Pilgrimspath, its Southern part, the Netherlands. By
Ton van Zutphen, August 2020 / from Waalre village to Maastricht town: 185 kms
A kind of straightforward blog but perhaps useful for those
foreigners who want to walk this section of the trail / actually we never met
any foreigners; my wife Biya and I were viewed by villagers as an example of a most
exotic couple.
‘Het Pelgrimspad’, or literally translated in English
‘the Pilgrims path’ provides since centuries the overture to the region where
Germany, Belgium and the Netherlands join up. Pilgrims walk from Amsterdam to
Maastricht covering around 480 kms. From Maastricht it is a stiff one
day’s walk to Vise in Belgium where the path joins the Santiago de Compostela pilgrims
route from the North (drawing pilgrims mainly from Cologne/Aachen in
Germany) toward Reims and on to Vezelay in Central France. Both Amsterdam and
Maastricht have been cities where annually pilgrims gathered to do penitence
and ask for forgiveness for sins committed, and for mercy, in particular from the
Holy Mary. There is a guidebook that offers good information, only in Dutch
though, but one can find the on-line version in English at www.longdistancepaths.eu.
The markings are white above red and although signaling is not perfect I never
got lost during the three walks I did in 2008 from ‘s-Hertogenbosch, in 2018 also from ‘s-Hertogenbosch, and in 2020 from ‘t Loon in Waalre ; all with end station Maastricht.
Over the past 125 years the topography and landscape of particularly
the Northern section (Holland and Utrecht provinces) in the Netherlands has
changed substantially because of the urbanization and industrialization. That
is why I never walked the route from Amsterdam to ‘s-Hertogenbosch. Nevertheless,
some beautiful water and polder landscapes are part of the trail, including
many traditional water mills. From ‘s-Hertogenbosch and its famous St. John’s
Cathedral, the path follows mostly rural areas and takes the pilgrim past tucked
away villages, even the well-educated Dutchman has never heard of. Examples
include Belvert, Spoordonk, Tungelroy, Hunsel, Brommelen, and Trintelen, to
name a few.
For those foreigners who have been brainwashed to
think that the Netherlands consists mainly of Amsterdam, canals, dykes and tulip fields, the route described below
offers a complete different view of the Netherlands and of two of its most
Southern provinces: Brabant and Limburg.
From ‘t Loon (a few farmsteads near the village of Waalre close to the city of Eindhoven) my wife
Biya and I walked during 8 days approx.. 185 kms through dense forests
dominated by oak and fir; over extensive heather terrain spotting a few flocks
of sheep, along many small manmade lakes, passed agricultural fields dominated
by maize, potatoes and sugar beets, climbed a few short hills in Limburg and followed
the spectacular trail along the Geul river in Wijlre. According to Biya ‘the
flowering potatoes are more beautiful in Korea than in the NL. Mind you…did I
ever see anywhere in ‘Korea a potato field? ‘Sweetie’, I thought ‘what have you
been smoking?’
Although it is called ‘Pilgrims path’, in my personal
opinion only sections of the trail, especially in the South reflect a routing
past Catholic heritage such as monasteries, churches, chapels and the typical Jesus
and Maria prayer statues in Brabant and Limburg (which is testimony to the
Catholic origin of this region).
For those walkers who love to see castles, rivers and
vast agricultural fields this trip is an eyeopener. For example, most castles
can be visited and date back from the medieval times when knights in armor were roaming
the area. In some of these one can eat and overnight as well.
In summary: this Southern section of the Pilgrims path
combines 1. a pilgrims route along Catholic landmarks with 2. a touristic and
attractive nature trail that crosses several nature reserves. It is an easy
trail and very quiet; we met during 8 days and during the high season end
July/start of August less than 5 people whom we knew or thought of doing the
same trail. Most people we met walked their dog for a few kms. and then returned home to village life.
This Pilgrims trail meets and joins at several places
the more famous ‘Pieter path’. This popular path runs from Pieterburen on the
coast in the North of the Netherlands to the Saint Pietersberg or the ‘Saint
Peter’s mountain’, also located in Maastricht. It is approx. 525 kms.
long and crosses the Dutch regions West of the
German border from North to South.
Our objective for this pilgrim’s path was threefold:
1. To take time and reflect about our faith and relation to God 2. To continue
to get to know each other better and better as a couple 3. To enjoy walking
through some of the prettiest areas in the Netherlands so Biya would be able to
get a better idea of the countryside. We took 8 days but more than often we
could have visited certain villages and historic spots much longer. There is a
lot to read and to see about the historic events that took place in this part
of the Netherlands like the Roman armies passing through, Napoleon passing through early 1800, and cemeteries
of the allies from World War 2 (in Margraten is the biggest in Europe). Also special
flora and birdlife, and very typical homestead farms from various centuries. On average we spent some 10 hours a day on the road, including breaks.
Although a pilgrim is expected to suffer physically from
long walking, bad weather, lack of food and good bedding for the night (all
this to get closer to God because the absence of luxury and regularity
apparently stimulates the need for being close to God, the Savior), we had only
a few issues like that. Biya suffered as of day 2 from toe and heel blisters
and then as of day 3 her left knee was giving her trouble in the afternoon. On
day 8 and the final day the blisters were healed but both knees were suffering.
Now, a week later and being home in our Leende village, knees and feet are
again in good shape. My backpack started to have an impact on my right shoulder after 4 days walking, which even a week after the ligrimage still remains kind of sore.
We took precautions in terms of our hiking boots and
walking sticks; Biya’s pack weighed around 8 kgs. And mine around 12 kgs. We
planned to walk around 20 kms each day and decided to make reservations only
for the first 2 nights in Heeze and in Sterksel. We carried most of our food
and a bit of water. After all, this is an easy trail and nearly everywhere at a
distance of max. 2 kms. from the trail, one can find a village or some kind of
place to stop for food and drink. Then most important during corona-time: practically
all hotel and other accommodations in the NL including campsites, are fully
booked. So we booked by phone each day what we could get! One day we asked a
farmer to sleep in the meadow on the opposite of his farm, and one day we
walked into a campsite and just got apparently the last place available because of a
cancellation!!
DAY 1 / 24th July / Waalre to Heeze
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Ready to move with big enthusiasm
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Friday morning / our neighbor Toon Kees drove us the 8 kms. to the starting point at 't Loon
in Waalre village. This ‘brink’ is an open space where
150 years ago common activities of the small village took place and where
the cattle and sheep were kept overnight for safety. Then to the cabin of Mie Peels /
now called the hut of Mie Pils where we received the first pilgrimage stamp. This tavern was only 125 years ago an infamous resting place and transaction center for smugglers between Belgium and the NL. / run by a strong woman
called Mie Peels. Most of the trail goes through forests and
along maize fields with horses all over the place.
Then onto Heeze where we stayed at Els Meuser's B&B / Huize Aurelia. Very nice indeed;
Els is in her mid-eighties
and doing just fine! 16 kms.
DAY 2 / 25th July / Heeze to Sterksel
From Heeze and its pleasant
restaurant 'the Swan' the trail passes the large
castle and the dense Herbertus forest to lead into the heather of Strabrecht
and its lakes; a beautiful large and quiet area; protected by the government and no private cars have ever been allowed to pass through. The heather started to bloom but
will reach its full glory with a deep purple color only by mid-August.
Nevertheless a pleasure for the eye. This was
a long strenuous walk as Biya started to have blisters from noon on. We
just made it along the Pandyke to the St. Jorishoeve in Sterksel around 6pm. We
had rented a comfortable but cheap bungalow and the owner Petrie sold us 6
bottles of Belgian Jupiler beer…then Biya tended to her blisters. A warm and
heavy day. 24 kms.
The next morning we decided to let Biya’s feet heal from the blisters and I
walked quickly back home the
7 kms. back to Leende; drove back in my Opel Meriva and we returned home
before 12am. Rested on Sunday and Monday / no knee problems as yet for Biya. She changed her shoes from ‘Mammut’ to ‘Campline’ and took the
extra in-lay soles out.
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Heather Strabrecht in Heeze
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Stoeiing in Sterksel
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Pandyke, Sterksel: very first feet repair moment
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DAY 3 / 28th July / Sterksel to Altweerterheide
Toon again dropped us at ‘the Stoeiing’ in rural Sterksel and we resumed our pilgrimage through the forests for hours and hours enjoying the fresh green and cool
weather. We crossed the national highway A2, had coffee with Limburg apple-cake
called ‘vlaai’ and had a lunch around 2 pm amidst the 2600 years old cemetery
where the ‘Dutch Barbarians’ burned and buried their death in the Bronze
period. Biya became more and more professional tending to her blisters with
various methods and tools. ‘Compeed’ turned out to be the better healing system
after all. We walked on to the Crossmoor golf course in Altweerderheide, where
we had booked a room: expensive but doable on a 50-50 basis (smile!!). The
afternoon was warm and we clocked up 22 kms.
DAY 4 / 29th July / Alweerterheide to Goestingen (Belgium)
Again a beautiful walk through forests, some sandy parts, and along
maize fields arriving after 7 kms. at the village of Tungelroy. No shop, no
bar…nothing, nada, rien! Only in Hunsel a village some 10 kms. from Tungelroy
is the first shop if one does not leave the trail. Not leaving the trail at all
means that from Heeze to Altweerderheide, some 30 kms. there is no shop. Hunsel
with its big St. Jacobs church is the starting point in the South of the
Netherlands for the pilgrimage to Santiago de Compostela. I phoned and phoned and we
could not find a place to stay in touristic Thorn. Only at Wessem which is 3 kms off the Pilgrims route (and then bus to and from). We
crossed the ‘Napoleons road’ into Ittervoort and descended into Thorn where we had supper. Then, around 8pm we walked over to the Maas river and its newly created leisure lakes for boating. Then continued into Belgium to Kessenich without any controls; not even an official sign, except for the one that was erected there in 1843!
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The only sign of a border 5 meters aside from the road
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We then had more or less decided
to sleep outside in some grassy secluded spot. But close to Goestingen an angel in the form of a lady ‘long trail walker’ came by. I asked and she
said in soft Flemish ‘only at less than 2 kms and next to the church in Goestingen village there is a new B&B 't Orgelhuis'. We advanced
slowly and checked in. Biya had her first Duvel beer. No other guests at all, the owner said ‘we close the bar when the last
customer goes home’. Typical of Belgium. Impossible in the NL. First signs of Biya’s left knee hurting whereas the blisters were becoming less of a
problem. Heavy duty my lady is! 28 kms
DAY 5 / 30th July / Goestingen (B) to Limbricht/Sittard
This day we often kept sight of the Maas-river and walked first to
Maaseik town where we crossed the bridge over the Maas-river into the NL again.
We entered the floodplains of the river at the narrowest part of the
Netherlands: it is only 15 kms. wide between Germany and Belgium. Walking on
top of the dyke along the Juliana canal in Roosteren was a hot walk for about 3
kms.
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Juliana kanaal close to the Maas river / beautiful for walking
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River traffic shows ships loaded
with sand and other bulk materials and a lot of pleasure boating. We needed and
took a long lunch plus siesta in Buchten/Born. Biya's
knee had started to hurt seriously now. We walked and walked. I phoned and
phoned : no place to stay. We
arrived after crossing kilometers of wooded area at
Limbricht castle around 6pm; only a km away from the
city of Sittard We decided to eat at the castle but then they were booked out for
the rooms. No place in Limbricht village either. We prayed and after dinner we simply
came up with the idea to travel home by bus
and train to Leende. And give Biya's knees and feet another rest of at least one day
and a half. And so we did and where home before 11pm. 23 kms.
DAY 6 / 2nd August / Sittard to
Weustenrode
We decided to bring my ‘half dome 2 Rei’ tent and
some simple bedding, but without a proper mattress and no sleeping bags. On
this Sunday morning before 11 we arrived by
bus and train from Leende in Sittard and it was a joy to cross the centre of
town and its main market area with its very nice stately old
and restored buildings, and its quality
shops and restaurants. Worth a longer visit! Then for the
first time the trail goes up the Kolleberg hill past the Santa
Rosa chapel. It is here where the hilly part of the Netherlands begins. Equally the frequency of the Jesus and Maria statues at crossroads showed; some of these must date back to Napoleon’s days. We took
advantage of this and prayed for our loved ones all over the world. We walked and walked, had our packed lunch and knew
we still had not found a place to stay overnight.
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Happy trails by Biya Han in Limburg / close to Wijnandsrade
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Finally at 7pm we
arrived at a restaurant called Joe's Place in Brommelen where we devoured a ‘Texan Steak’ and washed it down with a German Warsteiner beer.
Then we decided to find a place to sleep in a farmer's
meadow. I knocked on
the door of a farmhouse in Weustenrade, 2 kms. down
the road and we were welcome to sleep in the meadow opposite their house. We put up our
tent; all very nice; tall grass but still kind of hard on my bones /
AOB = Anton's Old Bones. We kept our
clothes on as during the night the temperature dropped to around 14 degrees
Celsius. Biya slept better than I did; her left knee remained painful. And she
persevered. 25 kms
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Raw camping style
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DAY 7 / 3rd August /Weustenrade to
Vinkenhof/Schin op Geul
At daybreak I stretched my legs and felt my bones seriously. Beautiful sun getting up around 6am. We left early, leaving a thank you note for the
farmer and walked on to have a full breakfast in Voerendaal where I dried the tent on
the fields: we had 4 raw herrings as we
bought lots of foodies at the local 'Plus' store.
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Only in the NL: raw herring tradition
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Hilly Limburg-land is beautiful as we walked up the Kunrader mountain; we bought
finally coffee and a Magnum ice cream stick in the Chinese managed cafeteria in
Ubachsberg. Four hours later we made it to touristic Gulpen
where we had early dinner with a chicken Queen’s patty (bouche a la
reine) and a large local Gulpener beer. Then continued through the woods ascending to Wijlre, where we passed
the Brand brewery (this beer brand started as of
1340) and where the river Geul offers beautiful vistas as it meanders West of the village and past the
watermill on its way to finish in the Maas river. We passed the bottom of the famous Keutenberg
(cyclists love to try this mountain out!) and fortunately found a last spot to
put our tent at the Vinkenhof campsite. We were surprised that guests still have
to pay for hot
showers here? We ate the rest of our reserves, had a Brand beer outside the camping bar and tried to sleep. The ground was hard; I slept ok but Biya was cold; remember we had no
sleeping bags and no mattresses!! My old bones only played up a little. 23 kms.
DAY 8 / 4th August / Schin op
Geul to Maastricht
Last day...would we make it? Biya's knee was
always ok in the morning. We walked past the old
monk’s chapel on the Schaelsberg/mountain, then past the beautiful ‘Schaloen
castle’ toward Old-Valkenburg. Then descending tthough the Geren-valley but saw no wild orchids. We had breakfast with bread, cheese and fruit. Stopped for coffee in Scheulder 3 kms. further; to resume walking to Groot-Welsden amongst apple and pear orchards, and on to Cadier en Keer past the 'mergel mines' = the soft yellow stone
with which in the old days many houses and farms were built. We passed the
back of the COV community where I lived for many years in Cadier (from 1978-1999 when I was on leave in the
Netherlands). And onto Maastricht...a long walk to the Our Lady, Star of the Sea basilica / wow / a beautiful church where daughter Kesso Gabrielle used to play
the piano with the Opus Dei community some 10 years ago. We prayed
long and seriously in front of the altar of our Holy Mother. We were invited to do a wish and then I knew the
time had come. Biya and I are together since 2014; we married for the Church in
2017 in Seoul but we still need to register our marriage with the state. Then
all would be complete and feel complete. Then and there on the bench in front of
this church I asked her to marry me officially in Seoul coming 10th
November...and she said yes. We both were very emotional and cried a little.
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Chapel of Our Lady, Star of the Sea basilica in Maastricht
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What a wonderful ending of a pilgrimage with thanks to God and our Holy Mother, and with a good intention to strengthen our love and relationship with an official registration of our marriage. Then a short walk past the flamboyant ‘Vrijthof market’ place to the train station, and we were home in Leende before 11 am. 23kms
We shall return one day to Maastricht to do some sight seeing and visit the Saint Servaas church; the official ending of the pilgrims path from Amsterdam to Maastricht.
Leende / 13th August 2020.
Anton van Zutphen
tonvanzutphen@gmail.com
