Married on the route

It all started, in fact, on the last day of the Four Days Marches back in 1985. On the route between Gassel and Beers, Dorien, who had also taken part in 1981, got talking to a man who would become her husband, Harm. The two chatted for fifteen minutes. “I told him I was from Cuijk and that that’s why I was taking part,” Dorien recalls. “We clicked right away. By the time we got to Beers, we were already walking hand in hand." "Five years later, on Friday, 20 July 1990, we were married on the route - in Beers, of course, where it had all begun. I wasn’t wearing a wedding dress, but a yellow blouse, pink shorts and long yellow socks all the way up to my knees. We were both actually taking part in the event, as were the witnesses. It was over 30 degrees that day, absolutely boiling. Then we all walked onwards to Via Gladiola, and in the evening we had a party in Escharen. Even though we had got up early that day, we were the liveliest ones. It was just a wonderful day.”

Starting out as a desk clerk

The year after Dorien and Harm got married, Dorien had to drop out with a fever in Wijchen. After that, she’d had enough of walking for a while. “But I still wanted to stay involved in the Four Days Marches. I was born and raised in Cuijk. As a little girl, I walked across the pontoon bridge holding the soldiers’ hands. Because of this connection and of course because of how I’d met my husband, I wanted to stay active during the Four Days Marches. That’s why I started volunteering in 1992. I became a desk clerk. That means that walkers would sign in and off with me, and that I’d get to hand over the 4Days Marches Crosses.” In the years that followed, Dorien continued to work as a desk clerk for the Four Days Marches. Now that she’d had two daughters, Odile and Veerle, with Harm, she had to set off for Nijmegen from her home in Dronten on her own for many years. “Harm had to look after the girls as long as they were still too small to go. Because 20 July always falls in the week of the Four Days Marches, we had to call each other to wish each other a happy anniversary for years.”

With the whole family

Now that the children are grown up - Dorien and Harm even have grandchildren - the couple can be found together again in Nijmegen. “As a matter of fact, the two of us walked one more time in 2015, to celebrate our twenty-fifth wedding anniversary. Harm has 20 crosses, Odile has completed the Four Days Marches 8 times, and Veerle has done it too and has also been helping out as a desk clerk for years. Last year, I was going to be helping out for the twenty-fifth time as a desk clerk. My husband was also supposed to help out as a volunteer for the first time, but of course none of that happened. Every year we have a reason to come to Nijmegen.” Apart from Dorien, Harm, Odile and Veerle, there are more Beishuizens involved in the Four Days Marches. “My sister-in-law Janny has also been helping out for 15 years. Her partner has walked the marches for years and her daughter, Patricia, has also been helping out as a desk clerk. I’d even go so far as to say that the Four Days Marches runs through our veins. My husband hopes to walk the Four Days Marches with our eldest grandson in four years’ time. He’ll be 12 years old then. I think that’d be wonderful. I can already see myself accompanying them and following them on my bike. We’re not done with Nijmegen yet.”

Longing for the third week of July

Dorien sincerely hopes that the Four Days Marches can be held again next year. “I miss the familiar faces you meet every year at De Wedren. I also miss all the participants, young and old alike, and from so many different countries. Apart from the walking, we also like to party afterwards. I’d really like to walk through the centre of Nijmegen again during the Four Days Marches week, and experience that nice warm feeling you get on the streets, the atmosphere, the nice bands, and always running into people you know.”