With a 17 kilo backpack, a freshly shaved head and currant buns with cheese as a fuel, Jack Schoneveld from Tilburg started his pilgrimage to Rome three months ago. Now, with more than 2500 kilometers in the legs and a real pilgrim beard, he has reached his final destination. “The journey brought so many emotions.”
The 22-year-old Jack had just completed his mechanical engineering course when he started his adventure on Liberation Day. Three months later his pilgrim passport was filled with stamps until the last page and he received his official pilgrim certificate at the Sint-Pieterskerk in Rome. “I will definitely frame it,” he says proudly.
In 103 days, Jack covered more than 2500 kilometers, with a total of nearly 30,000 altimeters. During those 103 days he posted a video on social media every day. More than 10,000 people followed his adventures.
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He walked over the Gotthardpas and along Lake Como, to finally end up on Sint-Pietersplein. On average, he covered twenty to thirty kilometers a day. “A physical challenge,” says Jack. “But I can’t say that it was me or otherwise, because I had no expectations of what it would be like beforehand.”
“In Italy, the alarm clock was already at a quarter past five.”
To avoid the heat, his day often started early. “In Italy, the alarm clock often went at a quarter past five. Then the supermarkets were still closed, and sometimes I had already had twenty kilometers before I could buy my breakfast.”
For his overnight stays, Jack had a tent in his backpack with which he could wild camping. “Once I put my tent in someone’s front garden,” says Jack. If he couldn’t get rid of his tent, he slept in hostels. There he met pilgrims from all over the world. “At the table were Spaniards, French, Germans, Italians and English. We communicated with hands and feet. At a certain point we said: that is the language of the pilgrims.”
“I wanted to walk into Rome with a real pilgrim beard.”
He did a shower in Bergmeertjes and rivers. He had deliberately left his razor blade at home. “I wanted to walk into Rome with a real pilgrim beard,” says Jack Laughing. In Rome he immediately shaved the beard, as can be seen on a video on social media.
Jack only spent a large part of his journey. That gave him valuable insights. “The journey brought so many emotions. I started this trip as a search for inner peace and self -love. Along the way I found out that you are not going to find that by constantly looking for it, but that it is always with you.”
“I think my followers feel that they have traveled with me.”
In addition to a personal search, Jack also had a mission: raising money for victims of war. First he wanted to pick up one euro per kilometer, around 2500 euros in total. But he has considerably surpassed that amount: on arrival in Rome, the counter was more than 11,000 euros. That amount was immediately donated to Doctors Without Borders.
Jack suspects that his videos on social media have contributed to the proceeds. “I think my followers have the feeling that they traveled with me every day, as if they were making a piece of the pilgrimage herself. By donating, they could be part of it even more actively.”
“I just walk through the city on my slipperjes.”
In the coming days, Jack and his family will enjoy the impressive trip. Whether his legs are too tired to explore Rome? Jack doesn’t think so. “I just walk 20 kilometers through the city on my slippers.”
