What’s the other side?

Vincent Cantrijn is a ticket seller on the ferry between Ravenstein-Niftrik, just over halfway through the Walk of Wisdom route around Nijmegen. He has already put many a pilgrim on the other side; Some sailed up and down three times to tell their story. Vincent wrote a book based on his experiences:

WHAT IS THE OTHER SIDE?

“Since my retirement, I have been a volunteer on the ferry across the Meuse between Ravenstein and Niftrik. For six seasons now, I have been enjoying this volunteer job to the fullest. Unknown people sometimes tell their whole story in the less than ten-minute crossing. It is not for nothing that a colleague – ticket seller said to me at the start of my first season: “What you experience as a ticket seller on a ferry. You could write a book about it.”

That colleague was right. I was able to write a book about it entitled: “What is the other side? A ticket seller’s search for the mystery of the other side.” The title was unintentionally coined by a woman who asked this question with some desperation in her voice when she got on the ferry with me on her bike.

To ask the question is to answer the question. But it’s not that simple. The other side has many mysteries that are not easy to fathom. Noud, the main character in this book, knows all about it. Throughout his life, he has been fascinated by all kinds of facets of the other side. His crossings of the Meuse as a ticket seller on a small ferry provide flashbacks that evoke memories of the other side. As an eight-year-old boy, he wondered what the real other side was. But he’s also worried about the future. Is there a world without a other side? He eventually goes in search of such a world.

When writing the book, I was inspired by the stories of all those unknown people who were transferred by me. Walk of Wisdom runners also come on my ferry. At least in the summer months. I ask every pilgrim who comes on the ferry why he or she is walking the trip. This always yields surprising answers. That is why there is a chapter about the Walk of Wisdom entitled: Tough Silence. But just like in the whole book, reality and fantasy merge seamlessly in the chapter Tough Silence. It is up to the reader to discover what is true and what is made up. If it is not discovered, then there is no man overboard. A ferry always comes to the other side. That wisdom is a certainty.

The book ends in 2020 when Noud is on his way to a world without a other side. Literally and figuratively. For him, the circle is complete. What he dreamed of as an eight-year-old boy will come true. Wisdom comes with age; as the saying goes. But I have experienced that wisdom can also come in the few minutes of the crossing on the ferry. Come and visit us. I will take you to the other side with love and pleasure.”

Vincent Cantrijn

More about the book: link