Long Distance Walking

4 Daagse Van Nijmegen

Together with a friend I did a parachute jump. Looking for the next challenge I ended up at the *Vierdaagse van Nijmegen, a long-distance walk called the Walk Of The World. It is a beautiful event, but it is crowded both along the sideline as in it. It is not an event I would visit or participate normally. I finished it in 2009 and in 2016 I was watching in Cuijk one of the stages. It was a special edition  in 2016 and the participant could also walk 80 km in one day. What a rush, but also nice to see the pain on the faces of the participants and the determination to walk it out, beautiful. I recognize the fight of my own hiking. It was certainly a fight. It is tough to walk 40 km for 4 days in a row.

I Like Training More Than The Events Itself, The Road Toward Something

I still find hiking to train better than walking an event, because most events also involve the decibel of music. For me as an introvert, the hustle and bustle are a bit too much. In comparison, walking the *Camino de Santiago is an oasis of peace and quietsness where I have time to turn inside. At least the Portuguese route I hiked.

I Against The Kms

Both The Camino as the 4 Daagse van Nijmegen require persistence and going beyond my physical limits of fatigue to walk them out. Time and time again I am amazed at how deep I can go physically to draw strength to cross the finish line. There is always a spare energy to draw from when I think the barrel is empty. It is no longer about fitness, but about moving forward step by step. At the end I am tired, satisfied, proud and I feel all the aches of suffering. Wonderful to experience, definitely recommended to do once in a lifetime. 

*I walked the Nijmegen 4Daagse Marches in 2009. And in 2016 I saw the walkers walking through Cuijk, after I hiked the Camino Portugues and before I moved to Arnhem. I have never been to the 4Daagse feesten and I will not visit the 4Daagse feesten in the future. Never been a party animal and never will be.

**I hiked the camino to think about what I wanted further from life and Databeet, not to party like some do on the Camino. I talked while hiking with my fellow hikers, but did not party with them or others. I am not a party animal and liked the quietness and calmness of the camino. 

Related blogs on my website

• 7 reasons to walk a 4 Days hike 

• 40 km once but never again or again? 

• 42 Reasons To Wander Explained By Me Through The Book 'De kracht van wandelen 

• Camino de Santiago, why? 

• Co-Organizer MYBODYWALK 

• Coming home after a trip 

• Hiking between Cascais and Sintra  

• Hiking, how do I start? 

• I walk barefoot from Scheveningen to Zandvoort

• Not one but two walking related conferences just before spring starts 

• NS walks in Brabant