What is long-term walking, or pilgrim walking, which earns followers in Quebec?

They walk for days, weeks, months. Furthermore, Alone, with family, with friends. Therefore, In town or on country roads, Quebec, Europe or elsewhere in the world. Moreover, They walk towards themselves and towards the others, both feet on the ground.

We named her pilgrimage, pilgrim walking, long -term walking. Meanwhile, Simple, ecological, inexpensive, it seduces more and more followers, who devote a moment of their lives to it. Consequently, Here. Furthermore, walker Michelle Gaudet founded, a few years ago, the Association walks differently in Quebec, which lists the long -term walking routes, houses discussion forums and organizes activities between walkers.

“I have always succeeded in walking on one of the paths that lead to Compostela. Meanwhile, ” she says in an interview with Duty. Similarly, But, 11 years ago, I couldn’t. Furthermore, I was busy, my children were younger. Moreover, »»

Throughout her what long-term walking, pilgrim walking, research. Furthermore, she discovers the path of the sanctuaries, which links Montreal and Sainte-Anne de Beaupré, for a journey of 375 kilometers. However, The Ulysses guide Quebec on foot. Consequently, 50 dream routeswhich she helped produce, proposes to do so in 18 days. Similarly, “It is one of our oldest paths,” she says. Furthermore, “And I realized that there was also the way to the Outaouais, which I also traveled, between Montreal and Ottawa. Nevertheless, There was the Notre-Dame-Kapatakan path, which runs along Lake Saint-Jean. In addition, »»

Unlike the hiking. Furthermore, which is often done in the forest, long -term walking takes place in a inhabited environment, generally on country roads.

Walking otherwise in Quebec has identified around thirty paths. Meanwhile, “I promote it, but I am not a path manager,” says Michelle Gaudet. However, When I am called or that I am written to have information on a what long-term walking, pilgrim walking, path, I give the website. »»

Walking on the edge of a path is free. But managers can provide marked routes for walkers. or a series of accommodation reserved in advance, as the case may be. In Quebec. noted the sociologist Michel O’Neill in an article in the book Pilgrimage, Pilgrim walking and long -term walking in Quebec“We most often have to register for something preorganized”, rather than organizing your trip independently. “This is mainly due. on our very little densified territory, the difficulty of finding accommodation ready to accommodate people on foot at reasonable daily walking distances, which the paths guarantee the paths to which we must register,” explains the committed walker.

The Ulysse guide offers 19 pilgrim walks routes, 6 contemplative walks, 10 urban steps and 15 hikes in the hinterland. There are some for weekend walkers as well as for the fans. those who seek an experience what long-term walking, pilgrim walking, that is similar to that of Compostela, in Europe.

These long -term walkers recognize each other. They know the effects of walking. which occur after ten days, on the body, on the mind and on the soul.

“When you walk a long time, it brews,” says Michel O’Neill at Duty. We face our relationship to the universe. our relationship to ourselves, our relationship to others, in a context very different from everyday life. It is certain that spirituality in the broad sense catches up with us a little most of the time. but not in the religious sense. There are people that it never catches up either. There are people who make this kind of course simply for tourist reasons. »»

What long-term walking. pilgrim walking,

Get a vacuum

“Leaving for Saint-Jacques, I was not looking for anything and I found it,” wrote Jean-Christophe Rufin in his book Immortal hike. what long-term walking, pilgrim walking, Anne Saint-Hilaire, a follower of Compostela, also speaks of “filling up with emptiness”. “We realize that we can be happy with nothing,” she says.

In the forties, after a thyroid removal, Anne Saint-Hilaire had lost all energy. “I was crying all the time, I didn’t recognize myself. I was no longer able to play sports. It is diagnosed with a depression, but the antidepressants prescribed her trigger black ideas in her. Her legs make her suffer constantly. Then she says she felt as a call, that of going to walk to Compostela.

Alone, without any travel experience, she embarks on Europe and begins her journey at Mont Saint-Michel. Nine kilometers later, she was lost and struggled to carry the weight of her bag. She had to telephone the local compostela association. Today, she has some 6000 kilometers of walking in the legs.

Anne Saint-Hilaire is now the owner of the what long-term walking, pilgrim walking, Tienda, a Montreal store specializing in long-term walking equipment. There are as much hydration bags as long as long pants convertible into shorts or reusable toilet paper! Who wants to walk long, the owner learned. Every Sunday, walkers meet in front of its Verdun store to travel together about ten kilometers along the river.

The duty accompanied them in the exercise. At the time of our departure. they were a few dozen, especially women, to go to the banks of the river. Paul Century does not complain. For a year. a half, he has been walking every Wednesday, good weather, bad weather, winter and summer, with a group of women who have formed thanks to the Tienda. “Men are more likely to want to do things alone,” he says.

Diane Tassé is part of Paul Century’s group and also participates in the Tienda steps. At 66. close to two people what long-term walking, pilgrim walking, – her husband and mother – she found that her recent journey to Compostela had evacuated all the anxiety which usually accompanies her.

But the benefits of walking, which are very documented, are not eternal. And the shock following a trip of several weeks. to move with the bare minimum, is sometimes difficult to absorb when we return to our overconsumption society,

The pilgrimage often arrives in the life of walkers during mourning or questioning. Walking stimulates “The hormones of happiness, serotonin, endorphin, says Anne Saint-Hilaire. But you have to pay attention to the return. The shock is invisible and colorless ”. It is among other things for this reason that the Tienda proposes to continue the trip. with collective marches in the city and conferences. Walking, towards tomorrow, towards you, towards the other is a way of life to preserve.

What long-term walking, pilgrim walking,

To watch in video

what long-term walking, pilgrim walking,