Pilgrimage routes

Walking to find inner peace. Those who want more than to simply clear their heads can engage in a spiritual trip along one of Friesland’s monastery paths or the Jabiks path. This route is brimming with history about monks.

Walking is a good way to relax and clear your head. Daily cares seem to fade away with each step. Many hikers experience additional reflection during the theme hike of monasteries or pilgrimages. Highly recommended routes for this purpose in Friesland are the monastery path and the Jabiks path.

 

The Jabiks path runs from St. Jacobi parish in north-western Friesland to Hasselt in the province of Overijssel and makes a fine introduction to a real pilgrimage. Its route passes over the heavy clays of Het Bildt, through the wide-open spaces of the Lage Midden in central Friesland and through the romantic forests near Oranjewoud. You will experience all kinds of weather along the way and hear four different dialects on this 150-kilometre hike!

 

A walk along the monastery path from Dokkum to Smalle Ee (near Drachten) gives you 42 kilometres to contemplate the meaning of life. The path symbolises life itself with a point of departure, places to stop, think and look back and places to look ahead with your destination always in mind.

 

Somewhat shorter is the Monastery holiday path, a hike of 24 kilometres that the monks used to walk from Dokkum to their accommodations on Schiermonnikoog. Yet another hike, the Monastery trip, leads you 30 kilometres through the western part of Dongeradeel and Ferwerderadeel past former monasteries.