“It wasn’t just a walking tour” (pilgrim Ieke Witteveen)

In the spring of 2017 my resilience was put to the test and I decided that now was the time to walk the Walk of Walk of Wisdom , a pilgrimage route in the Netherlands that symbolizes the way inwards in search of meaning and meaning.

Because I love camping, I camp at a campsite in the region and on August 7, together with a friend who put me on the track of this route, I walk the first stage from the Stevenskerk through the Ooijpolder to Beek-Ubbergen. Ten days and 136 kilometers later, I’m back in the same place and, very much in keeping with my mood at the time, I end the route with a snack and a drink in eatery De Hemel, enjoying wonderful jazz music.

I walk around Nijmegen for ten days, sometimes alone, sometimes together with friends or close family members.

So one morning I go out on my own. I walk through the fields musing, the wind taking my thoughts away. Naturally, the earth supports my footsteps. Along the way I come across a chapel, built in 2010 by a couple. The proceeds of the candles will go to the KWF. The place touches me because of the love with which this was recently built in the middle of the open field and also because of the deep silence that reigns there.

I don’t often light a candle, but in this chapel I light a three-day torch for a very beloved sister who died only recently, after an intense and short period of illness, and is still so close in everything I do. I light a candle for family members and friends who have since passed away from cancer and also a candle for all other world citizens who are looking for a way in dealing with this disease.

A nice place to be completely quiet for a while. In front of the door I have lunch on a bench and take a last bit of sunshine with me. Through a lashing rain I walk on through the flat land. A rain cape doesn’t prevent me from getting soaking wet. It doesn’t bother me, on the contrary. Scraps of mud from the past are washed away; I experience all the more what was beautiful and remains beautiful. In the next village I buy a new sweater: I return to the campsite clean and dry inside and out, where delicious food awaits me.

For ten days I walk through very different landscapes, I experience the roots of this ancient region in the many footsteps I take and I have nice, relaxing and valuable encounters with lovely people.

And now the tent has been put away, the clothes have been washed and the shoes have been polished. It was not just a walking tour, it turns out to be a pilgrimage route in which I almost thoughtlessly followed the footsteps of many who have gone before me and where I let everything that happens in the rest of the world slide past me.

While walking and sharing experiences with lovely people around me, I was able to close a period of mourning. The pilgrimage has done its healing work and I am sure that I will put on my walking shoes again for the next intense moments of life.

Ieke Witteveen, 21 August 2017

Photo compilation: Ieke Witteveen