Francoise is a French Canadian from Quebec, Canada. Francoise waited 65 years to meet the love of her life. Her beloved had lost his first wife and had 5 children. They were married for 20 years and dreamed of hiking El Camino de Santiago together one day. Last year, Francoise’s beloved passed away. She is now hiking for them both, one step for her and one step for him.
I spent the night at a hostel with Francoise. We sat together at dinner but she was tired and a bit shy, so she did not say much. I saw her the next day in the next town. I had stopped for breakfast and was getting ready to leave with a group from Tasmania, Australia and went to use the facilities before leaving. I came back down stairs to get my bag and Francoise was there. I bid the Australians good bye and sat with Francoise for a while. She said she was wiped out from the climb up to the town and would be staying for the night there.
She wanted to let her eldest stepchild know where she was and that she was getting along well but her e-mail would not work. For security reasons, e-mail providers want to send you a code to your cell phone to make sure you are the person using your account but when you are overseas, it is often impractical to use this feature. I helped her set up a new e-mail account and Francoise shared some of her story with me.
Would you pray for her safety and well being along El Camino, please?