April 2023 – I have been interested in walking through this part of France ever since my first pilgrimage walk in 2014. I had a guidebook for our specific walk and one day I opened the book to the last page and saw all of these different routes through Europe heading to Santiago de Compostelle. I could not believe there were that many ways to walk through countries that all have the same destination.

If you love a challenge, love being outdoors, dream about taking care only of yourself, then you just might enjoy one of these “walks”. There is always the good with the bad, however.

Pros: daydream all day, exercise many hours a day ( you set your own pace and distance), enjoy the food. Enjoy the cost of European coffee and pastries, not to mention the taste. Your time is yours whether you choose to be alone or with others. You will have time to think about different ways to live your life and then make the plan!!

Cons: yes it does cost money but not as much as you might think. Yes you need to work up to a good walking distance but it beats sitting on the couch, not to mention fitness benefits. Yes you have to buy a plane ticket but many people wait until they can find a good date and aren’t too stuck in exact dates (unless your job gets in your way.) And yes you will probably need a good backpack and some specific items, lightweight as possible, and that could be costly unless you have a friend who will loan things to you. Oh and you should study the language a bit, to be polite.

So I’m not sure if I’ve convinced you to make a travel plan and get busy or not. I made that commitment 10 years ago and have not regretted one step taken over the years. It is an amazing experience to learn what your own body can do, how to live a little uncomfortably with a new place to sleep every night, how to make new friends every day and figure out the challenges of the language barrier.

Walking the GR65 this past week the most often asked questions by the many French people we have met is “how did you chose to walk this route” or “why are you walking this way?” Or “How did you hear about it?” They think we (USA) must have our own routes to walk, and wonder why we would come so far to walk in France. So we take a few minutes to explain that we do not have anything close to the many choices in Europe unless you count the Pacific Crest Trail or Appalachian Trail. We do not consider them equals. They are beautiful but hard to find a room on top of a mountain every night, not to mention food and water.

I enjoy the cultural differences and we have had many “partial” conversations with our fellow hikers, sometimes pulling out google translate or using hand gestures. It keeps the day lively and brings smiles to many faces.

…In case you ever wondered why I keep walking…

#camimoreasons #ilovewalking