Day 2: Campsite @ Bergeijk - Campsite near Nijmegen 92 km Saturday November 4
The next morning was bright & sunny and the 5km or so to the bridge was a straight, easy run. The bridge itself is unremarkable and there are no information boards to explain it’s history or significance. Belgium can be funny like that. There are many memorials scattered around the countryside marking locations from the War years, often it seems, established and maintained by locals, yet some more significant sites are unmarked.
Joe's Bridge in fabulous sunshine! If only it would last!
I could only guesstimate the route used in the advance, so followed the main road (N69) north. Very quickly it became apparent that I was on the right route as I came across a cemetery for British soldiers killed during the advance.
Having visited many cemeteries in this part of the world I found this one to be particularly moving. Unlike the American cemetery in Limburg, this one was very understated and simple. Each headstone followed the same format; The division of the army, the rank and name of the soldier, date of birth and death but underneath was a personal message obviously chosen by the soldier’s family. These personal messages were what hit home.
Moving on along a tree lined cycle path parallel to the road there was a lot of time to think and to try to imagine what it was like for these young men (they were nearly all very, very young) to be advancing through this countryside.
The first town was Valkenswaard, then on to Aalst. As Eindhoven was just ahead, I took a more rural approach to this city using some multi-use walking & cycling paths. There is a Liberation (Walking) route as well that I crossed a couple of times. (There is also a cycling ring route of Eindhoven which is to be recommended if you’re not familiar with this city before entering the centre)
I know Eindhoven well, so cycled on through and out the northern side, heading for Son En Breugel.
Just the far side of Son En Breugel, there is a roadside memorial commemorating the site of a temporary cemetery. Soldiers from all armies were buried here before being removed and placed in the cemeteries for each army. More moving is the fact that the local farmer whose field was used for this, has hand-made signs pointing out the exact location. It’s down a little road that becomes rougher the further you go until you finally reach a cornfield with another sign showing exactly where the soldiers were buried.
On both signs it is referred to as an "American" cemetery but I have read that soldiers from all nations (including Germany) were temporarily buried here.
Onwards now to Sint Oedenrode, Veghel & Uden. Somewhere along the way I stopped for some chips and while munching away outside, the guy who made my chips came out to look at my bike and have a chat. I’ve good reason to believe that he thought I was mad cycling at this time of the year! However, his eyes lit up when I was telling him about some of the places I had been. He said that he’d love to do a tour on a bike, but the distances were scary. I tried to tell him that distances didn’t matter. He was afraid of getting lost. I patted the tent on the back of my bike & said it didn’t matter - I could always find a place to sleep. He was afraid of starving - I patted my front pannier & told him of the stove and food in there. At that point he had to go back to cook some more, but I hope he climbs up on a bike soon!.
By now the rain clouds were gathering and it was looking like my least favourite weather for cycling - cold and wet!
And rain it did! Big, stinging drops, driven malevolently by the wind. Onwards I went, heading through Zeeland, by Velp and on towards the bridge over the Maas near Grave.
Now, this was a bridge that I wanted to see. It’s called the John S. Thompson Brug (Bridge) because it was captured by a small unit led by the aforementioned Thompson. What’s particularly interesting about this story was that Thompson’s team was one of several that were airdropped in to capture this bridge. However, Thompson’s team were the only ones to land in the correct area. Faced with the choice of waiting for reinforcements (and delaying the advance), this man and his very small team took the bridge on their own.
By now I was sure that my route had diverged from the XXX Corps because there was a more direct route to Nijmegen, so I was surprised to see on a plaque at the bridge that the XXX Corps actually crossed this bridge!
The plaque at the bridge. You have an idea how wet it is!
I crossed the bridge and cycled the guts of 10 km to a campsite I hoped was open! I had emailed them but had no answer. I had tried calling & left a voicemail but had no call back. Their website had shown they were open, so I was hoping it was just carelessness. It was dark and cold so I really didn’t fancy going too much further.
It was open, but I’m not so sure that was a good thing. Like a lot of the larger campsites/recreation parks here in NL in winter it is used as temporary accommodation for a lot of people. The bathroom facilities were adequate, but not exactly clean. The tent area was quite exposed, soggy and near the toilet building so there was a lot of traffic all through the night. In any case, a hot pasta dinner cheered me up.
) it might be of interest to some.