Mountain biking

(The red route has been renewed. See here.)

I am always surprised at how close Nijmegen is.  If you go there from Wageningen on a weekday, odds on you will be stuck in traffic for ages, so it feels like a long way.  But on a Sunday afternoon, you are there in only half an hour.  Half an hour, but a world away.  The landscape is completely different from here because of one dominant factor - hills.  Whereas you have to go out of your way in the woods round here to gain a few meters of elevation, by Nijmegen you could almost imagine you were in another country.  Maybe that is because Germany is less than ten kilometers away, so you are almost.  The official signposted routes there, both 'red' and 'green' ('rood' and 'groen') make the most of the elevation,with numerous hills and relatively few flat bits.  The tracks are in attractive woodland and it is an enjoyable route.  The routes are signposted, but unfortunately they are notorious for people thinking it is amusing to steal the signs, so if you have a GPS, taking the track file with you is a good idea.  Even if you do not normally use GPS to navigate, you can copy the track to your phone and make sure you have an app like Oryx Maps installed so that, should you miss a signpost, you can find your way back to the trail. It also makes a huge difference what time of year it is.  I was last on the Red Route a couple of years ago in December, and still have distinct memories of deep slithery slurry. Hard work. Last weekend it was completely dry. That came with its own problem.  On some of the downhills people have made little ridges, so that even mountain bikers with my level of skill can bounce into the air for a short distance with no problem all.  Great fun.  But landing on a pile of dusty sand that will just slip away from under your wheels made many of those jumps just a little too scary for me. All in all, great trails, and nice they are so close.

See also: Red route renewed