Pilgrimage on the Walk of Wisdom – report Mieke Kerhof- Scheenaard

What a beautiful report we received from a pilgrim. This time from Mieke Kerhof – Scheenaard. She published it in the local newspaper of her hometown Oegstgeest. It’s great that people all over the Netherlands feel called to fill in the Walk of Wisdom in their own way. This is how our young pilgrimage tradition grows…

Thank you Mieke!

Pilgrimage on the Walk of Wisdom

“Strolling through the floodplains of the Waal, I saw the tower of the Stevens Church in Nijmegen becoming more and more sharply defined. I had made it! Those last kilometers to the church could still be added.
In September I walked The Walk of Wisdom. A pilgrimage route of 136 km around Nijmegen. I walked it in 2 times 4 days. It was the first time I had undertaken something like this on my own. Would I be able to handle that, both physically and mentally? I had been through quite a bit in both areas in the past year and a half. The knowledge that there are buses to Nijmegen almost everywhere reassured me.

I enjoyed! Beautiful nature, beautiful late summer weather. The silence was beneficial. No return by bus.
Without expectations, just going for a walk brought me a lot. Such as the insight that the encounters along the way can hardly be a coincidence. Like the 3 women who arrived at the ferry of Persingen at the same time as me. We had already greeted each other on the way. Together we got the self-service ferry to the other side. A tough job. An old man spouted his story to me without a care in the world and then walked on waving. Isn’t that great? In Kranenburg I was suddenly sitting at the table with other pilgrims in the evening when I felt the need for some fun. Host families pampered me along the way. Residents of the villages along the way showed the way unsolicited when they saw me looking around searchingly. And after a conversation of about 2 kilometers with a fellow pilgrim, I had gained an important insight. Just like after 6 kilometers walking alone in the silence. And; I covered the last few kilometers with a nice pilgrim. Suddenly he was there and together we rounded off our trip. Still more fun than arriving alone. I was on my own, but I wasn’t alone.

I have come to see this walking tour as a metaphor for everyday life. If I am open to it, help or insight always comes in time. And groundbreaking for me: The longer I was on the road, the more I didn’t worry if I made a mistake in the route. When I looked back, I saw the church of the village where I had gone wrong getting small again. How relative is such a mistake when you pick up the route again and just continue. That’s how I want to deal with my ‘bloopers’ from now on. Next year I will go on a pilgrimage again. “

Mieke Kerkhof-Scheenaard

Photos by Mieke Kerkhof-Scheenaard

Would you also like to submit a report?

Have you walked the tour and do you also want to write a report? Nice to do for yourself and nice for others to read. Send it to [email protected]. It can also be done with just your first name or anonymously if you find it too personal.