It was an amazing experience to have the River Maas as a direction indicator next to me. I hardly used a map. I just walked with the current, staying as close as possible to the Maas. Occasionally I took the ferry if it looked more beautiful on the other side. When I got stuck, the only task was to get back to the Maas as quickly as possible and stay upstream. That led to a wonderful walk, and now I am going to set up a route, so other walkers can experience it too. I want to describe the walk, add photos, and place viewpoints in a way that makes it feel slightly different from usual. I hope to add something of my practice as an artist to it. I also want to convey the idea that the Maas is a proportional partner in the walk and also the powerful feeling I had after walking alongside a river for several days.’
Het Maaswachtpad is being developed by Maas Lab and SoAP. Paulien Oltheten walked part of it. The route she took from Eijsden to Oeffelt will be available online in April. You can follow Paulien’s steps via wandelzoekpagina.nl.