Haaften - Tiel and Wolfheze 19 August

Early start this morning as our hosts had to leave for work. A nice day, although a bit cooler at 7am than our usual 8:30 start. We carried on along the dike of the Linge and eventually cut a bit further inland to head towards Wadenoyen, where George was born and where he lived until the age of 13 or so. George's grandfather used to own a large apple and pear orchard and designed and built two houses - Harap Sadja, and Mendelong. Harap Sadja was the main house. The orchard was later managed by George's father and uncle. Most of the orchard was bought by the van Haaften family and we were luckly enough to come across Peter van Haaften, the son of the purchaser. He showed us around the fruit packing and storage shed which was much bigger than in George's father's time and we were allowed to take photos of Mendelong also.

We were also very luckly to catch the current owner of Harap Sadja, who showed us the totaly refurbished inside. He's done a great job in decorating the house in the original style and has reintroduced various elements that had been lost. The new owner proudly showed us the original blue prints for the house (most blue prints of that era were lost when the city hall was bombed during the second world war). A new conservatory has been added to the house, but the style matches the rest of the house and fits beautifully, I certainly didn't pick it as an addition. He's also had bricks specially made in the same style as the house for new walls. Fabulous restoration, must have cost a small fortune.

Then on to a quick visit to the Wadenoyen cemetary for photos of the gravestone of George's grandparents and on to Tiel. We checked in to the Van der Valk motel, which essentially is a large hotel chain. One of our more expensive nights, but there are no other hotels in Tiel. I wasn't impressed, the room was very dark, the showerhead was mostly blocked and squirted water everywhere but where I wanted it. Never mind - a horizontal bed is the minimum requirement. We both changed into non-cycling clothes. George escorted me to the railway station from where I caught a bus to Wagenining, Arhnem, Oosterbeek, and then a small bus to Wolfheze. Took me about an hour longer than anticipated because I wasn't exactly sure of which busses to catch, and unfortunately nor were the bus drivers.

It was an interesting experience to meet cousins and family that I hadn't seen for years and that I didn't really know. Everybody was really nice. I think my Grandmother enjoyed the attention of the 30 people that turned up for her 101'st birthday, but she also found it very tiring and a bit difficult to participate given she is poorly sighted. I'm glad that I could be there. One of Oma's friends kindly dropped me off at the Tiel railway station again (more than half an hour out of her way) so that I didn't have to catch the last bus (5:30) from Wolfheze back to Oosterbeek.
A dog box behind a bicycle

George spend most of the day in the Archives at Tiel where a lot of family information has been stored. He's taken photos of important and interesting document and family photos. After about 5 hours locked inside he then explored Tiel and all the places he used to go when he was younger. He met me at the railway station and we cycled into town for dinner. I wanted something small/light since I'd already eaten at Grandma's party, but the plate that arrived was huge. No internet again tonight, and we are receiving complaints that the blog is not up to date......
Flipje, mascot for the province