“Outside is more beautiful than inside”
Author: Harry Lindelauf
Photography: Laurent Stevens
“Boete is ’t sjunner dan binne” (Outside is more beautiful than inside). The words come from the heart of Raymond Leclercq when he answers the question of what attracts him in walking. His childhood friend Jos Wassen, they have known each other for about 60 years since the Bernardinus College, wholeheartedly agrees with Raymond: “I enjoy the contact with nature.” Jos also has a wonderful label for their joint walking tours: “Ausgleichssport” (compensation sport).
Jos, formerly a fanatical jogger, and Raymond, the former cyclist, are now walking together the long-distance route of the Via Belgica between Riemst and Rimburg. They already have several stages to their name. They are always looking for visible Roman traces, but those are rare. They compensate for that by reading a lot about the Roman period in South Limburg. Books by Tom Buijtendorp and the “orange booklet” of the Via Belgica provide support, inspiration and direction.
A heart for history
Besides a trained walker’s or cyclist’s heart, the friends also have a heart for history. Jos: “That comes from our history teacher at the Bernardinus, Mr Boonekamp. He triggered my interest.” With that, the teacher of the Heerlen college receives a huge compliment from Jos.
In Stein, the local history caught the attention of the young Raymond with the discovery of a Roman villa rustica. But the amateur archaeologists Beckers and Father Munsters of the Archaeological Reserve in Stein also made him enthusiastic about history. “We have a broad interest in where we come from and how the things around us came into being,” Jos explains.
The next stages of the long-distance walk are waiting for the Friday afternoons of Jos and Raymond. And perhaps it will not stop at walking alone. Jos: “We want to start drawing at the resting points. Raymond does watercolours and I make pen drawings. We thought of that when we were standing in Meerssen at the basilica. So beautiful!”
"We want to start drawing at the resting points. We thought of that when we were standing in Meerssen at the basilica. So beautiful!"—
