotterdam to Hull.

To see diaries for the full journey, click here and look for 2004 August, September and October.

2 October MELLE, Germany to ARNHEM, Holland De Hooge Veluwe Camping €20.50 128 miles

It was motorway all the way, with fewer trucks, being Saturday. As we moved left when road works forced 2 lanes into one, a motorist who felt that he had priority had to stop and pick up his broken mirror! The A30 took us past Osnabruck and Rheine (the turnoff for the Winnebago dealers we know at Wettringen), over the barely discernible German/Dutch border. You know you're in Holland when … the land becomes very flat (a steady 20 ft on the GPS) with lush green fields of cows and horses, huge Dutch barns, some thatched farmhouses and the odd windmill.

After lunch on a rest area, we continued west past Hengelo and Deventer, then south-west to Arnhem on the A50. Turning off for Schaarsbergen, 5 km north-west of Arnhem, we checked the 3 campsites in the area. Camping Warnsborn, our first choice, was closed (despite the books 'open till 1 Nov'). Camping Arnhem could only offer us a rough corner with a 4-amp hook-up as we were 'too big' for their pitches! Better luck at Hooge Veluwe (the name of the adjacent national park), which has 'De Luxe Comfort' pitches with their own tap and TV socket for a small supplement (normal price €18 at low-season).

Margaret enjoyed free use of the indoor heated swimming pool and there were lots of rabbits to watch – a good place for our last site before the Rotterdam ferry. We even have the novelty of hearing BBC Radio 4 (and catching up with the Archers!)

We rode about 20 miles return on a fine cool autumn morning, on cycle-paths through woods and leafy suburbs to Oosterbeek. Here near the railway station is the Airborne Cemetery, immaculately maintained by the Commonwealth War Graves Commission. The fated Battle of Arnhem had just had its 60th anniversary and the graves of the British (and some Polish) paratroopers had fresh flowers. As ever, the personalised inscriptions can still move us to tears. The nearby Airborne Museum is in the former Hotel Hartenstein, which was used as the HQ of Divisional Commander Major-General Urquhart during the battle. We lunched in the neighbouring restaurant, Brasserie Klein Hartenstein, then spent over 2 hours in the magnificent Museum, a tribute to what took place.

An excellent 15-min film (shown in English and Dutch) told the history. 'Operation Market Garden' – the capture of the Rhine Bridge at Arnhem - failed after intense fighting from 17-26 Sept 1944. Field-Marshall Montgomery's plan, the greatest airborne invasion in history, could have ended the war by Christmas but it proved 'A Bridge Too Far', as the supplies (from Normandy) failed to keep up with the advance. The Museum has 2 floors of extensive displays and photos, plus dioramas in the cellar, scene of the first aid post and radio set. It was a very impressive experience and it was good to see that both cemetery and museum were well supported, with Dutch Sunday visitors of all ages. Entry was €4.50 with a €1 discount for Seniors.

On our second ride we cycled into the centre of Arnhem to cross the Fietspad (cycle path) over the famous bridge – the John Frost Brug (Lt Col John Frost led the battalion which reached it). There is an Airborne Memorial nearby. We'd hoped to use the internet in Arnhem too, but the only facility was on the second floor at the Library with no security for the bicycles down at street level, so we didn't stay. The pedestrian shopping street, Koningstraat, was good for coffee & toasties. We returned to the campsite the long way round (unintentionally), through woods and across a heath which is part of the Midden-Nederlands Fiets-Route. The topography of Arnhem is complicated by the Rhine, railway and motorway junctions.

We also made time for mega-cleaning of the motorhome. Outside she was washed and waxed, tyres and cockpit gleaming. Inside chores included defrosting fridge/freezer and cleaning the oven. Preparations for our imminent arrival in Hull involved arranging to meet friends in Lincolnshire and Yorkshire, booking campsites and a motorhome service, catching up with laundry and mending (got to look our best!) and putting the marzipan layer on the (belated) wedding cake Margaret has made, to share with those who missed the event (which was in Greece).

By motorway from Arnhem right through to Europort: A50 towards Nijmegen, then west on A15 (E31) to Rotterdam and A15/N15 to Europe's biggest port, the final signs saying 'Engeland' for the P&O terminals (Harwich, Hull or the North-east). Having bought diesel at the service station where we stopped for lunch, we wanted to top up again at the port but, despite all the huge Petroleum-Havens and the terminals for BP, Shell, etc, there was no filling station! With time in hand, we drove south across the massive Maas Estuary towards Brielle and finally found a Shell station at Oostvoorne. Next time, we'll remember to tank up in Rotterdam!

Back at the P&O terminal, we checked in and waited for loading at 5 pm, eating an early dinner on the quay (a tinned steak & kidney pie, traditional on such occasions!) The 'Pride of Hull' is a splendid ship, Europe's (or even the world's?) largest ferry, built in 2002 in Venice. The old North Sea Ferries had to be small enough to enter the lock at Hull docks but the new floating jetty on the 'Humber's swelling tide' (line from Barry's old school song) can accommodate much larger vessels.

We sailed at 9 pm, had an expensive hour on the internet, watched the Cabaret for long enough to see the quiz won by a taxi driver from Hull (the H was silent), then retired to our en-suite cabin for the overnight crossing. (His prize was a mini-cruise from Hull to Bruges.) On the late-lamented North Sea Ferries, dinner and breakfast were included in the fare. Not so with P&O, though we did find tea and biscuits outside our cabin door. Where they really for us?

We arrived at the new Hull terminal (about 5 miles from the city centre) before 8 am next day, with plenty of free parking space to make breakfast.