I was first introduced to the Camino Frances, a Catholic pilgrimage trail from France to Spain, by my mum. Together, we did a 200km-long portion of the French section in 2015.
In 2022, I had just quit my job and wanted to return to France to walk the entire trail, which is about 890km long.
I planned everything myself and went alone. Hiking 890km – which involved daily walks lasting four to six hours – across various cities and hilly regions for about five weeks as a solo female was one of the scariest things I ever did. But I went ahead, believing that life was bigger than our fears.
On the second day of my hike, I crossed paths with a man from Washington, United States. It was his first day on the trail and we were bunkmates in a room with a few other strangers at a hostel.
I remember saying “hi” to him first after getting some supplies at a local mart and seeing him resting on the bed above mine.
After chatting for a while, he asked me if I’d like to have dinner with him, and I said yes.
After that evening, we went our separate ways. About a week later, however, he and I bumped into each other again in Estrella, a charming little town in Spain. I felt very at ease with him, so even though we both started the walk alone, we decided to walk the rest of the Camino together.
Even though he wasn’t Catholic when he did the Camino, he attended mass with me at every stop. He was interested in knowing more about the faith which was very important to me, a cradle Catholic.
It was also easy to converse with him and I was intrigued by his lifestyle. He too had just quit his job and had been a digital nomad, living in US cities like New York, Alaska and Hawaii.
