Didnt see many posts ref the last Nijmegan March so heres some info..
If you havent gone, but have heard about it you may believe its only a 40km march every day for 4 days
straight. Thats true to an extent. For the military marchers its about 45km each day. We have to march
to the startpoint in the morning, then in the afternoon we have to march from the finish line to our camp.
Pretty gruelling "tax" on you after you hoped you were done after 40km. We started at about 4-5AM each
morning and finish about 10-12 hours later. After each break youd have to work your blisters and sores
back into thier grooves in your boots, that was the worst part. We sang songs, talked, sometimes we just
marched silently. We passed ALOT of Operation Market Garden monuments and sites, and ofcourse
we marched over many of the bridges (naturally on the flight to Holland we watched A Bridge Too Far).
Anyways, it was a very rewarding experience. Theres only about 220 slots available a year, so if you've gone
once, let someone else go! This is a really good go, and not a swan!
The day before the march started we paraded to raise our flag. 1 or 2 members
from each team are on this parade.
Tons of kids, tons of crowds. The kids would run up with thier bags and say "shoovaneers??" and we'd
dish 'em out in handfuls.
This crowd is actually small compared to some.
Heres a band that was playing as we walked by...
This was day 4, or 3... its been awhile and hard to remember. Wall
to wall people. Huge party, no time to stop for a drink though. These kind of
crowds get your mind off of how bad your feet hurt.
Now this was definetly day 4. Were marching to Groesbeek war cemetary a large
number of Canadians are buried. Unfortunately we didnt get there in time to join
the parade, so we just relaxed under the trees. Slept, ate, bandaged and checked
out the headstones. Our Major did some homework before we left Canada and
brought us to 2 graves and gave us the story on how those men died in battle.
The German contingent built a bridge across this canal. You can see it on
the right in front of the white boat. It was a huge bottleneck for the march. Only
about 10km to go after this rest area and the entire march will be over.
We're all done. I took this awesome picture as soon as we got back to the shacks.
The medics did quite a good job on everyone bandaging us up. Unfortunately I ruined my toes
on day 1 due to a rookie mistake. I changed my insoles to a different style before the march,
they were too thick and the tops of my toes rubbed off on the inside of my boot after the 1st 10km.
It was very annoying at 1st and eventually got very painful.
If you havent gone, but have heard about it you may believe its only a 40km march every day for 4 days
straight. Thats true to an extent. For the military marchers its about 45km each day. We have to march
to the startpoint in the morning, then in the afternoon we have to march from the finish line to our camp.
Pretty gruelling "tax" on you after you hoped you were done after 40km. We started at about 4-5AM each
morning and finish about 10-12 hours later. After each break youd have to work your blisters and sores
back into thier grooves in your boots, that was the worst part. We sang songs, talked, sometimes we just
marched silently. We passed ALOT of Operation Market Garden monuments and sites, and ofcourse
we marched over many of the bridges (naturally on the flight to Holland we watched A Bridge Too Far).
Anyways, it was a very rewarding experience. Theres only about 220 slots available a year, so if you've gone
once, let someone else go! This is a really good go, and not a swan!
The day before the march started we paraded to raise our flag. 1 or 2 members
from each team are on this parade.
Tons of kids, tons of crowds. The kids would run up with thier bags and say "shoovaneers??" and we'd
dish 'em out in handfuls.
This crowd is actually small compared to some.
Heres a band that was playing as we walked by...
This was day 4, or 3... its been awhile and hard to remember. Wall
to wall people. Huge party, no time to stop for a drink though. These kind of
crowds get your mind off of how bad your feet hurt.
Now this was definetly day 4. Were marching to Groesbeek war cemetary a large
number of Canadians are buried. Unfortunately we didnt get there in time to join
the parade, so we just relaxed under the trees. Slept, ate, bandaged and checked
out the headstones. Our Major did some homework before we left Canada and
brought us to 2 graves and gave us the story on how those men died in battle.
The German contingent built a bridge across this canal. You can see it on
the right in front of the white boat. It was a huge bottleneck for the march. Only
about 10km to go after this rest area and the entire march will be over.
We're all done. I took this awesome picture as soon as we got back to the shacks.
The medics did quite a good job on everyone bandaging us up. Unfortunately I ruined my toes
on day 1 due to a rookie mistake. I changed my insoles to a different style before the march,
they were too thick and the tops of my toes rubbed off on the inside of my boot after the 1st 10km.
It was very annoying at 1st and eventually got very painful.
