The 5th Tank Bag Tour of 2019 has the starting point in Venlo and the end point in Dinxperlo. No, not every motorcyclist likes flower arrangements. We can all determine that together. However, we live in a time of highly increasing diversity. Everyone has his say, that idea. Because Promoter keeps up with the times, they pay attention to ... flower arranging in this TankTasTocht. For example, you can spend a few wonderful hours in the castle gardens of Arcen. Among the flowers!

This Tank Bag Tour has many more surprises in store. You drive from De Maasduinen to the Rhine and then up again, onto the moraine at Groesbeek, to end up in the scenic landscape at Dinxperlo in the Achterhoek. The festivities start in Venlo. I hadn't been there for about thirty years and yes, then you quickly get lost. Boy, how things got over there. The core, however, remains upright: a fine collection of streets, the highlight of which is the Market and the old town hall. I also walk into the Limburgs Museum, where a retrospective of the local hero Evert Thielen, a man with a good eye for the female breast, is just being held. Hello, what a memmen!

The Mission Museum in Steyl, just below Venlo, is of a completely different nature. It really is such a museum where you get red ears of excitement. "You should see this ... and this ... and this!" I am referring in particular to the insect cabinet of Brother Berchmans, with his owl-head butterflies, hercules beetles and stick locusts. That it exists! And then you haven't been to the great room yet, with stuffed animals from all over the world. The collection is due to the missionaries of the Congregation of the Divine Word, who moved from all directions in Steyl.

From the monastery village - Steyl has three! - you cross the Maas with the ferry and there the free driving starts. It goes over the Brangk, hop onto the Legioendijk and steer, until behind Venlo, where a first hill unexpectedly presents itself, the Herungerberg. Above it appears that you are pretty much in Germany. It says "Frische Eier" and that's not how we say it. It is also immediately more spacious and quieter, with fewer cars and fewer houses. Friendly countryside.

The next stop is at the castle gardens of Arcen. I myself am not so fond of this kind of over-directed parks, where, so to speak, every tree has been thought about. After wandering around for an hour or so I surrender. Take those bonsai-pruned trees in the Eastern Water Garden. Yes, an eyebrow will rise. And when the rocky valley full of dry pines presents itself, Spain is not far away, or the United States. This is how this boy's eyes are really opened. The final conclusion: a tour through the castle gardens of Arcen is like a journey through faraway places, complete with a colony of pink flamingos and a screaming peacock in the tree.

Kasteel Arcen is located in De Maasduinen National Park, with river dunes that could develop on the eastern banks of the Maas due to the prevailing westerly winds. In motorcycle terms, that means better driving, over a rolling landscape, sometimes to the left, then to the right. I remember the Arcenerstraße, the Lingsforterweg, the Dorperheideweg, the Heerenvenweg: good steering and so we sail back into Germany, this time recognizable by the hunters' cabins and the many shutters.

Eventually you end up in Kevelaer, a place of pilgrimage, and connoisseurs know what that means: waving banners in the streets, bells and candles, lots of candles. The walls of the Kerzenkapelle are even completely blackened with smoke. There is also - that goes hand in hand in places of pilgrimage - a lot of restaurants, because all those pilgrims have to be fed and housed and of course they want to buy a souvenir for the home, even if it's just a boxer shorts or a nice hat. The dominant image in the city center: older couples who are happy sitting behind a cup of coffee. There comes a time when you no longer need it.

By far the most beautiful part of the route presents itself as you send via the Zwarteweg, Holleweg and Neutrale Weg to the dam at Groesbeek. Nobody can hear it, but I'm just screaming in excitement in my helmet: what a view! And it doesn't get any worse if you drive a little later on the Grafwegener Straβe, with the forests of the Reichswald rising on the right and a wide valley on the left for miles. The only thing that you have to watch out for here is that you don't run too fast from the weather forecast; 120 kilometers on the clock is perhaps a bit exaggerated.

The last stop in Germany before you finally return to the Netherlands in Kleve. Here too Promotor responds to the widely heard call for more diversity. Even though we know that there are motorcyclists who do not like modern art, you can visit the Museum Kurhaus Kleve here. The surroundings are fantastic, but I fear the worst inside, because I never understood anything about Joseph Beuys. See if it works. (Source: Promotor 06-2019).

Because I have driven large parts of this route myself, this route gets 4 stars.