In the summer, Dutch people flock to the water to cool off. Usually on the coast, but the banks of the Maas have nice steering roads and are connected to the outside world by ferries. This way you also get that much-needed refreshment along the way outside a dike of a route. This ferry route starts at the Elector of the Palatinate. Not with the good man himself, because if all goes well, he has been leading a heavenly choir of angels since 1799 and he leaves the running of the hotel-restaurant in Ravenstein named after him to a knowledgeable catering team. Have breakfast in, bikes out, and start, no time to lose because you are already on the dike road along the Maas.
That dike sits enthroned like an elector above the water on the right and the farmlands on the left. Rows of beautiful trees along it serve as a guard of honor and cast a pleasant shade on the road. Why was it not possible to include the Demense ferry in the route? A solid fence provides the answer. Only cyclists and pedestrians are allowed to cross here. Don't worry, the oil and tires will have the opportunity to warm up further.

At Megen you can ride the first ferry. The skipper completely matches the image of a captain with his white beard. He will personally meet you and collect €2.70. Meanwhile, his barge is already stamping towards the other bank. "Does your boat have a name, Captain?" “Megen. That is often the case. Where he goes is also the name of the ferry.' Before you can ask what happens when his boat sails from Megen to Appeltern, the next bank is already there. Fasten your seatbelts, start the engines. 'Province of Gelderland. Closer than you think.' The next ferry is called Maasbommel, which takes you to Brabant soil. Here and there there is a nice loop in the route, which takes you deep into the interior of Brabant. These loops can also be skipped, allowing you to shorten the route. You can swing generously across the land around Oss and Den Bosch. But you always come back to the river, to the coolness of the Maas. Because the ferries still sail on this waterway among other shipping traffic. On the Waal, ferries have largely been replaced by bridges as river crossings.
At the next ferry. "What's your boat's name, skipper?" 'The Alphen, to that village there.' So that means counting the blades of grass in Gelderland again. But you also see things that you would otherwise drive past. Alphen has a lounge terrace along the road, with tempting chairs and parasols. There is a row of stones that otherwise only a dog would sniff. That is why an information board has been added for human passers-by, stating that this is a cemetery for stone marker posts from the time before GPS. On closer inspection, a town along the river like Alphen turns out to have quite a few sights to see. That house on the left, for example, a dike warehouse, what would the people of Alphen keep in it? A little further on there is a classic wooden windmill waving its arms. Tot Voordeel en Genoegen dates from 1795 and in the nineteenth century the mill also owned the right of the foot ferry across the Maas and was a loading and unloading place here.

A side road leads to a dead end, but you take it anyway. Because via this private road from Vattenfall you can reach the hydroelectric power station, which is marked by a row of white locks and dam towers of Rijkswaterstaat in the Meuse.

What now? A large photo board will scare you. A bridge here over the Maas? Oh no? That doesn't fit with your ferry theme. Fortunately it's a false alarm. There will only be a new bridge from Moordhuizen on the bank to the ferry jetty at Lith. And there it is already arriving. 'What's the name of your barge, skipper?' 'Tonnie de Blank.' 'Aha, so not Murder Houses or Lith?' 'No. Tonnie de Blank was a man, he lived on the corner there and he had about three ferries in operation on the Maas. When the ferries came to the De Maasveren Foundation in 1984, they called this ferry Tonnie de Blank. And that's his name for about forty years now.' You can still drive completely legally on the Lithse Dijkweg, all the way to Maren-Kessel. The next ferry is already waiting there on the Veerweg, which will take you to Alem.

This barge is called Amalia, you don't have to ask, you'll see. "Yes, to the princess," says the skipper, who is kind enough to pick you up from the other bank as soon as you show up on the Marense shore.

Alem, that sounds like mandrake and other pre-Christian stuff. And indeed: this former island was once a pagan place of sacrifice. This is what Paul van Winden tells us, the host who not only runs the Sientjes establishment in Kerkdriel, but is also a gifted storyteller. Until 1935, Alem was on the Brabant side of the Maas. A meander of the Meuse was cut off through canalization, resulting in Alem being located on the northern bank. The village was cut off from Brabant and was now located on a peninsula, connected to Rossum by a dam. Before that dam came, there was only a ferry between Alem and Rossum. Sientjes was the name of an innkeeper who saw many skippers passing by from the café De Bommelse Stoep. But that changed when the Maas was diverted, because the Omklapbocht became too narrow for inland shipping, the sand quarry for it became the De Zandmeren recreational area and Sientje retired. The cafe was demolished. End of story.
Until the new catering industry was built on the site of that old café on the harbor, called Sientjes with respect for local history, where Paul keeps the stories alive. Take your time, because Sientjes also offers dinner, accommodation and breakfast.

The tour continues through the Bommelerwaard, another river island, an offshoot of the Betuwe and therefore full of fruit orchards. There are also famous castles, such as Loevenstein and Ammesoyen, but you head towards the next ferry that will take you across the water of the Afgedamde Maas, which separates Aalst from Veen. Skipper, may I sail across, yes or no? And do I have to pay a cent, yes or no?
Instead of the now familiar blue and yellow, part of the De Maasveren Foundation's corporate identity, the river.nl ship has been painted in other colors. The service is also different on board, because here the captain does not come out of his wheelhouse on deck to collect the money. On board the Aalst II, the passenger must go to the skipper's counter to pay for his passage.

Back on the Brabant ramparts side, the road winds along the Maasdijk. A striking sign warns of other road users who simply cross the road. No, not cyclists, but beavers. Another bridge slides into view, which is not the intention on this ferry tour. But there is no escape: you have to cross the Kromme Nolkering lock bridge over the Heusdensch Canal.

Straight across the Bergsche Maasdijk, turn right on the Bernsedijk to the Veerweg. And there lies your next vessel in the well-known yellow-blue color scheme: Bernse veer. Fortunately, a stained wooden plank tells you the name of this barge. Because the captain does not go around with a cap, clog or ATM machine and does not open a payment counter. He just stays up in his wheelhouse and doesn't come to chat. Such a man has a nice job. Getting money to read engine magazines in your wheelhouse, while the autopilot does the work. The Berne ferry takes you across to the south bank, where after a few kilometers you cross the beautiful fortified town of Heusden. From Heusen to Drongelen the dike road winds again over an overwhelmingly beautiful meadow, river and floodplain landscape. After Doeveren, the route runs high on the dike over a beautiful alley of trees. A green tunnel, even more beautiful than the one between Ravenstein and Megen.

Thinking of Holland, the Netherlands is beautiful, our ancestors knew that too. Just think of Marsman's lines: 'Thinking of Holland, I see wide rivers moving slowly through endless lowlands.' He wrote 'Holland', but of course also meant Gelderland and Brabant.
And Belcampo wrote, standing at the Wielse Veer: 'I had to take a deep breath of glory; There is nothing in nature that is equal in grandeur to a calmly rushing, wide river, such an irresistibly powerful event that takes place in such perfect tranquility. And at that grand event, little people are busy earning their living.'
Like the boatmen and the ferry captains who sail around in the glory. Do you hear the Elector singing his choir of angels or is it the wind in the helmet?

You pass the Gansoyen pumping station over the Bovenlandsche Sluis, where machine parts from the old steam pumping station are still located. Then you pass the Waalwijk lock and follow the Zomerdijk to the Sluisweg. And at the end of it, the Drongelense ferry is already bobbing on the Maas. A ferry crossing is a pleasure every time. It has now become a familiar experience on this ferry route. The vibrations do not come from the engine room and the heaving is not caused by irregularities in the road surface.
The last ferry of this route awaits a little further on. The landscape and sky are vast. What could be more beautiful than this motorcycle ride through this area of water and land. But once on the Capelse ferry, that is also questionable. Because when the flap goes down and the barrier opens, the next dike road is already waiting for you.