In the Heilig Landstichting, the former hotel-restaurant Sionshof and the former open-air museum Heilig Landstichting indicate the Papal past of this area, and at Berg en Dal the Africa Museum is located on Papal church grounds. And there is Groesbeek already. At the Liberation Museum 1944-1945 is another piece of armor…, pardon, tank on guard. The whole is marketed under the banners of Freedom Museum and Liberation Route Europe. Over the Mooker Heide, the Indian rumbles on over the moor and along forest. Just before entering Mook we pass the Commonwealth War Cemetery. The area around Nijmegen was, of course, the battleground of Operation Market Garden during the Second World War. While the tanks did not fall from the sky, they thundered overland to the local battlefield.

Then you skim along the German-Dutch border, there is even relief in the landscape. But we leave the Zevenheuvelenweg on the right and the Duivelsberg on the left. A wine barrel is never far in popish territory and wine is grown even on our very own Dutch soil. Fortunately, at Wijngoed De Plack they have delicious coffee and apple pie for motorcyclists, in addition to homemade wine.

After Mook you drive parallel to the Maas, which you cross at Afferden with a ferry. Overloon War Museum always displays a collection of at least 150 vehicles and vessels, including motorcycles, tanks and armored cars, such as Shermans, Cromwells and Challengers and a German Panther. Overloon is also Home of the Militracks: 'the largest event in the field of vehicle technology from the Second World War' every year. Yes, there are even tanks rumbling over the site. And von Panzern! You can come on board for a fee. Due to corona, the domes of Sherman or Königstiger will unfortunately remain closed. We resume our Papen & Panzer route heading north.

Why does this Papen & Pantser route seem so long? Perhaps the fact that it passes through no fewer than three provinces of the Kingdom of the Netherlands (continental European part) plays a role.

Outside of Gelderland you also go through Limburg and North Brabant, and that is not at all on the straight through roads. On the contrary! You will go on narrow winding roads that can be labeled as extremely rural due to their agricultural character. So rural in fact, that in a hurry, between steering and enjoying the view, you haven't seen a gas pump or coffee-and-apple pie terrace for some time. With regard to the latter aspect, Tongeren Castle looms up as a welcome rock in the surf. Because in the courtyard of the beautiful castle there is a tavern where the inner man gets his money's worth with the aforementioned brew and baked goods. A cheerful bell rings on top of the roof. But all the clockwork stops, if the mighty V-twin wants it. We wouldn't be surprised if there hasn't been such a heavy exhaust roar over the farmlands since 1944. A pristine white-fronted NH church, but the largest House of God is of course decorated with statues, as befits Papenland. For Beneath the Rivers, the operational area of this tour, Roman Catholicism strikes the bell, high in the masonry tower. And then there are those traces of the Second World War.

Affetto's Ducati and Roma mushrooms are further evidence of the connection to the Holy Mother Church in faraway Italy. But we won't get that far today. Filled up with the tank, you drive along the N846 until just before the A73, where you tilt your engine to port. The Vosseneindseweg leads you past the Heumense Bos and to the Donderbergweg. Does that sound like war or not? Around the corner you come to a stop when suddenly the barrel of an armored car is pointed at you in a yard. It turns out not to be a real cannon barrel, because that has not been allowed since 1945, but an ordinary iron pipe painted in a moody army green. They got you there nicely! Lambert Bruijsten is happy to tell you the history of this Sherman tank, which is therefore not an armored car, but what kind of moan pays attention to that when you are guided through the Tank Museum of the Twentieth Century by collector Lambert and his cronies? Now one should not imagine museum grandeur, as with the English Tank Museum in Bovington or the Deutsche Panzermuseum in Munster. It's still the Netherlands, isn't it? And we just act normal there. More WWII vehicles are set up in and around a spacious barn, neatly restored and of course they all have to be able to drive.
(Text Motor.nl)