"Bloesemtocht" along the river Linge

All of a sudden summer has arrived, weeks earlier than usual. Around May 5^th it is safe to buy annuals, fill hanging baskets and troughs with colourful geraniums and pelargoniums. The nights can still be very nippy and night frosts, not uncommon, would damage early planted flowers irreparably. But now, although it is only mid April, the temperatures are soaring, reaching 25-28 degrees centigrade, a temperature we do not even often get in midsummer. Everything has burst into flower all at once. The Japanese cherry trees, the dark purple lilacs, the lighter coloured wisteria, almost transparent, intoxicating us with their perfume at dusk. Rose buds are swelling. Green fly and ants appear out of nowhere. Yesterday the trees only had hesitant buds, today they are in full leaf, even the oak trees and the beech trees with their young copper coloured and their almost fluorescent green leaves. In the "Betuwe", our Dutch "orchard", the white blossom of the pear trees are still there while the pink rimmed blossoms of the apple trees show themselves in full glory. It is very unusual that everything blossoms at the same time.

So it is a perfect time for a bicycle trip along the Linge, a very picturesque and narrow river meandering south of Rotterdam. Contrary to the big rivers, the Maas and the Rijn, this river is not navigable and only small pleasure boats can use it, canoes and rowing boats. I enlist a friend and put both our bikes on the rack behind my car. We decide to go on a day in the middle of the week, as in the weekend it will be very busy indeed, especially since the Easter weekend is approaching, when everybody will be free. Besides, the weather forecast is absolutely wonderful. And with those high temperatures, the blossoms do not last long.

When we arrive at Beesd, our starting point, we are surprised to find a special parking area just outside the small town. What surprises us even more is that it is almost completely full. The grey population of Holland is obviously still fit. They all have racks behind their cars and are in different stages of unloading their bikes. It is almost hilarious! So much for a midweek day! So many 65 plus couples, it is just unbelievable. Of course we feel we do not belong, after all we are still fair haired and dark haired, with only a beginning trace of grey. Till we realise that we do belong, that all those couples are more or less representative of our own age group. It comes as a shock. On the bright side we realise that they are all fit and kicking, fit enough to ride bikes. The invention of the electric bike has obviously greatly increased the number of grey-haired cyclists. A battery helps one to push if necessary, so a person with stiff joints, painful knees, arthritis and what not, even with a heart condition, can still cycle using as much effort as they can muster. So a wife can happily and without much effort keep up with her husband who may be slaving away and working out.

In the cafe on the main street, lined with espalier trees, the knotted trunks forming a stark contrast with the fresh green leaves, we all meet for a coffee and Dutch apple pie with cream before mounting our bikes. After all we are going to work out, so cream is allowed today. Every one of us seems determined to enjoy this day.

The area is stunningly beautiful. Although wedged in between a railway line and busy roads, along this river which stretches from East to West it is a haven of peace. Many parts of Holland used to be like this: quaint villages with their own windmill and church and town hall, huddled against the body of the dike which has to protect them from the river, the roofs often thatched. The windows of the bedrooms on the second floor look out across the dike towards the river. The living room on the first floor has views of the orchards, fields and estates on the other side. The cottages seem to lean against the narrow and winding dikes. Cycling there is wonderful, looking out to both sides: to the river as well as  to the orchards where the apple trees are celebrating a glorious wedding. The verges along the aptly named "Apple Dike" are yellow with dandelions and laced with early flowering horse parsley. These villages are mostly protestant, and very royalist. Some are already decorated and spruced up for the official Queen's birthday on April 30^th, festooned in orange, red, white and blue.

When we see a picnic  table in a grassy common, we stop to have our sandwiches. Two couples join us. Obviously they are enjoying the day like we are. We talk, laugh and they crack jokes. Eventually my friend exchanges his carton of apple juice for one of their boiled eggs, produced this very morning by their own chickens. Apparently my friend looks so needy, that they offer him the second egg as well, free of charge, adding that he might need them more than they do, being younger! Anyway, we are all having fun, and meeting them adds something extra to the day.

We make a short detour through a very attractive estate, Heerlijkheid Mariënwaerdt, once long ago probably an abbey or monastery, given the names of the sheds and outbuildings, but I am not sure about its history. Since 1743 it has been in the possession of the same family. The big house is surrounded by parkland and woods, stretching towards the river on one side. It is now in use as a conference centre, but the estate also has many working fruit farms. A shop in one of the farms sells biological produce, juices, honey, cider, fruit etc.

The churches in the different villages are unusual. Most of them date back to the 14^th century, but often only the tower or the lower part of the tower still goes back so far in time, and the churches were rebuilt at a later date. The old ones were of course built as Roman Catholic churches, but became protestant after the Reformation.

In Acquoy, a lovely small village, we come across a church with a most unusual, detached tower, which is hanging over to one side. The difference seems to be 1.15 meters! The church behind it which was rebuilt, is in fact not more than a choir, positioned with its back to the tower. Most odd. In this churchyard directly near the tower is the grave of the wife of a minister, named Cornelia Pisa! Quite appropriate! Besides this church, there are also very picturesque dike houses worth seeing and a village pump.

We also pay a quick visit to Asperen, a small fortified town within a chain of fortified towns and strongholds through Holland. Asperen has a big church, which burnt down twice and was rebuilt in the original style. The tower survived. We are lucky, because the church is open in preparation for a wedding, and so we can admire the beautiful organ and the very sober but architecturally imposing interior. A few ornamental oak pews are also interesting.

We cross the river to the north side and stop for a drink in Fort Asperen, just outside Asperen, built as part of the Dutch Water Line. Although the many cyclists have not bothered us at all, because cycling is a noiseless pastime, it becomes quieter towards the evening. We head eastwards via a very narrow dirt road on top of the dike along the Linge. The beauty about these dikes is that they do not attract cars, except cars and tractors from locals and farmers. Besides long stretches of the dike are closed for cars as they are far too narrow. So cycling is a real pleasure.

We admire some more houses, lots of apple blossom, the winding river, the warm evening light on the fields, a few more churches, till we are back in Beesd, where we end up in the same cafe with many of our fellow cyclists. Unfortunately the chips and the piece of cardboard posing as chicken are not half as good as the apple pie we had in the morning, but it is the only cafe we can find. And who cares if at 7 in the evening it is still warm enough to have a meal at a table on the side walk.

When we drive back the sun sets, a big red ball.


Here you'll find some more pictures of this Linge trip.