Rehearsal

The first month of my journey is over. There was such an urge to go on the journey that I started it already on January 2nd, despite the cold weather in January. Now the month is over, it looks more like a rehearsal. After closely one week of bicycling, I went to Dhamma Paijotta (a Vipassana meditation center) by some coincidences. Finally, I went home as I noticed that some stuffs are not so handy, while I may need other things that I haven’t got with me. Also, I wanted to launch this website.

Part 1: Bicycle time

On January 2, I started my journey on bike after a five course breakfast treatment by my sister and brother-in-law. It’s my first time to sit on this fully packed bike. I looked drunk in the first meters.

As a starter on bike on the Camino, I tried to follow the Amstelredam route to Roermond. This route is recommended by the Santiago association and should be suitable for the bikes. Soon I discovered that the route also cross some grasslands is not handy for a fully packed bike.

The way towards Utrecht is a familiar and beautiful part. I pass through the waters of Vinkeveens plassen, and Loosdrechtse plassen with villages like Vinkeveen and Breukelen. Also the Castle of Oud-Zuilen was on the route. In Utrecht, the route nicely honoured the camino theme and came to places like Jacobscemetery (Jacobskerkhof), Jacobsstreet as well as a camino statute.

The route leads further to a few other nice places such as Wijk bij Duurstede, Zaltbommel, Den Bosch. Crossed some main rivers in the Netherlands like de Waal and de Maas. And of course, the landscape of the Dutch lowlands (Polder) has its charms. As I still have to find a way to organise my stuffs in the bags, get my body acclimatise with the full luggages and so on, my average daily distance is somewhere between the 40 and 50 kilometers, I guess. The shortest day biked is around 35 kilometers, when my multi fuel burner didn’t want to cook my breakfast.

The first few days, I was lucky. Campings, although they are officially closed, are willing to give me a spot. I also like those nicely chats with and smiles from people on the streets. Some dreams to do such a journey one day themselves, some give encouragements, others advices. One even invited me for a cup of coffee. It’s that that day, I already had an appointment with Henk, who I haven’t seen after a reunion of our bike journey in China in the last century/millenium 😉 . It’s him and this group of bike travellers that may had planted the seed for this bike journey some 20+ years ago.

It’s quite quiet on the way. Sometimes there are only a few cars and a handful of trucks on the highways that are visible from the bike lanes. I am not sure whether this is due to the winter period, the Covid, or some other circumstances. Though the weather is quite soft in begin of January (this year). Living multiple days outside one learns to perceive the rhythms of the nature. I am not sure whether I have done it before. Anyway it’s the first time that I am aware of the freezing temperature in the morning, the warming up at the midday and the cooling down in the afternoon. This awareness and the feeling of being connected to the daily rhythms of the nature again gives much joy.

After this first few days of positive vibes, learnings and experiences, Roermond became another story. This is the place where the first part of my adventure started (or ended)…I counted on a stay in the refugio, with plan B the many campings in this city as I haven’t the credential with me, and wildcamping as plan C. Secretly I hoped that in the refugio, they may help me getting a credential… It turned out that with a credential, this refugio was chanceless. It’s good to know it here rather than a few hundreds kilometers southwards. And then, while the last few days the campings underway have always been willing to accept a traveler on bike. In this place, they all are closed in the winter, not willing to accept and hung up the phone before one can ask for some alternatives. So I tried to find a nicely spot and was excited for this first experience of wildcamping on this camino. After a while, found one at the bank of the Maas, with a view to the city. Unfortunately, after I had put my tent, a security guard came and was not so amused. It seemed to be a private area and I have to leave within 5 minutes. By the time, it was already late and all I want is to leave this place behind me as soon as possible.

I cycled down southwards the route and found in the suburb a spot for my tent. On the map, I saw that Dilsen-Stokkem is not far away. There, I took a few 10 days Vipassana meditation course at the Dhamma Pajjota meditation center. In the beginning once a year as a present for myself, and multiple times a year later on. So, the next day, I headed towards Dilsen-Stokkem and wondering whether this place is more friendly for an unannounced visitor.

Part 2: Retreat

My planning was just getting there for two or three days in the case that I can stay there. The stay ended up much longer than expected. There I spent 6 days of helping (and socializing) during their working period. And by circumstances, I got a chance to spend another 10 days there to follow a Vipassana meditation course.

Th first day I got time to acclimatise, doing some washing and so on. Then, I started to realising and enjoying the fact that I can just deviated from the route, and doing something, like coming here, without any planning. This freedom… During the first few days of my journey, I still have this pattern to follow the route that I have planned, as I have always done in my previous journeys. It was this conversation with Szandor, who made me aware of my pattern. He has been fully packed bike traveling for around one year now, and was staying at the camping in one of the previous days. It’s then that I fully realised that I don’t have this time limitation anymore, like in the past when on holiday, even if it’s a few months. The awareness of a pattern and the broadening of the possibilities is mind-blowing. The experiencing of that broadened view is even more indescribable….

The next morning, I woke up early to do the early-morning group meditation at 4:30am, only to find out that this optional and starts at 5:50am during the working period. The breakfast is at 6:30am. At 7:30am the tasks for the day are distributed to the volunteers. And after the group meditation of 8:00 – 9:00am, we start to carry out the tasks till 11:00am. Then, it’s time to lunch and relax till 13:00. Working till 14:30 for a group meditation again of one hour. Then carrying out tasks till 18:00 for a group meditation, followed by the dinner and relax time. The tasks this time are to prepare and further cleaning of the accommodations for the coming courses. We have a nicely mixed group of young and old, male and female. All with the attitude to serve for others and make the accommodation a comfortable place that contributes to the meditation of the next group students.

It’s a nice rhythm: work followed by meditation. Though there are moments, when the sun shines outside, that I wondered why I am here. Cleaning is not my most favourite kind of activity. On the other hand, the meditation that went so much smoother here, the atmosphere, the people and their attitude: just wonderful …

It was a surprise for everyone (including myself) that I got this chance to participate in the course. There seemed to be no chance for me to get a longer stay here. First of all, the center nowadays has a shortage in accommodation capacity due to Covid measures. It can only accommodate one student per room, where in the past, two or more per room is possible. As a result, students can only take a course if the previous one is more than one year ago, and my last one was in September. And for the course, there seemed to be around 300 applications for the 24 places for the male students. Moreover, there are more male volunteers for this course than the accommodation capacity. While mostly, male volunteers are more difficult to find.

At the end of the working period, which is also the arrival day of the 10 days meditation course, day 0 as it’s called, I was prepared to go.Even more, after the morning group meditation and a little support in the kitchen, I have already packed in my luggages on my bike. Ready to go… And as I like the group meditation so much, I thought of giving myself one more present by doing the next one, which I thought is just over about half an hour/ three quarter. By that time, I saw my mistake and there is still one hour to go. As my wish to meditate is so strong, I decided to wait for another hour.

After the meditation, I just wanted to say goodbye and thanks to Carlo, one of the few people who understands that when this inner call is there to be on the journey, one must go. In his words, a sailor can’t choose the wind. During the conversation, I am not sure anymore how it started, but it ended by something that I may ask the teacher whether it’s possible to stay. There was such a strong wish to meditate that I went to the teacher’s place to ask that. I felt my heart beating strongly after asking, as it is not easy to ask for a favour, especially someone I don’t know.

It turned out that the hard restriction is due to the accommodation capacity. And guess what, I have it with me: tent, sleeping bag, mattress. The teacher is a bit worried of the hard circumstances as ten days sitting with proper accommodations could be difficult, among others due to the emotional and/or physical issues arising during the meditations. After some hour, he decided to let me participate. So, I guess I am the only (or at least one of the few) students who camped during a meditation course. On day 1, the so-called male manager, a volunteer who is there to serve and solve issues raised during the mediation period for the male students, advised me a place where I can sit to rest. I gratefully used that spot, especially when it’s cold or rainy outside. And on day 4, the teacher asked how I was doing and whether they need to arrange something for me. I was touched by this extra care, as on that day, I was really longing for a bed, a place to lying down. So I also gratefully used the extra bed in male manager’s room when he is not there.

As usual for me, the meditation days went with ups and downs. Even after some 10+ courses, I still hear new subtleties in the teaching. Maybe I am just a slower learner. Anyway, there is still room for improvements. I am wondering when my next course will be. I am pretty grateful for this opportunity, as it feels like a very nice present to start my journey!

Part 3 Home

After Dhamma Pajjota, I went to a place called Stein, which is just around 20 kilometers away. I mistook this as the place I went some 10 years ago for my own yearly retraite at the end of the year. While I was there, I just couldn’t recognize anything. It’s only later, when back home, that I realised that it was Steyl that I should be looking for. Steyl is a monastery village in another part of Limburg. There is a Holy Heart monastery where one can strongly feel the serenity of the prayers.

From Stein, it was a short distance to reach Geleen/ Sittard for a train station, as then, I decided to go home for a while. At home, I can take time to arrange a few things in the equipment, setup this website as my virtual home while underway, and take a rest. Though, I am aware of this need to rest only when back home.

For equipments, I have already given away a quite handy multi functional sitting chair. It’s around 1,5kg though. Instead, I bought a foam mattress which is lighter. I also returned my newly bought jacket that is suited for arctic circumstances, but quite heavy (1,7 kg) and anyways bigsized. In place of that, I am more found, and see the necessity, to dress in layers during such a bike journey. So, I bought a jacket that also can be used as rain jacket, a Merino baselayer and a midlayer for keeping warm.