One thing everyone who has walked a long distance hike, whether it be along the Pacific Crest Trail, Appalachian Trail or any of the numerous European trails, will tell you is they come away with new friends. Here are a few of ours:

Marie from France. We met her our first day in France and she was so helpful getting us from Lyon to Le Puy. The trains were not running everywhere because of a one day strike (?!!) and we had to take the bus midway between the two cities. Thank you Marie! We also ran into her in Le Puy on our tourist day and she walked with us to the top of Norte Dame statue. Her time on the trail will be leisurely and she won’t begin for a couple extra days so doubtful we will see her again.

Andrea from Vancouver BC. We met Andrea on our first trail day in Montbonnet at the dinner table. We were excited to meet someone who spoke English. Every day after that until she became ill we would see her and chat. She was planning to walk for two weeks and then take another two weeks at a Buddhist retreat somewhere in France. Sadly after her 4th or 5th day she did not feel well and ended up leaving the trail and heading early to her retreat. We do have her phone number so we will be in touch!

We met Aanaka our first night in Montbonnet at the same dinner table as Andrea. The English speakers were put at one end of the table – for sanity I think! Anyway, we would run into Aanaka at least daily on the trail and sometimes in town. One day on the trail I thanked her for speaking English, and she thanked me for NOT speaking French! I thought that was so funny. She lived in Paris in her 20’s and thought she could pick up some of her French but instead was a little frustrated that they spoke so fast making it difficult to join in conversations. Her final destination was Conques and I believe she was happy to be finished.

Jose and Melanie stayed at our hotel in Aumont-Aubrac and after that we saw them every day. They were such a cute couple. And bonus they spoke English. They live in Cleveland, Ohio and Jose is a prosecutor and Melanie works in the medical field. Together they do a two week pilgrimage each year and this year they walked from LePuy en velay to Conques. When they return next year they’ll begin in Conques and end… who knows where.

Jose was full of life with a twinkle in his eye. High energy, very gracious, kind and helpful. Melanie seemed to be the perfect partner for him, always smiling and very nice. It was sad to say goodbye but that’s the Camino way.

This mother-daughter duo stayed at our Gîte one night in Noailhac. As we walked inside the gite, little Ava took charge and told us where to put our boots when we arrived. This gite had no host… so Ava took charge. Every time we looked at her she smiled. Guessing she was around 10 years old.

The next day we had breakfast together at the restaurant. Later, along the trail we would pass them and then they would pass us. We were quite a ways in front of them at one point and when I turned around I noticed Ava running to catch something. I thought it was her hat but it turned out to be Gail’s backpack rain cover. She ran and walked all the way up to hand it to us. And giggled. She was adorable. Her mom explained that she did two weeks last year and planned to do another two weeks this year and Ava begged come with her. She gave her 4 days on the trail and once home (near Figeac) Elizabeth will continue on for 10 additional days.

We met Laetitia (leticia) and Laure in St Privat d’Allier on our second night. In the morning at the gite Laure offered to take our extra bag downstairs. From then on everyone was all smiles when we would see each other. Laetitia was walking to Compestelle (aka Santiago d’Compestelle) and we would see her mainly at the end of each day through Livinhac. Since we took a zero day, we may have seen the last of her. Laure ended her walk just before Nasbinals. They were both so sweet!

Jean-Pierre and Claire – we met them on our first night in Montbonnet. Our host had a game she wanted people to play and of course it involved reading short French stories. There was laughter and thoughtful head nods as stories were told around the table. When Jean-Pierre had a turn his voice boomed and had so much energy and inflection in his voice that it was wonderful to listen to.

He and his wife Claire lived in the US for 2 years many years ago so he knew English quite well. We saw them every day until Livinhac, said our goodbyes but hope to see each other in St Jean pied a port. Jean-Paul wrote down our arrival dates in SJ and perhaps we will see them there.

That covers our first two weeks. Everyone has been so welcoming and kind and fun to visit with, even if just to muddle through a French/English conversation. However it can be exhausting! Au revoir for now.