Last September,
before Coronavirus replaced Brexit as the only topic of conversation, we
went on a weekend visit to Arnhem, in the Netherlands. Arnhem was the focal
point in 1944 of a bold attempt by the Allies, led by General Montgomery, to shorten the Second World War by seizing
bridges over Holland’s rivers and canals, thus facilitating a swift advance by
Allied troops into Germany.
Arnhem bridge today
One of our Watton Rotarians, Pat Murphy, has for a number of
years led tours to the town, enabling people like myself with little or no
knowledge of the battle to appreciate the courage and sacrifice made by the men
of the 1st Airborne Division and their Polish Allies. Operation
Market garden, as it was called, ended in failure at Arnhem’s bridge over the
Rhine. The story of the conflict became the subject of the film ‘A Bridge too
Far’. Pat’s tour would take us to the areas where fighting was at its fiercest,
and many of the buildings can still be seen today. We were going to be in
Arnhem just a few days before the 75th anniversary of the Arnhem
campaign.
The bridge as depicted in 'A Bridge Too far'
Our group of 6 would comprise myself and the PDG, her sister
Lynne and her husband Richard, and Pat with his partner Pam. We had no doubt
that our tour would be organised with military precision, since Pat is himself
a former Para. We were to leave on Friday 13th September on the
morning ferry from Harwich to Hook of Holland and return home the following
Monday. Our tour of the Arnhem battle sites would take place on Saturday and
Sunday. Two cars would be used, mine and Pat’s.
Our plan was that the PDG and I would travel to Braintree on the
Thursday before, stay overnight in the local Holiday Inn, and in the morning
pick up Lynne and Richard who live a mile away, and then head off on the hour
or so’s journey to Harwich where we were booked on to the 9.00 ferry. We were
to meet Pat and Pam at the terminal.
Harwich ferry terminal
We arrived at the ferry terminal in good time, and were
amazed to see a small army of WW2 armoured vehicles, tanks, and ambulances lined up, waiting to board our ferry. Upon
chatting to a couple of them, we learnt that the convoy was making its way to
Arnhem for the 75th anniversary of the battle on 17th
September. Some of the vehicles were not capable of travelling more than a few
miles an hour, so they had allowed 4 days to get there. Sitting there in the
queue to board the ferry, I began to realise what a momentous occasion the 75th
Anniversary celebrations were going to be.
Picture from web
It was while we were admiring these old military vehicles
that I received a call from Pat. He and Pam were stuck in traffic (unlike us,
they were driving from home this morning, a journey of about two hours with a
fair wind). He did not think they would make it in time to catch the ferry.
They were going to return home and try for the evening ferry, which would get
them to Hook of Holland tomorrow morning. We were therefore on our own for 24
hours. Fortunately Pat had already given us a comprehensive pack of
information, including directions to our Hotel, the Van der Valk in Arnhem.
Hook of Holland terminal
So we boarded the ferry, and located our cabin. Although it
was a daytime crossing, it was to take 7 hours, and on Pat’s advice we had
pre-booked a cabin between the four of us so we had somewhere to come back to
for some shut-eye if we needed it. As we left Harwich, and the Essex coast
stretched before us, Richard and I went up on deck and, being an Essex lad, he
was able to point out various landmarks, including some fortifications a few
miles off shore, at least one of which is lived in. We went down for a full
English breakfast, and for the rest of the trip we divided our time between the
outside deck, the ship’s lounge and our cabin, and the time passed pleasantly
enough.
Our ship, the Stena Hollandica
We arrived at The Hook around 5 p.m. local time and there
was quite a long delay getting off the ship as one of the WW2 tanks ahead of us
appeared to have broken down. Eventually it got on its’ way in a cloud of black
smoke and we were able to move out of the port . We had just left the dockyard
when I realised I had forgotten to switch my speedometer from miles per hour to
kilometres per hour. I could have stopped somewhere and done it, but decided
not to. I knew that 1 kilometre is roughly 5/8 of a mile, which means that a
bit of mental arithmetic whenever we came to a speed limit sign enabled me to
convert to mph.
Our car
Pat had told us the
distance to Arnhem was about 85 miles and it would take about 1 hour 30
minutes, but I don’t think he had factored in the Friday night rush hour. Most
of our journey was along motorways, but sheer weight of traffic, particularly
near cities such as Rotterdam and Utrecht meant it was stop / start at times.
Nevertheless I thoroughly enjoyed the drive. Dutch roads, like those in France are
a pleasure to drive on. The surface was invariably excellent, I don’t recall
any pot-holes, and junctions were well laid out and signposted. However Dutch
drivers did not appear to be great respecters of speed limits, and great care
needed to be taken when venturing into the outside lane, as vehicles which
appeared a speck on the horizon in the rear view mirror, were very quickly
right behind. This is where I think having a GB sticker helps, as it indicated
that we were obviously foreigners more
used to driving on the other side of the road, and consequently other drivers
gave us a bit more space.
Nothing left to chance - Pat provided us with detailed road maps
I had never previously been to Rotterdam, and on this
occasion we merely bypassed it on the Motorway A20, so we didn’t get much of a
view of the city. It seemed ironic to think that I would be returning to this
fine city next month, this time on a cruise ship, the Columbus, bound for the Canaries. My
objective on that occasion will be the same as whenever I visit Amsterdam,
namely to find the nearest Pancake House. Holland is famous for them, and
everybody should have one whenever they visit.
CMV Columbus
I think it was about 7.30 before we arrived at our Hotel,
the Van der Valk, and checking in was very straight forward. I was a bit
embarrassed, because when I am abroad I like to try and speak a few words of
the local language, but I knew no Dutch at all, except for ‘Danke vel’ (Thank
you). Not that it mattered, everyone seemed to speak English well, and were
happy to practice on us. It was a good, mid-sized family run hotel, and one
where Pat is very well known, as he comes at least twice a year to conduct a
tour. We had a good meal in the Hotel Restaurant, but we found 3 courses a bit too much and resolved to stick to just
one course in future. I must be getting old! By now we were exhausted and went
off for an early night, so we would be ready for tomorrow’s tour, which was
scheduled to start at 10.00 a.m.
Hotel Van der Valk
No comments:
Post a Comment