#pelgrimspad

Datum: 25 juni 2019

Kilometers: ?

Voor vandaag staat etappe 2 in de agenda. Volgens de kaartjes in mijn gids hoef ik ‘maar’ 13,9 kilometer. Zelfs met dit warme weer zou dat goed te doen moeten zijn. Dochter heeft het plan opgevat om ook het pelgrimspad te lopen. Of ze met me mee mag is de vraag. Prima.

Gisteravond al het één en ander aan brood klaargemaakt. Veel water staat gekoelt en…

I write this from Belgium!

Today has to be a quick note as I’m running low in battery and did not find a place to recharge.

I’m in Belgium, albeit just for a night. I’m back to the shores of the river Maas (which I last saw in Hesden the day if my Marathon walk).

Today’s 30.2 km walk (40,364 steps) took me through several towns but most notably, Thorn - the white city. Very beautiful with its white houses and its imposing church.

I also travelled the region of the Bokkenrijders. A group of bandits that terrorized the region for almost 50 years and out of whom many legends and stories have been made (maybe some other day with battery I can tell more).

Oh, the stories people have…

Last night was an interesting and enchanting night of sitting around a warm cup of tea and listening (like a little boy listening to a fairy tale) to the wonderful stories people shared regarding their pilgrimages.

I heard tales of crossing the Alps in a quest to reach Assisi (without preparation or a map - just by asking directions). I also listened to the woman who, twice, cycled from the Netherlands to Santiago and whose biggest remorse was to not have cycled back. I also heard the story of a man who decided to set up, in the middle of nowhere in the Netherlands, a refuge for pilgrims - and through vision, hard work, dedication and, in his own words, “divine” help has made it a place where pilgrims, veteran pilgrims and pilgrims to-be, meet, discuss and exchange knowledge and stories. That goes to show that good intentions, good ideas, dedication, capacity to implement and some luck (or divine help) are the key ingredients to make any type of venture successful.

Weather changes very quick here. In these 13 days I’ve gone from blistering hot summer-like days, to grey and rainy fall-like day, to a cool but sunny spring-like day - like today.

It finally happened.

It rained …

Not just a little. It rained a lot. All…day…long….

And I enjoyed it!

Prepared as the weather forecast wasn’t too good, I took down camp early to get a quick start. I was hoping that the rain would start later. With some luck, I would have logged in about half the walk before it came - no such luck. Just a couple of kilometers into the walk - when I was leaving the beautiful, savannah like, Kampina - the rain finally caught up to me. And it was my steady companion from then on and throughout the day.

Together we walked through fields and forests; together we followed canals, creeks and rivers, together we passed the town of Spoordonk (and I ate another apple pie while the rain waited for me outside), and together we arrived at the chapel of the Holy Oak.

A simple, white brick structure. The chapel holds a wooden image of the Virgin Mary which legend tells was found inside an oak tree by some loggers. When notified of the finding, the local priest ran to the place, picked up the figure and took it back to his church. However, that same night the figure disappeared and it appeared again in the same old oak. It was decided then to build a chapel in that place to hold the figure.

I felt the place had a lot of energy. This feeling was probably intensified by the rain. The darkness and wetness it brought made the inside of the chapel, full of lit candles, feel nice, warm and welcoming. I stayed for a few minutes to think (la Virgencita siempre ha sido buena conmigo) and I lit two candles - one for each of my girls - so that she could give me a hand, whenever necessary, in raising them well.

On the road again. Rested and with a full stomach.

Thanks to the good care of Opa and Oma, I have recovered much of the energy invested in the walk of Monday.

Today’s starting point was Den Bosch’s train station. There, I met Marieke, a good friend of ours, and she joined me for a very nice cup of coffee.

I had been in Den Bosch only once before, but today I got a chance to see it better. It’s quite nice. A place with a lot of history, and from all the fortresses and military defense infrastructure built in, and around the city, also a place of strategic political and religious importance.

The Spanish held Den Bosch for most of the 80 year war - a political war between the Spanish empire of the sixteenth century and the Dutch. While clearly the war was for control of the Netherlands (the end of the war created the Kingdom), it was mainly fought under the pretense of religion - a war between the Catholics and the newly formed Protestants. Funny (and not funny in a ha-ha way) how war and religion have gone hand in hand. This has been true for centuries, and sadly continues to be true today. So much for “love thy brother".

After seeing a bit of then Bosh and admiring its beautiful Cathedral -Sint Janskathedraal- I headed to Vucht to the place where I had left the path on Monday.

On the way, I passed by another sad reminder of the links between war and religious beliefs: Kamp Vucht - the only Nazi concentration camp outside of the third Reich. Here, thousands of Dutch Jews were gathered before being sent to other concentration camps. There were no gas chambers in Kamp Vught, but I did pass a place called Fusilladeplats - where at least 317 people were executed by the SS.

All main religions, regardless of which god(s) they follow, share one basic principle - treat others kindly and well. However, sadly it’s this basic and common principle the first one that falls to the side , over and over again, when the call for arms to defend beliefs is made. Is it what we believe in that makes us better? Or is it how we act out our beliefs?

After leaving Vught the path became very green and woody. I passed close to the cities of Esch and Haaren (did not enter either) and walked by Kastel Nemerlaert and its impressive, double layered oak entry road.

The geography is definitely different now. First of all, there are some hills now (the Dutch call them “bergen"=mountains, but rising just to 10m above sea level I call them bumps). Second there are creeks instead of canals (main difference is: creeks have curves in them, canals are straight as a ruler) ; and third, there are many forests, old and new, that provide shade and decorate the view.

In the final kilometers I entered De Kampina, another beautiful natural reserve that I will continue to cross tomorrow.