The first stages seem well planned and the final destination is known: Santiago de Compostela in Galicia.
But traveling for several days, or even several weeks, has its share of surprises in store: the unexpected remains the number one rule of this 21st century adventure.
To discover
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Courteous motorists
Here you are on foot through France and then Spain where people tend to travel by car.
If you mainly take trails, paved roads are also part of the path.
You will rarely be honked at by motorists, rather respected, with a wave or a smile, or even considered with indifference, as part of the landscape.
Your outfit, backpack and hiking shoes, mark your identity and give you a feeling of confidence and freedom.
This feeling is reinforced when you shorten or lengthen a stage depending on the shape, the mood of the day, a good address recommended by someone you meet along the way... The route of the route rarely remains set in stone, especially for walkers. in the long run.
Glamorous encounters
You will be surprised by the spontaneity and simplicity with which you interact with all these people who are moving in the same direction as you.
The masks fall, the differences between generations and social classes are erased.
The terrace of an
albergue
in the middle of the Galician pampas can become more hype than a roof terrace in Manhattan.
At the end of August, in a Spanish inn like Cédric Klapisch, we heard all the languages spoken around a large rustic wooden table... Next door, the pretty Barbara, 35, had the beginnings of a flirtation with a New Yorker in a checked shirt of exactly the same age - because age is a question that we allow ourselves to ask on the way, along with that on the number of kilometers traveled -.
They exchanged their Instagram accounts and met for a drink at the evening stop.
Better than Tinder in the city, with an open mind on the GR…
Solidarity at all intersections
The wealth accumulated along the way comes down to encounters, and solidarity reigns supreme.
When you are lost or your tired legs no longer want to move forward, a kind soul will often come to your aid.
This happened to the author of these lines in Saintonge, in Charente-Maritime.
Knee sore since the morning, a break was in order inside a small Romanesque church, in the cool.
When we got out, we instinctively gave a thumbs up while waiting for a car to arrive: the driver immediately did so.
“
It’s the first time in my life that I’ve picked up someone hitchhiking
,” was surprised Céline, a real estate agent.
Same thing for Marie-Adeline who broke down in the middle of her third day of walking from Le-Puy-en-Velay.
“
My feet hurt very much and I was overcome by great sadness, thinking about the recent death of my mother
,” remembers the young woman.
“
I was very touched by the solidarity in the restaurant: a stranger gave me cream, another his last pill, everyone tried to comfort me
.”
A resilient body
Once the hiccups of the warm-up phase are over, the body also has surprises in store: it ends up adopting a cruising speed, while remaining flexible.
The biped that we are is quickly getting back on track.
Certainly, the death plaques on the side of the trail, erected in memory of hikers struck by lightning or victims of a heart attack, sometimes send shivers down the spine.
But this remains the exception.
The backgammon generally return “
in dazzling physical shape, with a strong heart and tough muscles
”, cheerfully summarizes the founder of the
Miam Miam Dodo
guide , Jacques Clouteau.
Moving motivation
If all the pilgrims leave with an idea in mind, it risks changing quickly, the question of why proving to be shifting as they progress.
Or then, surprise, like Jean-Christophe Rufin, who remains the great author of the path with his
Immortelle Randonnée, Compostelle spite moi
published in 2013: “
When leaving for Saint-Jacques, I was not looking for anything and I I found
it.”
A vast field of possibilities…
Arrival without fanfare
After being regularly struck by the beauty of a chapel or a watercourse around a bend, we finally see them in the distance, the towers of the cathedral of Santiago de Compostela.
In Obradorio Square, even the most hardened feel tears coming to their eyes.
The backgammons sit on the ground among the clusters of tourists.
We hear a Frenchman ask his friend: “
But what’s with everyone on the floor?”
» No real guard of honor at the end of all this journey: the pilgrims find themselves in the minority among the visitors to this granite city classified as a UNESCO world heritage site.
They can identify each other by their dirty shoes and play it discreet, accustomed to the unexpected.
ON VIDEO -
The great places of Christianity - From Fin-des-Terres to Saint-Seurin on the roads to Compostela