Why the journey
Support Maredsous Abbey
Gaëtan pays for the journey himself. Every euro given here goes to restoring the abbey and preserving its heritage.
Riding for Maredsous Abbey
This journey is not only a personal undertaking. Champagne and Gaëtan are also riding to support Maredsous Abbey and help restore a place that means a great deal to them.
Every kilometre covered is an invitation to take part. Donations do not fund the journey, which Gaëtan pays for entirely himself. They go in full towards restoring the abbey and preserving its heritage.
Every year, Maredsous welcomes more than 600,000 visitors, from every background, every origin and every conviction. Some come for the beauty of the setting and the countryside, others to find quiet, to share a moment, to be welcomed, or to follow a spiritual path.
For more than 150 years, the abbey has been a place open to all, where anyone may come and look for what they need: a welcome, a meeting, a moment of peace, or a path towards the spiritual.
Through this journey to Santiago, every kilometre Champagne and Gaëtan cover can help, in its own way, to preserve Maredsous for the generations to come.
- visitors a year
-
600,000
visitors a year
from every background and every conviction
- years
-
150
years
of a place open to all, welcoming everyone
Make a donation
€0 raised
target: €25,000
The counter starts when the journey does.
Secure donation via the King Baudouin Foundation
Or by bank transfer
To the King Baudouin Foundation's account, quoting the structured reference below.
- Beneficiary
- Fondation Roi Baudouin
- IBAN
- BE10 0000 0000 0404
- BIC
- GEBABEBB
- Structured reference
- +++623/4103/30018+++
The structured reference is essential: it is what directs the payment to the “Fonds Maredsous — Petit Cheval Camino — de Maredsous à Compostelle” fund. Without it, the gift is lost among the thousands of others the Foundation receives.
Questions we get asked
Where exactly does my donation go?
To Maredsous Abbey, for the restoration of its buildings. Nothing passes through a personal fundraising page: the King Baudouin Foundation has opened a dedicated fund for the project, the “Fonds Maredsous — Petit Cheval Camino — de Maredsous à Compostelle”. None of it funds the journey: Gaëtan covers those costs alone, from the first horseshoe to the last.
Is my donation tax-deductible?
Yes, from €40 of donations in the same calendar year. The King Baudouin Foundation is an approved institution: it issues the tax receipt itself, giving Belgian taxpayers a 30% reduction on the amount given. It is sent at the end of February the following year. Equivalent arrangements exist for French, Dutch and Luxembourg donors.
Can I give by bank transfer?
Yes. To the King Baudouin Foundation's account — BE10 0000 0000 0404, BIC GEBABEBB — quoting the structured reference +++623/4103/30018+++, without which the gift does not reach the fund. The details are given higher up this page. Online, payment is by Bancontact or bank card.
Can I help without giving money?
Very much so. Sharing the page, offering a paddock for a night, a water point, advice on a crossing, or the name of a vet or farrier along the route: all of that counts at least as much.