The Path of Freedom
The Netherlands, 2025
Freedom
is being you,
without
anyone’s permission.
~ author unknown
Summertime is a wonderful time to set out on a hike in The Netherlands. In years past I explored a few trails, another one had been on my shortlist for several years already. Finally, the summer of 2025 is the right time to walk The Path of Freedom, a 155-kilometer unmarked trail.
What better way to start my hike on a warm sunny day, than with a refreshing mint tea at the terrace of Hotel De Wereld in Wageningen?
The trail covers a part of The Netherlands, where events of the second world war left traces. The intention set by the trail organizers is to remember war and to experience freedom. In May 1945, talks were held at this hotel about the capitulation of Germany. Thus a good choice of the organizers to start and finish the trail here.
‘Feel the Freedom’, it says on a wall of the terrace. It covers all I have come to experience. I do not wish to connect to the energy of war. For me, walking this trail is about experiencing and remembering my inner freedom. A freedom which I consider our birthright. A freedom which should be our natural state of being, but so often isn’t.