On the road with the mayor of Wijchen: Renske Helmer

The mayor of Wijchen – Renske Helmer – has become an ambassador of the Walk of Wisdom. Co-coordinator Damiaan took her for a walk and wrote the report below.

Today I get off in Wijchen, one of the eleven municipalities on our route. It has just rained and I look at the central monument of the city: a cool 17th century castle that was built by a daughter of William of Orange: Emilia. 400 years of war and conflict in the world, but this castle was never touched by battle. Exceptional.

At the town hall, Mayor Renske Helmer steps out in walking shoes. Renske – I may tutoo – said yes to our request to become an ambassador of the Walk of Wisdom . On one condition: she wanted to meet in person first. We are going to walk the detour that the municipality developed especially for our pilgrims (link).

Don’t expect me to write a critical article about this mayor: Renske, as an alderman in Nijmegen, helped with our actions against litter on the Waal beaches. She personally helped to prick and ensured that visitors can take paper waste bags at the entrances from now on. A system that still works. I would like to see someone like that as mayor. I’m less positive about the people who leave all that rubbish behind!

We look at the threatening sky. “Shall I go back for an umbrella?”, Renske asks. We laugh a bit and shrug our shoulders. She soon turns out to be a city guide: “I’ve been told that many Wijchen residents get their first kiss in this lane.”

Through the terraces of the center we arrive at the Wijchense Meren. The mayor likes to walk there with her husband and enthusiastically explains that the waters are managed with restraint. To give nature a chance.

Soon she asks questions about the Walk of Wisdom. How many people are walking? Answer: 2,500-3,000 annually. Since its opening in 2015 +- 17,000. She nods in agreement when she hears that pilgrims with little money get a discount for a starter pack.

Pilgrims: a different kind of people?

Renske lived in Nijmegen in a working-class neighbourhood. “Acquaintances of mine didn’t understand that I was going to live in Wolfskuil in Nijmegen at the time. They said: ‘ASM people live in that neighbourhood: different kind of people.’ I’ve always been very resistant to that. Who are you to judge someone else? One likes to sit in the front yard with a BBQ and the other goes to the theater.”

She just can’t imagine that residents of her former street would register as pilgrims. “Why not?” I ask. Are pilgrims seen by them as “different kind of people” dear?

Out loud, we investigate the question of whether pilgrimage is mainly for ‘higher’ educated people. I oppose that: after all, pilgrimage is done with your feet and your feelings. You don’t have to have studied for that. This is evident from the practice of our pilgrimage route. One goes out with a friend who has just been cured of cancer, to celebrate that it is still possible. The other mourns alone and in silence for a loved one through the beautiful nature around Nijmegen. Yet another thinks about new steps in life while walking. The need to go on a pilgrimage can occur to anyone.

Can pilgrimage connect people? It’s the inspiration behind our journey, I tell them. Under the dust of days of walking, differences between people disappear. In nature, it doesn’t matter who you vote for or how rich you are. The physical exertion of walking and being on the road releases emotions and gives rise to different kinds of conversations. About what inspires you. What touches you. What you’re up against.

While talking, Renske and I alternately walk next to or in front of each other, depending on the width of the path. I conclude with a counter-question: “Where do you actually get your inspiration from?”

Renske looks at me for a moment. Then I hear her thinking while walking: “Where do I get it from…? I just think of life itself… You have to seize the opportunities that life gives.” [follows a fascinating substantive conversation, the content of which she understandably prefers to keep private. I respect that, of course. In any case, it touched me. I like it, man, this mayor.]

“Is zo’n baan niet hartstikke druk?” vraag ik. Renske is burgemeester van een gemeente van 42.000 inwoners. Renske: “Ja het is druk, maar ook leuk! Ik mag leiding geven aan de democratie.” Gloedvol praat ze over de vele contacten en het werk dat ze doet. Het ene uur helpt ze ouders troosten van een overleden kind, het volgende uur gaat ze langs bij de carnavalsvereniging. Het is het leven zelf. 

During our walk, she is greeted kindly here and there. Each time she greets warmly back. She regularly looks at me with lively eyes. Someone is in her element here.

At the end of the walk, she treats us to a coke in the castle. A castle that Emilia, the daughter of William of Orange, once paid for thanks to the sale of a precious pearl necklace.

“Look up,” Renske points to the façade of the castle. “Mors sceptra ligonibus aequat”, it says: death makes prince and slave equal. “Something for the pilgrims, for the sake of contemplation.”

Would you also like to take a stroll through Wijchen?

The municipality of Wijchen didn’t like the fact that the Walk of Wisdom route does not go through the center of Wijchen. How can you skip our beautiful castle and the Wijchense Meren!

The municipality therefore specially developed a detour from the route through the center. For pilgrims who walk a day trip, this is an ideal route to the station. For pilgrims who walk the route as a multi-day trip, probably a detour. Unless, of course, you like to see the castle, grab a terrace or do some shopping.

The detour starts on route map 24 from dot 6: look here. You will pass two lakes, a ‘love avenue’ and a chapel where you can light a candle. After Wijchen station, you return to the route via a new housing estate.