But what drives us on and on has become something different: it's people's reaction to us, the encounters we live.
People generally have seen backpackers before, but generally, these are young adults. A family hiking long-distance together is much rarer. Not so much on the well-traveled E5/Via Alpina, but almost everywhere else, the four of us are such an unusual sight that people stop and ask us where we come from and where we go.
And of course, nothing feels as good as people being positively interested in what you're doing... So we tell our tale, basking in people's attention and admiration. Quite a lot of people have asked us to pray for them to St. Francis when we arrive in Assisi, and I've noted every one of them. Of some of them, I don't even know the name, so I will pray "for the lady at the tabacchio where we bought the bus tickets into Bologna", for example.
It's not that I believe that praying for them will actually change something in their lives, but I find it important to keep my promises. Doing the pilgrimage changes something in my, in our lives. I feel enriched by the many, many encounters, with people, with landscapes, with cuisine, with history and customs... and perhaps talking to us gives people an idea that some unusual ideas can actually be put into practice. Perhaps we can enrich their lives, too.
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