Jacob van Lennep route, Part 30 (Rhenen - Nijmegen)

Tobacco fields
Monday, August 4. Van Lennep and Van Hogendorp continued their journey by diligence. That sounds idyllic, but in the eighth TV episode Geert Mak explains that traveling with this means of transport (although reserved for the rich) was really hard. Just before Elst, Van Lennep and Van Hogendorp look out over the Willem III tobacco plantation. A view that you no longer have anywhere. After World War II, tobacco cultivation disappeared from the Netherlands.

Lead white
The previous evening Van Lennep drank a few glasses of Burgundy wine to which lead white had been added. A trick that has been used for centuries to sweeten sour wine. Nowadays lead white may no longer even be used as a pigment in paint, because it is very harmful to health. No wonder, then, that Van Lennep feels miserable. In Amerongen he does not touch his midday meal and crawls into bed for a sleep that lasts almost twenty-four hours! The next day, Van Lennep and Van Hogendorp continued their journey on foot. They pass Amerongen Castle, in the Betuwe they walk past cherry and apple orchards. In Tiel they move into a lodging house and make a trip to Zoelen, among other places. Van Lennep does not eat anything, because"(...) the poison (the white lead, ed.) still worked\\\".

Hiking weather
The next day Van Lennep walks with Van Hogendorp over the dike towards Nijmegen. He is delighted with the surroundings: the river and farmlands, the orchards with nuts and fruit, the fat pastures with cattle, the fields and many spires that he sees in the distance. From Lent he enjoys the view of Nijmegen and the surrounding hills while enjoying a pipe in the evening.

There are two boat connections on this route: the Amerongen - Eck en Wiel ferry service and the Pomona foot and bicycle ferry. The Pomona only sails on Sundays between April 1 and September 30. Outside that period you can cycle from node 83 to 85 and 86 to continue the route.

Floor sources
-Jakob van Lennep," The Summer of 1823": Part 3, Chapter 3.
-Geert Mak, The summer of 1823 as a television series : episode 7.
-Maya Schepers, The summer of 1823 as a radio series : episode 8.