Vision Walk retreat – The Path of the Pilgrim – 9 to 12th of October 2025

During this weekend, you will hike through the magical forests of the Ardennes. This walking retreat is an invitation to sink deeper into nature and your own nature.

Your intention for the walk is your starting point.

Each day we walk from one special place to another. We spend the night in the forest and cook on fire. We regularly walk in silence, in conversation with nature or with our fellow walkers. The group or community is very important in this retreat, we walk the path together. The walking retreat is ideal if you are in an important transition in your life. Your transition then walks with you and so this also gets a conscious place in your life.

The walking retreat takes place in the valleys, forests and mountains near La Roche-en-Ardenne. We leave from Chamai and stay each night in the forests of Chamai. We pass beautiful and powerful places in the area. We connect with the forests as they are today in all their forms and colours.

Walking level

Assume an average walking level: you will walk about 10 km a day on paths through the forest and fields and country roads. You don’t have to carry anything except a daypack with lunch, water, snacks and your extra layers: your luggage will be brought to the overnight spot by our team in the evening. We have plenty of time to cover the distance each day, so we take all the breaks we need. The terrain is quite rough and steep at times though (the Ardennes), so a good level of fitness is welcome for this hike.

Accommodation

During the hike, you will spend the night each day in a patch of forest. You will sleep in your own tent, if you don’t have one, you can borrow one of our hammocks and tarps. During the walk, there are times when we cross the Ourthe. For washing, we rely on the water we have at the sites or along the way from springs or streams that we can cook on the fire. Back to the pure essence of life!

Programme of the days

We start the day in silence with meditation and reflection on your intention at the camp site. Then we have breakfast together. Each of the participants and guides will take on a different task in camp each day in the morning or evening: gathering wood, fetching water, making fire, cooking, etc. After breakfast, we hold a sharing circle, after which we break up camp and leave for the day’s walk. Sometimes you leave with a question or reflection in silence, sometimes you engage in conversation with a travel companion. In between, we stop occasionally for a break in a beautiful spot and to get something to snack on. Towards noon, we have a longer stop for lunch, followed by a session of nature teachings with exercises while walking. By the later afternoon, we set up camp, after which we cook and eat together around the campfire. The evenings are mostly free, but occasionally we also hold a ceremony together by the fire.

Registration and prices

Standard price: 490 euros
Supporter & business price (if you want an invoice for your company): 590 euros

Social rate, on request via email: 390 euros (max. 2 people)

Your registration is complete once you have completed the registration form and transferred the full registration fee to the following account: BE12 7340 4886 7292 – Sophie Vandenkerchove, stating your name + Vision Walk step retreat and date.

If you cancel your participation, part of your contribution will be withheld to cover the administrative costs of your cancellation. Two months in advance 25% of your contribution will be retained, one month in advance 50% and 2 weeks in advance: 75% of your contribution. If the retreat has to be cancelled due to external organisational reasons, your registration will be fully refunded.

Guidance

Sophie Vandenkerchove

Sophie is a lover of inner and outer wildness. She trained as a Wilderness Rites of passage Guide at the School of Lost Borders in California.She has also been practising Zen meditation in the Korean tradition for many years and received several ordinations in Druidism and home-grown Celtic Shamanism.Most of all, Sophie can be found in the woods or hiking the pilgrimage routes in the Ardennes, where she was allowed to receive her most profound insights about life. Sophie grew up in the forests of the Belgian Ardennes, where, as a child, she knew a strong connection to the land of her ancestors. After wandering through wild places in the cities, she moved back to her ancestral village. There she founded Chamai, a retreat centre where she leads trainings and weekends in nature.