The Netherlands is famous for having no hills, which makes the ridge at Berg en Dal a small, comic exception. East of Nijmegen, the land rises in a line of wooded heights, shaped by the Ice Age, when a great glacier pushed up a mound of sand and gravel, and the highest point barely reaches a hundred metres. It looks modest on paper, but after the flat polders it feels like an alpine foothill, with beech and pine woods, steep little lanes, villas among the trees and views across the Waal valley into Germany. The name Berg en Dal means hill and valley, and the Dutch mean it.
The hills also hold Roman history. The Romans built a chain of forts and watchtowers along the Rhine, the frontier of the empire that is called the Lower German Limes, and Nijmegen was one of its most important sites. Parts of the frontier were put on the World Heritage list in 2021. Holdeurn, the woodland and hamlet to the south, lies in the same ridge-and-forest country, and the ride from here goes to Moers-Asberg, on the other side of the border in Germany, where the Roman fort of Asciburgium once stood on the Rhine.
The area has another, more recent story. In September 1944, Allied airborne troops landed on these heights as part of Operation Market Garden, and the fighting around Groesbeek and Nijmegen was fierce. A Canadian war cemetery lies on the ridge nearby, with rows of white stones among the trees, and the Liberation Museum nearby tells the story. In Berg en Dal, the Afrika Museum is also worth a visit, with its large collection of African art in a park.
For riding, this is a quiet, tidy corner. Lanes run through the woods with gentle climbs and bends, speed limits are low and enforcement is firm, and cyclists have priority, in great numbers, especially at weekends. The best light comes in autumn, when the beech leaves turn copper and the woods smell of damp earth. Spring brings bluebells and blossom. Winter can be wet and grey, with an icy wind from the east.
The nearest bigger town is Nijmegen, a lively old university city a few kilometres west, with plenty of fuel stations, cafes and hotels. In the village, you will find a few good places for coffee and apple pie, a Dutch classic. Be careful on the narrow roads, and give cyclists plenty of room.