Nancy’s Walk of Wisdom, ‘Always with me’.

Someone asked me the question, “Is the Walk of Wisdom not for you?” After I mentioned somewhere that I had to attend another funeral, the umpteenth this year, and that I really didn’t like it anymore. Walk of Wisdom….??

That’s how it started.

At the end of February 2020, my mother passed away very suddenly and under special circumstances. This left a huge emotional impression on me. I was looking for a way to give this a place, to get some peace of mind. An acquaintance pointed me to the Walk of Wisdom. After some googling, I was immediately enthusiastic. This was going to be a nice therapeutic walk for me. I set the date, asked for time off and arranged camping nights. I walked this trip with my dog Suzie as a buddy, which was very nice.

The tour.

Enthusiastically we set off. It’s raining a bit, but that’s not a disaster. Because it’s already well underway.

Along the way you can collect “bird rings”. The route map shows the points where they can be obtained. Usually catering establishments where something can be consumed right away. But it’s a nice challenge to find all the rings. Each municipality has its own color ring, which ensures that you have a nice colored necklace at the end of the walk. Suzie is also doing well. She remains enthusiastic and cheerful, she is a special dog.

In the conversations I’ve had with other hikers every now and then, I haven’t actually mentioned the reason for walking. I just didn’t feel the need for that. Now that I’m walking through the woods alone, I can just cry, be sad, be angry. I can ask the questions that I will never get answers to and I can feel sorry for myself and feel sorry for myself.

On the way I come across a large cross with Jesus on it. Around it are lots of candles, flowers and a pair of children’s shoes. I’ll dwell on it for a moment. It gives me goosebumps…. weird.

But it also gives me the opportunity to move on to the reason for this pilgrimage: the loss of my mother.

Always with me.

We are Catholics by birth. After my mother passed away, I found her beautiful blue rosary, which moved me enormously. I wanted to do something with that. While walking the WoW I realized that this necklace and the walking tour have a nice similarity and that I want to have it immortalized in a way that I can think back to it every day.

Together with the tattoo artist, I made the design: the rosary in the shape of the WoW route. And finally I had it done as a tattoo on my thigh where I can look at it myself.

PS: This is not completely strange to me. In 2018, my father passed away from cancer. A few months after this death I ran the Fjällräven Classic in Lapland. On the evening of the finish day there was a kind of fun evening where a tattoo artist was also present. She has tattooed the route of the trip on my arm with an asterisk at the end. My father (and my mother) often stood at the finish line of events in which I participated.

Both my parents are immortalized on my body linked to a special walk and I am very proud of that!