He spends two hours every day, and all in order to see his beloved. He is 90!
Burkhardt asserted that she is no longer the same person she once was. But my affections for her are still there. Each time I come home, I think it’s a sad event.
To find his soul partner, 90-year-old Peter Burkhardt will pedal the entire trip. Seventeen kilometers away, at a hospice in Apeldoorn, lives Peter’s wife. «I don’t mind the cold, and if it’s raining, you can wear a raincoat. If the traffic is particularly severe, I’ll get a cab or have one of my boys bring me. So I’ll always be able to see my wife,» Burkhardt stated in an interview that @u/kleutscher posted.
He said, «Because I want to see my wife and be with her,» when asked why he was acting in this way. Because of our 63 years of marriage, you want to spend time together.
He commutes by bicycle for an hour each way to and from Diepenveen, where he resides. Burkhardt dons his attire, which is made up of a body warmer over a blue (ski) suit. He scans the left and the right as he completes a full round at the Deventer Zwolseeweg roundabout. De Stentor claims that after doing so, he goes across a railroad bridge, climbs a hard hill, and ultimately proceeds straight ahead to his goal.
Burkhardt has been traveling to Apeldoorn for the past seven years. He answered, «I have to take things as they are.» «I have to accept the circumstances as they are. All I want is to spend every day with her. I simply can’t stand to be without her. I initially did it in my car. But even then, I switched between the bike and it.
Since he hasn’t had a car in a while, he always parks his tricycle in the shed at his house. His driver’s license was also turned down. Since it was in the shed, he rode his bike on the journey. Over the course of more than three years and more than 40,000 kilometers, Burkhardt finished his voyage in December of last year.
On occasion, he takes a longer route to go to Apeldoorn. It takes me approximately an hour, he remarked. but for a little over an hour in the strong wind.
«I really wouldn’t make it anymore without help,» she said. No of the time of day or night, he doesn’t consider the ride to be risky. The cycle route on the Deventer railway bridge, in contrast, is excessively narrow in his opinion. He demands that they take action. It’s a calamity, he declared. With the two of you, you can hardly get past each other there. Burkhardt acknowledged that he was becoming older and that he could no longer perform many things that he could do five or six years ago.
«I hope I can keep doing it,» he remarked. I now cycle much more, but it’s still going great. He was questioned if his wife is aware of the daily care he gives her. «No, not that,» he replied. She has no experience with anything like that. But when I come back, I see that she occasionally offers me a very beautiful embrace.
He is only acting in Apeldoorn’s best interests. «I want to hear her voice and see her. I know where she is as soon as I go into the nursing home. She has changed from who she once was. But I still have feelings for her. I consider it to be a sorrowful occasion each time I return home.
His children are proud of him and encourage him to keep doing what he does every day. His son, Wouter Burkhardt, said: «I suppose they maintain each other through this. I hope my father’s example encourages others.
