Snow-white quiet: walking alone for the first time (pilgrim's report)

From the very beginning, Helma Mollenkamp has been making music for the Walk of Wisdom together with her partner Ben Dirks (Duo Messingh). In the meantime, Helma has walked the route herself and wrote the report below.

I already had my starter kit when I decided to start running in March 2018.

I’ve been through a lot in the past 10 years, it wasn’t an easy time and I had lost myself a bit. The hardest thing for me is choosing for myself and setting boundaries. I had wanted to walk for a long time, but there were always other things that demanded my attention. I decided, and now I choose for myself, started with the preparations and arrangements and then finally really started. I found it a challenge and especially exciting, because I had never done that on your own for a few days.

I left in good spirits, it was cold but I enjoyed it from the first step. So nice to start from your own city via familiar paths. On the Waal beach I came across my first challenge….oops, there were a few highlanders… Taking a deep breath and walking calmly, I was happy and proud when I passed them. At Oortjeshekken I treated myself to coffee and thought about the first part in peace. From there I walked on to Beek where I wanted to spend the first night (on spec) but the weather got worse, colder and there were thick wet raindrops, just short of wet snow. And there was the pedestrian ferry….

And of course it was on the other side! In good spirits I started the job to pull him towards me, but after half an hour, full of frustration, completely numb and in tears, the ferry was less than half a meter in my direction. Completely sad I then called Ben; what should I do now, I don’t know anymore and he came to pick me up and dropped me off in Beek. So crazy, I didn’t come up with the idea to take another road, and then walk a bit, I was finally blocked. Now I know that there are more roads that lead to the end point, that insight came later along the way.

I slept well and started the next day with sun and walked through the beautiful Filosofendal, everywhere I heard and saw birds. The first day I did a lot of thinking, the 2nd^{day I} looked around a lot more and I was less busy in my head. When I almost crossed the border towards Kranenburg, it started to snow, with a strong wind so it looked like a small snowstorm. I was well wrapped and was not cold and thought it was very special, normally I would not have gone for a walk but the wind that howls around your ears and snowflakes that blind you, it was soothing for me. And when I finally arrived (because it was also hard work) in the lee of the forest, I was surprised by the silence… a small white layer of snow and a robin on my path… breathtaking.

Then we arrived at the Draisine, time for coffee and a nice meeting with another pilgrim. Then we decided to walk on to Milsbeek through the Reichswald. That was an exciting trip, it had just stormed and there were fallen trees on the paths everywhere, I had to scramble and climb, I was exhausted. And it was still windy and I heard all the trees creaking and groaning, I had to find my way on the map and it was quite dark in the forest, spooky even but at the highest point there was a bench and I looked out over the silent world and it made me very quiet myself, how you can enjoy if you open yourself up to it, such a beautiful experience…

I continued on my way, with a big blister on my toe, climbed over trees and after I left the forest behind me, I ate pea soup at “de Diepen”. I made several phone calls there but couldn’t find a place to stay anywhere. Then I called again and slept in Nijmegen and the next morning I started again at “de Diepen”. For me then came the most beautiful part of the trip, the sun started to shine and I even got so hot that the jacket could be opened, and I saw birds everywhere. The area was very recognizable because I used to walk there a lot with my mother. It was a lot of fun with an empty head.

Upon arrival in Molenhoek, I decided to deviate from the route because I was going to sleep with my girlfriend in Malden. Learned from the first day; there are more ways to walk your WOW. When I arrived at Petra’s, I literally and figuratively came into a warm bath. The next day I walked through the Hatertse fens, the birthplace of my mother, very familiar and yet very different when you walk alone. I have experienced that walking at your own pace and letting everything come to you is very nice. The weather remained nice for the next few days and I walked along known and unknown paths.

Halfway through the tour is the Lady Chapel, where I took the time to write something about my walk and myself, a touching moment of reflection and here too the sun shone through the stained glass on my face. Then we walked on to Grave and the next day via Keent, a beautiful route, to Ravenstein. Here I had to stop because the lump on my foot protested, sad I went home but at home on the couch very satisfied and happy about what I had found during the trip; a bit of processing and acceptance of what has happened in recent years, proud to be able to do it on my own, enjoying the things my mother taught me; An eye for nature and above all for the first time I found more peace of mind and a piece of myself. Since then I regularly go for a walk alone and it does me good…. And that last part of the route will come.

Helma Mollenkamp