Pilgrim’s report Albert Strating

We received another nice report from one of our pilgrims. It shows, among other things, and very specially, that some memories of the Walk of Wisdom are literally indelible. Thank you, Albert!

“I would be 60 years old in 2023 and I wanted to do something special with this fact. The idea arose to go on a multi-day hike – initially on my own. While searching on the internet I came across the website of the ‘Walk of Walk of Wisdom’. The idea of a modern pilgrimage, not from a particular religious background, really appealed to me. In the end, I did not walk it alone, but together with my wife, from 11 to 18 May 2023. From January onwards we started walking a lot to get the necessary kilometers in the untrained legs.

Found good information on the internet to walk the 136 km trip in about a week. On the website ‘Op stap met Irene’ I have found both a walking schedule for 8 days and a clear overview of the public transport connections with Nijmegen. We chose a B&B location close to the center of Nijmegen from where we left every day for the next stage. Beautiful walks through various landscapes (including the Ooijpolder and the Reichswald). Forest, heath, along the river and through villages; It was a varied trip; A trip with plenty of time for reflection and looking back.

In Kranenburg (Germany) we were standing in front of a tattoo shop, waiting for the bus back to Nijmegen. That’s where the idea of a WoW/Pilgrim tattoo originated. My daughter, a starting tattoo artist, made a beautiful design for this and had it done at a tattoo studio. The figure of the Pilgrim is so beautiful to me because, in addition to being the symbol for the WoW, it also resembles an angel (guardian angel).”