Run through the history of the Battle of Arnhem

September is for some people the month of the commemoration of operation Market Garden and for me the Battle of Arnhem. First in line is the  Airborne March on the first Saturday of September.
No running allowed on the route of the 10, 15, 25 and 40 kilometre. Would not be possible anyway with over 30.000 people taking part. No need as I run on a regular basis in Oosterbeek and the surrounding area.

I can only recall one run associated with the Airborne theme. This charity run was to collect money for veterans (I think Lest we forget). It was a run to accompany the participant of the London Marathon that ran home after the marathon in a relay race. The last leg was from Arnhem to Oosterbeek in the company of other runner all dressed in a white shirt with the Pegasus emblem. I still have the shirt as it is a souvenir from the run that became the start of my 'running career.

I have made a route on runkeeper named 'Battlefield Run: Oosterbeek / Arnhem 1944'. It is a route of  30+ kilometres. The ideal 'long slow duration training preparation for one of the many marathon organised this fall across Europe. The is mainly on bicycle paths/smaller road with some unpaved stretches.

For anyone who wants to run/train in the surrounding of Oostbeek in this history environment this route can serve you as inspiration. Maybe this 30+ route is a bit ambitious so maybe I will post a shorter route later on. Now I will describe the route and link it to the history of September 1944. I will suggest some shortcuts in the meantime.

Like to run with someone who is familiar with the route. Leave a comment to contact me and who knows, maybe we can run (a part of) the route together!

The Battle of Arnhem

A very brief introduction: In an attempt to end the war before Christmas the Allies came up with a plan to cross the rivers in the Netherlands to open up the route to Berlin over the plains of northern Germany. The plan was code-named: Market Garden.
In order to catch the bridges over the rivers undamaged paratroopers were dropped along the route.

The drop zones for the troops that were to seize the bridge at Arnhem were over 10K tot the west of the town.

Only a part of the British para's under the command of John Frost succeed to reach the bridge and captured the north side and managed to keep it for four days. The majority ended up in the so called perimeter in Oosterbeek were they held out for ten days before retreating across the river Rhine under cover of the night.This made Oosterbeek a battlefield for ten days.

Driel on the south bank of the river became battlefield as the Polish para's were dropped in support of the British in Oosterbeek. The heavy equipment of the Poles was flown in before with Gliders but to the north bank.

This route will take you to the landing and drop zones, trough Oosterbeek and into Arnhem and the BRidge. You'll loop back to Oosterbeek and one of the last points of interest is, quite fittingly the Airborne Cemetery.

Wanne learn more before you start your run (highly recommended) use google or Wikipedia, the very extensive site MarketGarden.com or visit the  Airborne Museum. This will add to the experience of running in this beautiful and peaceful environment.

 

The route

The start of the route is at Hotel West End on 'de Amsterdamse weg'. This road was the northern route from the drop zones into Arnhem. Code-named Leopard Route. 

Start your run heading west along the 'Amsterdamse weg'. Stay on the bicycle track on the left side )southside' of the road.

After 1K turn left into the ´Wolfhezerweg´. After some time you will see the first monument. An impressive 'Glider', landing to deliver the heavy equipment such as Jeeps or light artillery. You are now on the landing zone as it was used during 1944. 

Continue along this road until your cross the rail road. Turn right directly after the crossing onto the bicycle path directly along the railroad.

App. after you see to your left that the woods make way for field. Cross the road and head onto the dirt track heading south on the edge of the wood and field.

The path bends right. Again you are on a landing zone for Gliders. Compare the satellite image of Runkeeper with the route with the areal photography from 1944.

Runkeeper

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Continue on the path as it bend left and due south again. After a sharp bend to the right you can turn left heading between golf courts towards a sports field.
When you come to the clubhouse of the golf course turn left between the sport field and the parking lot. Continue straight ahead into the ´Ginkelseweg´. You have covered some 7K.

From this area the second battalion of John Frost headed towards the bridge on the  southern 'Lion' route. As far as possible we will follow this route for some time.

Follow the Ginkelseweg untill you come to the  Bennekomseweg.

Take the bicycle path to the right towards the major road (Utrechtseweg). Cross this road and turn left towards the bridge-flyover of the motorway.

You might consider to turn right on the Bennekomseweg for just a 100 meter or so to take a look at the Airborne Monument of the town of Heelsum. Continue the route afterwards on the Utrechtseweg.

After the bridge turn right into the Doorwertsestraat. At the  T-junction turn left (still called Doorwertsestraat). After ~100 meter turn right into Roggekamp for the first real climb and decent in this route. At the bottom of the hill run trough the tunnel turn directly left up hill again. From here is is a long time straight ahead.

The first stretch is still the Roggekamp, after the cross roads it is the W.A. Scholtenlaan trough the woods, along a tennispark trough Doorwerth. Just past Doorwerth this road is called Oude Oosterbeekseweg. A senic road with to small parallel lanes (see image).

Stay on this road on your right you will see a restaurant (de Valkenier), Make yourself ready for a steep climb. after a bend in the road to the left you turn right onto a bicycle path.

Short of 100 meter you can turn right towards the Westerbouwing. Run on towards the restaurant and enjoy the view. The bridge in the distance is the railroad bridge. In september 1944 the Germans held this high ground preventing the Poles to cross the river using the ferry. You can see the town of Driel on the other side of the Rhine.

Run on over the parking lot back to the road and turn right, down hill towards the cross roads. Go straight ahead and after 50 meters take the small path between the fields towards the treeline. Agina after some 50 meters you will have the forrest to your left. In this forrest you can still find evidence of the rifle pits (Circles of sand between the fallen leaves) from the para's in order to fight of the Germans attacking the perimeter from the west. At the and of the field to your right turn right to follow the path untill you come to a asphalt paved road. Turn left up hill. At a T-junction turn left again en continue the climb uphill. This is the Hoofdlaan.

Continue straight ahead on theHoofdlaan untill you come to a major road. This is the Utrechtseweg were you turn right. Only to find the entrance to the Airborne Museum. The villa was a hotel during the battle and became the headquarter of the para's. Continue around the musum back to the Utrechtseweg which was the middle route towards the bridge; code named 'Tiger'.

Oposite of the museum is the Airborne Monument of which the construction started in  September 1945, only a year after the battle. British soldiers who had fought at Oosterbeek the year before were present while they were evaluating the battle and filming Theirs Is The Glory. This film used soldaten and civilians to reenact the fighting amongst the ruins of Oosterbeek.

Follow Utrechtsweg to the cross road with traffic ligths. The painting depict this cross roads during the fighting. The house on the left of the image is clearly recognisable.
In the garden of the house called Quatre Bras is a modest monument for teh 21st Ind. Par. Coy. who defended this part of the so called perimeter.

The house on he right of the image is replaced by restaurant Schoonoord. The meeting place for veterans and their children and grandchildren on pilgrimage during the September commemoration.
Turn right in front of Schoonoord and after 100 meter left onto the Paasberg. In the garden of number 17 again a small monument in the shape of a flower vase. IN a small cellar underneath this house 13 civilians (including children) were taking refuge while the para's in the room overhead were fighting of the Germans..

At the end of the Paasberg continue straight ahead (Jagerskamp) and after a short descent continue straight ahead (technically it is left and immediately right, Weverstraat) for a couple of 100 and at a cross road turn left and again immediately right. This lower part of the Weverstraat is pictured on this black and white image. Showing the damage to the houses.

At he bottom of the Weverstraat you see, to your right, the Old Church. To the right of this church is a house that served as a dressing station. Kate ter Horst, who liverd there at the time was named 'Angel of Arnhem' by the wounded. In the film 'A Bridge to Far' her part was played by Liv Ullmann.

Turn left as we continue on the Lion Route towards Arnhem. We go straight for the bridge staying as close to the river as possible. We follow Benedendorpsweg that turns into Klingelbeekseweg once we pass underneath the railroad bridge.  The bridge was damaged by the Germans. After 1,5km this road is named Hulkesteinseweg. At the end of this road turn right and continue on 'Onderlangs'. Just in front of the new you can enter the quayside and run directly along the river. You have just finish your half marathon, 21K. Run on the quayside towards the famous bridge.

This is where I finish the first part of of the description of the route. Part 2 is to follow soon. It takes you back towards the Saint Elisabeth Hospital, and to the Airborne Cemetery.
It will also suggest some short cuts.

Running in Portugal

During the previous two weeks I have spend my holidays in the Algarve in Portugal and of course....the running gear came along. Coming from Holland where our highest hill is just over 300mtrs (which we have to share with the Germans and the Belgians) and the biggest climb in my surroundings is in the dunes along the sea I can tell you the rolling countryside of the Algarve is a great training environment.
The location
We stayed in a very nice place away from the more crowded coastline called Monte da Bravura. Set on a hill top on a dead end road towards a barrage. 6k to Lagos, in the west Algarve. I don't have shares in the place but as it was a very nice stay, a very good guest house and the owners and staff are very nice people: I can realy recommend it.
Besides running the Algarve offers great opportunities for walking, has great beaches with waves suitable for surfing and a lot of restaurants (I can recommend to stay of the beaten track because the best dinners we had in smaller restaurants outside the crowded touristic towns and off the major roads...)
The runs
I did various runs however all of them were along two routes I entered on mapmyrun. One route is from the hotel to the barage (2k - one way) and the other route is from the hotel, directly downhill turning north on a rolling gradual climb with a steep climb (according to MMR ~70m climb in 800mtrs) in the end (7k one way). Specialy this second one is - for a someone with no hill experience - challenging on the return leg when you climb back to the hotel (again some 70 meters climb in app. 800-900 meters with a very steep bit in the middle). These two routes combined to a 10k training (cutting the long one short by turing around at the 5k point and saving my self one of the very steep climbs), two 14k routes (either the 7k back and forth or the 10k combined with hte 2k run back and forth) and a 18k training (both routes combined).
Below you find the routes on the map. For the elevation go to the MMR site itself and let is show the elevation panel. This is however and indications because if you would believe the panel the run woould have been like on a roller coaster but I can tell you the roads were very nice an smooth and nothing like the jitter that is shown on the panels.
To conclude
For someone with no hills around the Algarve offers very nice running, in perfect weather conditions (early morning starts recommended in warmer periods) on quite roads.



Two other routes in the area:

Luz and Lagos. If you want to find other routes in a wider area...zoom out on the map, click the find button on the map and select 'show public route on map'. Have some nice runs during your stay!

Running in Poland

Last week I found myself in a different environment for running. Instead of the well kept level bicycle paths of Holland I found myself on (dirt) roads in the hills of Poland. I have been there before and I always enjoy the change off environment.
Running in Poland is not as popular as in Holland so you tend to turn some heads while your running. Furthermore most roads outside the towns do not have a path for cyclists or pedestrians. On the other hand: Beside for the main roads there are many smaller roads connecting smaller towns or more isolated houses that have no busy traffic and are therefore perfect for running.
I did two runs in the surrounding of Kielce. A medium sized city in the heart of the country. I started both runs taking unpaved tracks throught the fields overlooking some of the Kielce subburbs. The first I looped back clock wise finding myself on one of those major roads without any room for runners. However I noticed that the extra adrenaline generated by the passing traffic helps increasing speed to leave this stretch behind you as fast as possible. The second run I looped back the other way around on this more quite type of roads making the run more relaxed.
At the end of the week I decided to go running at the beginning of the Friday night. THrought the parcs and one of the main streets with cafes in the Polish capital off Warsaw. Nice to start ou in the green parcs to the south of the city center. Even better still explore the city center between the local people having there drinks in the bars and enjoying their Friday night. One advice: Take a quick sohwer after your urn and revisit Nowy Swiat to join the Locals and have a drink with the friendly people of Poland;-)