The Start of Our Journey

Meet the hikers:

We're 3 family members together on the trail. In June 2024, we're planning to hike from Les Hôpitaux-Neufs, France, through Switzerland, to Aosta, Italy. Most of the time we're planning to follow the Via Francigena, a pilgrim path that extends more than 1200 miles from Canterbury, England to Rome.

Suz - That's me. I'm Mom. I'm in my 50s and love hiking, but aging knees are making me stick to simpler trails these days. I speak a little bit of French (probably around the A2 level) and am hoping it will be enough for us to get by.

TJ- That's my husband. He's Dad. He's in his 60s. He likes to design things and to run.

Kat - That's TJ's daughter. She's Big Sis. She's in her 30s. She's an illustrator and keeps herself fit with running and biking.

Big Brother and Little Sis are staying home. They'll have their own adventures.

My dream:

I have wanted to go to Switzerland for a long time. Several of my grandparents emigrated from Switzerland, so I have family roots there. Media portrayals of Switzerland as a place of peace and nature probably also contributed to my desire. TJ and I had visited Ireland twice. That's where his family roots are. So we had decided after that second trip to Ireland that the next big trip would be to a location of my choosing. We had planned to take the trip the year that he turned 60 and I turned 50, but the Covid pandemic put those plans on hold for several years.

In the meantime, I came across the blog, What If We Walked, written by Luke and Nell. They posted about slow travel journeys. On one of their trips, they walked through Switzerland on a pilgrim route called the Via Francigena. One of the things that TJ and I had loved so much about Ireland was the ability to take long walks through the countryside, through sheep pastures and past villages, up onto cliffs and down into valleys. We could just go and go, enjoying panoramic views and having time to really take in the scenery. Reading Luke and Nell's post about the Via Francigena reminded me how easy it is to walk places in Western Europe and awakened a desire to see Switzerland slowly. The fact that there was already an established route that mostly involved moderate walking cinched the decision. I spent the pandemic dreaming and researching further, plus saving the funds that would be needed to travel in a country considered by many to be expensive for tourists.

We're finally ready to make this trip happen and thrilled that Kat can join us in the adventure.