Tag adventure

The French Camino: The First 8 Days

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  • OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA
  • Nap time
  • Waiting for a water refill.
  • Trailside break

Greetings from France’s Via Podiensis, a nearly 500-mile pilgrimage from Le Puy to St. Jean Pied de Port in the Pyrenees Mountains.

Eight days out of 42 now behind us, a roundup of happenings:

The stats: Guru Pro says we have come 129 miles (including some sidetrips) and have climbed 13,199 feet.

The place: The High Elevation Massif Central, undulating between 2,500 and 4,500 feet.

The weather: Hot! Highs between 85 and 95.

The land: Dense forests, ranches (cattle and sheep), farms.

The people: Lots! Each morning is a stampede out of villages, reminding me of the crowds on the Camino de Santiago during the final 100 kilometers. The crowds are supposed to thin considerably in a few days. We have met no one planning to walk the entire way. Most are here for five or six days. We hear that this is the most popular section of the French Camino.

Camaraderie: Yes! Pilgrim meals and wayside stops are where it grows. The vast majority of trekkers are French, but we have been surprised at how many people are willing or even want to speak English with us. In addition to many French people, we have gotten to know a couple from New Hampshire, two women from Sweden, a couple from Ottawa, Canada, an Irish woman, among others. A French philosophy student wanted to chat with me over dinner about political philosophy and American politics. (Poor Sue)

More about language: French, French, and more French most of the time. Sue and I do passably with a few basics, like ordering beer and food.

Our backpacks: At the last minute, we canceled our luggage transfer service, opting to carry everything in the same packs we have used for 10 years. I had a tough start, but I jettisoned some stuff, changed my packing strategy, and adjusted my straps differently, leading me to be able to walk more upright 🤓. Carrying all our stuff adds to the simplicity and is empowering!

The food: Tasty, but the dinners at mostly pilgrim meals have been heavy, served around long tables. Lots of meat (huge sausages, veal, shepherd’s pie, meat lasagna) and cheese everywhere. Some salads, but I long for a plate of steamed veggies. Croissants, yogurt, jam and baguettes for breakfast. We have found some yummy ham sandwiches (with veggies) to pack for picnic lunches.

Routine: The rhythm of the trekking life is addicting and such a live-in-the-moment existence. But boring? Just look at the slide show above, which represents just a sliver of what we have experienced.

A Bicycle Odyssey Across the Americas

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Kristen and Ville next to a southern Patagonia ice field in Argentina.

What next?

When I finished Joy Ride by Kristen Jokinen, that was my question.

She met Finnish native Ville Jokinen on a scuba diving boat in Vietnam. Back home in the USA, she had to see if the spark between them would endure, so she booked a flight to Finland. They were soon married and within a few years, walked 2,653 miles on the Pacific Crest Trail.

They craved more adventure. What next?

In 2016, they headed for Prudhoe Bay, Alaska, for a trip south, as far as they could go, to Ushuaia, Argentina. Their first road was the Dalton Highway, a 414-mile, mostly unpaved drive that tests those in four-wheel drive vehicles. But caution was not part of their plan; they rode one-wheel-drive bicycles that they had not even broken in.

I doubt anyone would blame them if they had quit after the first day. Bikes laden with heavy gear, Kristen’s knees ached from the first mile. Her new leather seat felt like a rock. Ice-cold rain pelted her face, trickled inside her rain jacket and down her back. She was exasperated. “What the hell was I thinking when I signed up for this?”

They finally stopped at midnight when the sun was still up, but low on the horizon, when Ville asked, “Are you ready to camp? I can’t feel my toes.” Too tired to cook, their first meal was Snickers bars.

What next?

Over the next 20 months, they rode more than 18,000 miles, enduring wind so fierce they had to push their bikes. Dog attacks, injuries (she broke her tailbone, for one), bloody falls, relentless rain, punishing cold and heat. They were blown off the road by passing trucks and longed for elusive hot showers.

Quit? What’s that? They found kindness around many turns, kindness from people who took them into their homes, fed them, and peppered them with questions about their improbable choice to ride the length of the Americas. For its kind people, Mexico was their favorite country. For scenery, Peru won hands down. They lived on $800 month, the rent they received for their Bend, Oregon home.

After choosing a light-colored stone in the Beagle Channel at the tip of South America, Kristen paired it with the black stone she had pulled from the Arctic Circle, symbolizing the end of the journey. They traveled (not by bicycle) back to Bend, where they endured “a horrible adjustment,” even worse than they one after their PCT trek.

The question returned.

In 2019, they rode bikes from Helsinki, Finland to Split Croatia, 2,000 miles. Then during the 2021-22 winter, they explored the Andalucia region of Spain, again on bikes.

What next? Maybe the question will follow them for the rest of their lives. I eagerly anticipate more of Kristen Jokinen’s writing about their adventures.