We did it!

Us, enjoying a rest after day one of the Walk of the World

We walked the Walk of the World, as the Four Day Nijmegen Marches call themselves. Yesterday, we finished around 3.30 pm, in the pouring rain, but still with a crowd of onlookers. Taking part in this enormous walking event was a GREAT experience. Thanks to our thorough preparation (LOTS of training hours), we walked the 40 km per day with relative ease. The weather was also very cooperative; even though rain was forecasted for days two, three and four, it only really rained on day three. And during the last 15 minutes of day four ...

Walking and taking a rest in the rain; these people offered us a seat under their umbrella and a warm cup of coffee. Really nice!

A pink band in the town of Wijchen

It is genuinely an amazing experience! In every town we came through, it was one big party. There were bands, DJ's and lots and lots of people everywhere. Also along the route, people were sitting in lawn chairs (even in the rain!) with their coffee and sandwiches, just to watch the walkers and cheer them on! In most towns, the mayor was standing on a platform, also cheering us on. Kids standing along the route were handing out sweets, cookies, salty snacks and fruit. There were plenty resting areas and service (WC) points along the route, but lots of people had their chairs out for walkers to sit on and even allowed walkers to use their private bathrooms.

A special resting place, sponsored by FatBoy

Thanks to the many military and civilian groups, their was lots of singing on route as well. The marching rhythm of these walking songs really make for easy walking and it singing also makes time go by very fast. Most popular were Captain Jack, Aluette and Lady in Red (not the one by Chris De Burgh).
No singing, but bagpipe playing, by this Scottish military group

Another group of people that made our Four Day Marches nice, were the volunteers of the Red Cross in Malden (where we were staying). Every night, they taped my feet and took care of Ellen's blisters. Without their daily care, I'm not sure if we would have finished.
I had the balls of my feet taped every day, my friend had her toes taped. It was a daily masterpiece :-)

In the end, what amazed me most, was the scale of the event. Of course, one knows that 40.000 people is a pretty sizable crowd. Still, I was surprised by the fact that there was really not one single moment in which we walked with more than ten feet of empty road ahead of us. We were always surrounded by lots and lots of people.

Crossing a bridge, we had a nice view of a kilometers long dike along the river Maas; I think we could actually see people as far back as 5 miles from the bridge (click on image for larger version)

Crossing the river Maas on a pontoon bridge near Cuyk; the armed forces constructed this bridge especially for this day (click on the image for larger version)

The day after ... Actually, five minutes after the last walker, the cleaning crew and trucks came in to clean up the tremendous mess which the crowd had left. Very efficient cleaning by the city of Nijmegen!