A backpack, a route guide and a good dose of curiosity: Paulien van der Werf from Roden does not need much more to start a special adventure. She runs the Roots Natuurpad, a walking route of 450 kilometers from the Belgian border to Delfzijl.
Divided over 21 stages, she goes straight through the Netherlands, over farmers roads, old tramp paths, through forests and even through tufts of lint snow snow. Via her Instagram account outdoor inspiration Paulien takes her followers on the road. She makes a short video of each stage, one reel From a minute in which she records her experiences. They are images full of wide landscapes and her breaks at picnic benches. Because physically, stages, ranging between fifteen and thirty kilometers, are tackling considerably.
How did she come up with the idea? “It was a boost,” says 32-year-old Paulien. “I had four weeks off and wondered how I would fill in this time. Then I saw the book about the Roots Natuurpad in the closet. But I wanted to make the walking tour extra special.”
That mission was successful. That is because of her way of spending the night. For example, she already camped in gardens from Instagram followers, after she had asked for it through a call. Of course there are also campsites, but she was looking for a surprise element in her adventure. She often also sleeps in a spectacle of a follower.
The Drentse experiences a lot of hospitality. “It’s like I have known people for ten years,” she says. “I am very introverted, but I could keep it up with everyone for much longer. And to be honest, I think the encounters with everyone I come across the best of the trip.”
In the videos on Instagram, Paulien has just left a seven -day walk and Brabant has just left. In reality she is in Balkbrug, and this weekend she crosses the Drenthe border. She continues through Echten, the Dwingelderveld, the Hijkerveld and the Drentsche Aa towards the province of Groningen. She will arrive in Delfzijl on 7 June. Then she has almost four weeks of walking.
In nature she is at her happiest. She has been behind that for a few years. Paulien, who grew up in Roden, actually had her life in order with a good education, a job, a house and nice friends. Yet she felt anything but happy. More and more often she had to deal with fears, depressive feelings and burnout complaints. The idea that this would also be her life in the future chased her.
A coach asked her a simple but confrontational question: what do you want? That question brought her back to her first long walking tour in Scotland in 2016. There she felt happy. In 2019 she then changed course. She canceled her rent, decided not to extend her work contract and chose another life in which she has no permanent place to live, but if nomade is mainly on the road.
In the meantime, Paulien inspires others with her stories, videos, blogs and contributions to the book Hut trips. And while she walks step by step towards Delfzijl, she shows that you don’t necessarily have to go far away for adventure. Sometimes it just starts with a book in the cupboard and a little guts.