A beautiful ride through the Betuwe. This route is beautiful all year round, but ideally this is a ride that you should drive in the spring, then of course all fruit trees are in bloom. If you want to drive this route when there is blossom, I advise you to look at https://www.burenstad.nl/site/bloesemtocht.
We start this ride in Beesd, centrally located on the A2 and come back there after an hour or 3, 3.5. Along the way there is ample opportunity to stop, eat and drink and to take beautiful pictures.
We pass by and through small villages and nuclei, and avoid the larger roads and built-up areas as much as possible.
The roads are winding and alternating, just like the view. That is again wide, and then you drive almost through a tunnel of trees.
The starting point is at a cozy cafe for coffee-with-apple pie. Here is enough space to collect with a few engines and in the neighborhood and at the exit Beesd on the A2 is a gas station. So you can start with a full tank and a belly with apple pie.
When you have left, you drive first to the west and quickly find the Linge. We will see this winding river a few times up close today. We come through Acqouy, a small village with a special name. Then through Gellicum, and then a bit easier to drive to the Southwest, towards Haaften and the Waal.
We continue to the East and cross the Linge at Wadenoijen again. We drive under Ochten, and along the beautiful Waalbandijk we cross the A15 at the most Eastern point of the tour, and we pass Kesteren on the way to the Lower Rhine.
In Lienden there is a lunch restaurant provided, but of course you can easily change it yourself. If you open the route in MRA and select the right POIs, you will see where a restaurant, bar or fast food can be found and you can easily include an eatery in the route that suits your needs.
At Maurik you can turn right, the dead-end road to the Eiland van Maurik in order to drive to the viewpoint over the Lower Rhine. You can also skip this, and just continue to the next point; the lock at Rijswijk. Nice point to take a picture! And for the royalists among us, we come through Buren, or rather Oranjestad Buren, in the heart of the Betuwe, where there is a warm bond with the Royal Family.
King Willem-Alexander rode the Elfstedentocht under the name WA van Buren! We return to the Linge again, and drive towards Heerlijkheid Marienwaerdt.
That is the end of the route, and well worth a visit. There are opportunities for a bit of walking, to buy local produce or to have something to eat or drink. to drink. Route point 57 is at the beginning of the road to the P of Marienwaerdt. Because this is officially no public road, the route can not continue but during opening hours you are of course welcome at the estate.
And then we are back where we started, near the A2. Good trip back home, I hope you have a wonderful ride!