Day 22, Xanten to Arnhem

So, no one spotted that I had two Day 13s, hence we've skipped to real Day 22; only 2 days left! After a good breakfast (bacon butties again, fantastic) we loaded up and headed out via another ancient town gate we never spotted yesterday and past a large archaeological park (Xanten was once the second largest Roman settlement after Cologne in Roman Germania and home to the 30th Legion. You learn something new every day!). Today was consistently overcast but quite warm and no rain, forecast. We stopped at the first bakery/corner shop that we spotted and loaded up with pies and fruit for lunch and snacks. A ride-by of Wunderland in Kalkar revealed a theme park built in an old nuclear power station (!) then a coffee stop at Grieth (25km) came as a relief due to the wind being quite a challenge. I guess this is to be expected as we get nearer to Netherlands, but it was still pretty draining. A picnic lunch followed a few kilometres later by the historic iron railway bridge at Griethausen (now barriered off). Then the journey continued over pan-flat and, to be honest, pretty boring terrain where the only pints of interest were a couple of mega-dairies. And the worst part was that it was into a fairly strong and steady headwind. We finally reached the ferry at Milingen and chose to miss the first sailing in favour of a welcome coffee-&-cake stop at the ferry point. A brief rain scare saw the waterproofs donned ... and then removed 5 minutes later, then it was on to the next ferry point at Huisen and a final grind into Arnhem itself where the first point of call was Tourist Information for a Dutch Cycling map. The hotel was a 4-star job next to the railway station where, even though we'd got a good price to start with, we got a room upgrade ... very fancy. We were pretty well bushed by now, so ate in the hotel, watched the end of the Murray semi-final, and only wandered out to check out the amazing new railway station described as a photographer's delight. Oh, and the adjacent Spar to buy a beer and cashews to enjoy back in our fancy room.
67.5 km; 16.2 kph avg; 4:08 moving time; 115m ascent