The Walk of Wisdom as a walking retreat

bruggetje Bergharen door Martine van Vliet

What is a walking retreat?

A walking retreat is a long-distance walk to let go of your daily worries and reflect. The word retreat comes from withdrawal, and is “a seclusion for (spiritual) self-examination and spiritual practice.” It still happens a lot in monasteries and retreat centers set up specifically for this purpose (Wikipedia). In the past, retreats were often aimed at deepening faith. Today, retreats are no longer necessarily religious.

Interestingly, since the 80s of the 20th century, many people have also discovered walking a pilgrimage route as a form of retreat. Originally religious routes such as the Camino to and in Spain or the Henro in Japan are walked by hundreds of thousands of people every year. Often for very personal reasons at key moments in someone’s life. Get away from the hustle and bustle of modern life. A walking retreat, in other words.

The Walk of Wisdom was born from this development.

A modern pilgrimage route, independent of any religion

The Walk of Wisdom is inspired by nature and set up as a multi-day walking retreat. It is a trip of 136 kilometers – about a week’s walk – in the vicinity of Nijmegen. Away from the hustle and bustle of the Randstad. Time to relax and reflect. You decide how you want to walk the tour: when, with whom. You can choose your own overnight stays from an extensive list that you will receive after registration. There are options for every budget. You make a walking retreat that suits you and our experience is that this can be very different!

There are pilgrims who go out alone and there are pilgrims who walk together, for example with a friend or sister they otherwise don’t see much. One pilgrim plans his overnight stays well in advance and the other allows himself to be surprised and books on the day itself. There are pilgrims who book one sleeping address for the whole week to travel back to every day: a feeling of coming home. Other pilgrims walk in étappes, spread over the seasons. There is a good connection by train or bus from almost the entire route.

Our advice: walk the route consecutively. Only then does a nice walk also become a walking retreat, where you get a little detached from your daily routine. Experience shows that this usually takes a few days. Pilgrims who walked the route in stages of a day often say afterwards that they would have preferred to do it consecutively.

Read some reports of pilgrims here.
We’ve written a free guide for the modern pilgrim to help you prepare.

Vertrekceremonie Walk of Wisdom door Yolanda van Diepen

In about a week you will make it a beautiful reflection holiday and you will have your own walking retreat in the Netherlands :-).

Would you also like to register?

Departure ceremonies for and by pilgrims

Yolanda van Diepen

Volunteers of our foundation organize two (free) departure ceremonies every month, as an invitation to a way in.

On the first Saturday of the month, there is a departure ceremony at sunrise: the pilgrim lauds. Fifteen minutes after sunrise you take a silent tour of the 750-year-old Stevens Church, the heart of Nijmegen and for centuries the spiritual living room of the city. In the middle of the impressive building, a reader reads a text from the pilgrim’s Book of Hours of the Walk of Wisdom: Seasons of Life. This book was published at the opening of the pilgrimage in 2015. It contains texts by well-known and unknown Dutch people about an important life experience. The book has long since been out of print, but there is still one copy of it in the church. A special copy with all the original works of art bound in it.

Every third Saturday of the month at 09.45 am the departure ceremony is held in the Valkhof Chapel in Nijmegen. An intimate, more than 1,000-year-old small chapel where you are invited to express an intention for your journey, accompanied by a musician and a master of ceremonies. You’ll be waved goodbye!

The departure ceremonies are a great way to turn your walk into a journey of reflection .

Silent Walks

If you walk the walking retreat (for the most part) in silence, you create your own silent retreat. Silence is a power to hear your inner voice and connect with your essence and natural being. If you do that while walking, you let the beauty of nature work extra into your process. Such a walking retreat or a silent walk is beneficial. Bring a notebook and let your thoughts speak. Write a poem. Sign. Release – or empty.

The Walk of Wisdom also regularly organizes silent walks with a group, so you can join.

Prepared for the road with a pilgrim coach

At the Walk of Wisdom we work together with a coach who has a short reflection trajectory. Before and after your walk, you will have a conversation about themes that are important in your life. The listening ear of this experienced coach invites you to look at your inner monologue and express your desire. Then you can work with that desire during and after the tour. This can lead to surprising twists and turns: for example, read Laura’s report: well prepared on the road with a pilgrim coach.

> More information about the pilgrim coaching

Reflection walk in a group

There are also regular reflection or coaching walks on the Walk of Wisdom in a group. Daily pilgrim and Go Camino provide guided Walk of Wisdoms. The Comenius Courses have even set up an entire leadership training course around it: the Comenius walk.

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Walk on the Path to Wisdom

A walking retreat brings you to your senses, especially if it takes place in the diverse nature of the Rijk van Nijmegen, through which the Walk of Wisdom runs. The many different landscapes touch you just a little differently every time. From rivers to forests, swamps to hills (yes, in the Netherlands). By going for a walk, you literally get moving. You’re going to take steps and be on your way. That means letting go of your current place and taking new paths. By getting moving, you connect with your own path.

Most of the Nijmegen Walk of Wisdom is unpaved and the contours of the route resemble a flying bird. The starting and ending point is the most popular building in Nijmegen: the Stevens Church from 1273. You will walk through two countries, three provinces and eleven municipalities. So you walk around: you don’t have to achieve anything, it’s about the experience of the tour itself. A successful pilgrimage brings you closer to what makes life meaningful to you. Although the route is perceived as very quiet, you are not alone: more than 10,000 hikers have already walked the route.

In about a week you will make it a beautiful reflection holiday and you will have your own walking retreat in the Netherlands :-).

Would you also like to register?

The Walk of Wisdom as a walking retreat

What is a walking retreat?

A modern pilgrimage route, independent of any religion

Departure ceremonies for and by pilgrims

Departure ceremony for pilgrims: Valkhof Chapel

Vertrekceremonie bij zonsopgang: de pelgrimslauden

Vertrekceremonie voor pelgrims: Valkhofkapel

Silent Walks

Prepared for the road with a pilgrim coach

Reflection walk in a group

Walk on the Path to Wisdom

Walk of Wisdom

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