Dave Willis and Rob Walters took to the Trans Euro Trail for a dirt road adventure to some bridges in the Netherlands made famous by a daring Allied wartime mission.
Dave said: “The idea behind the trip was to ride some of the Trans Euro Trail. We decided to do a loop in the Netherlands covering some of the bridges featured in Operation Market Garden during the second world war.”
The Allies launched a daring airborne operation in September 1944, made famous in the film A Bridge Too Far, to secure nine bridges and River Rhine crossings to advance into northern Germany.
While the wartime mission ultimately failed, this adventurous trip took them to the key bridges at Eindhoven, Nijmegen and Arnhem.
Billed as Europe’s dirt road motorcycle adventure, the Trans Euro Trail is a 100,000km GPX route through some of Europe’s most remote, diverse and inspirational landscapes. Passing through 30 countries from the edge of Africa to the Arctic Circle, it was created by the adventure motorbike community and is provided free.
Having downloaded the GPX files from the official Trans Euro Trail website to the Komoot sat-nav app, Dave, Rob and friend Richard loaded their motorbikes into a van for the overnight ferry crossing from Harwich to Hook of Holland.
“When Richard bought his KTM 890 Adventure R he wanted to do some of the Trans Euro Trail on it. We thought we would try it out in Holland because it’s easy to get over from Harwich.
“We had a four-day trial run with the idea of going further afield next time.”
With Richard on his 890 Adventure R, Dave rode a lightweight and capable KTM 390 Adventure, shod with off-road tyres, while Rob took a KTM 250 EXC enduro.
“The choice of bike is important. Some of it is on road,” said Dave. “If it was all off-road, the 250 EXC would be the best choice while the 890 Adventure R was better on road but was bigger off road.
“I chose the 390 Adventure because it offers the best of both worlds. It’s not about speed.”
You can pick up the Trans Euro Trail straight from the ferry, but the trio headed south away from the hustle and bustle of the Hook of Holland and picked it up at Steenbergen.
The first day was 340km and a lot of off-road tracks and country roads to Eindhoven. They stayed at the nearby town of Heeze.
The second day they went east and north to Nijmegen and then carried on to Arnhem where they stayed that night.
Day three took them to Utrecht before heading home.
“We had stunning weather so the tracks were nice and dry but the sand in places was a bit deep for our off-road experience.
“I’ve never toured in Holland but, when you get off the beaten track, it’s a stunning place. It’s very well kept and we didn’t find a single pothole.
“The last day was more on road but it was lovely going past all the canals,” said Dave.
Find out more about the Trans Euro Trail at transeurotrail.org
