Interview: Jennifer Andrewes talks about A will and a way: On foot across France

As a child, Dunedin-born writer and author Jennifer Andrewes spent time living in France, kicking off a lifelong love affair with the country. An avid walker, Jennifer first joined a local walking group to meet people and explore the local countryside while working as a language teaching assistant in northern France. Thirty years later, she’s hooked!

A communications professional, she has worked in tourism and government roles both here and in the UK, as well as stints as a freelance travel writer.

Her blog on the family’s French adventure www.myparallellives.com was widely enjoyed and it was prompting from readers that led Jennifer to write a book about the family’s experience: Parallel Lives: Four seasons in the French Pyrenees. Her subsequent posts about her pilgrimage adventures are widely read and it was encouragement from followers that has led Jennifer to write a book about her Camino experiences.

Tell us more about the genre you write in and what draws you to it.

I am a travel and lifestyle writer by preference and my writing is predominantly based on my own experiences. I love the opportunity and scope that writing first-person non-fiction gives me. It’s raw and authentic, allowing me to speak freely in my own voice about what I am thinking and feeling. I have found that the best stories come from real life – frankly, some are so funny and seemingly so ‘random’ that you couldn’t make them up.

What inspired you to write your book?

The book started out life as a series of Facebook posts. From my earliest travels, I have always kept a diary. When I was young, and we spent extended periods of time living in France and traveling in Europe, my parents encouraged me to write every day. Although at the time it often felt like a chore, and some days it was hard to think of what to write of interest other than ‘Got up, had breakfast, went to school’, these diary entries have been great to look back on from a distance, bringing forgotten moments in time back to life.

As I got older and technology advanced, I started posting on Facebook alongside my hard copy journals. This has the benefit of serving as a ‘diary’ and memory prompt for me, as well as keeping friends and family up to date without having to create multiple pieces of content. On the Camino, carrying just a phone with me, Facebook posting is ideal, allowing for text and photos to be easily loaded and shared with just a couple of typing fingers and even with patchy wifi. Over time my pilgrimage posts have gained a wide audience, and it was prompting from followers that led me to write a book.

Tell us a little about your book. 

In 2008, overwhelmed by career, motherhood, and daily life, I took a leap – literally – and realised mid-air that anything is possible with the right mindset.

And so, a decade later, after being diagnosed with early-onset Parkinson’s, I was inspired to walk off my symptoms. Soon afterwards, I set out on a 1800 km pilgrimage across France, walking two ancient routes over two years, in search of healing, clarity, and joy.

A will and a way: On foot across France, narrates my experiences walking the Via Podiensis from Le Puy-en-Velay and the Via Lemovicensis from Vézelay across France to the Pyrenees in 2022 and 2023 respectively.

On muddy trails and through mountain passes, my journey is one of courage, camaraderie, and self-discovery. Walk with me through the pages of my book for an authentic Camino experience – and discover how a pilgrimage mindset can help you shed baggage, embrace simplicity, and find strength in every step.

What was your routine or process when writing this book?

The core of the content for the book was written while I walked. During the day, on the trail, I would observe my surroundings, chat with fellow pilgrims and locals, reflect on the insights, snap pictures of sights that took my eye, and often ‘rehearse’ in my head how I might round up the experience into an engaging post.

At the end of the day, having arrived at my accommodation, rested and completed my routine of washing and grocery shopping for the next day, I would usually aim to put together a post before dinner. On longer days, or if I arrived late, this might be delayed until after dinner, necessitating surreptitious one-finger typing on my phone in the dark from a single bunk in a quiet dormitory. Most days, like when I was a child, I asked myself what I could possibly write that would be different from what I’d written the day before – ate, walked, washed, ate, slept – but somehow every day I managed to come up with a unique and engaging angle.

I reworked and reframed the core content in context and book form after I had returned from the Camino. For this I took myself off to a friend’s bach for a long weekend, so I could concentrate without interruptions on the necessary rewriting and editing in one focused period. I prefer this and find it more productive than trying to carve out a regular hour or two each day around normal commitments.

What did you most enjoy about writing this book?

I really enjoyed the process of writing every day as I walked. Whatever disparate, unexpected experiences I might have had during the day, whether the day had felt challenging or joyful, the process of summarising it articulately each evening became a vital part of the pilgrimage. It allowed me to process the experiences, reflect more deeply on the meaning or significance of encounters, and connect the dots in ways I might not have in the moment. Because I was posting on Facebook, this also generated engagement from my followers, and I always enjoyed waking each morning to see what comments, questions or suggestions had been posted in reply overnight.

What did you do to celebrate finishing this book?

I cracked open a bottle of French champagne that I had been saving from my fiftieth birthday a couple of years ago. Having walked through the vineyards of Champagne last year, it felt appropriate. It was certainly worth waiting for!

If a soundtrack were made to accompany this book, name a song or two you would include.

Unwritten by Natasha Bedingfield is the perfect accompaniment to the first day of a long journey and as an opening song for the soundtrack. It beautifully captures the spirit of possibility that comes with setting out into the unknown, on your own.

Feeling Good by Nina Simone would feature prominently, having become something of a pilgrimage anthem for me.

There’s a shift that happens on a pilgrimage. At first, the days feel like a collection of simple day walks. Then, the first week unfolds, and it feels like a hike – tough, physical, and exhausting. By the second week, it might resemble a walking holiday, but the novelty begins to wear thin. The third week? That’s where the grind begins – a test of patience, endurance, and grit.

But somewhere in the fourth week, something changes. It becomes a pilgrimage. It transforms into something far greater than the sum of its parts. It’s as though the song was made for this moment when everything finally falls into place. On my headphones, Nina is singing ‘Freedom is mine. I know how I feel … Peace when the day is done. You know what I mean.’ Yes, Nina, I do know what you mean. The liberation, power and sense of achievement that comes with walking 30 km day after day, carrying only what you need to survive on your back.

Lovely Day by Bill Withers is a perfect accompaniment as I skip over the fields just after dawn. The song always reminds me of the moving film Blackbird, starring Sam Neill and Julianne Moore. When my time comes, I hope to have the wit and opportunity to ask my husband Stephen to close the curtains so I can savour ‘one more sunrise’.

Speaking of which, Blackbird by the Beatles, would be my final choice, and the song to close the soundtrack to my book.

Pilgrimage is a journey of transformation, not just of the body but of the soul. The Camino offers the gift of light – not just the physical light of sunrises and golden fields but the inner light of clarity, faith, and hope.

For those of us living with challenges, whether physical, emotional, or spiritual, walking offers a way forward. It reminds us that even in the darkest moments, light is within reach. Light is within us.

What is your favourite book this year and why?

A favourite book I have read this year is The Salt Path by Raynor Winn. The first in a trilogy, it narrates the experience of Raynor and her husband Moth, who take up walking after they lose their house, and he is diagnosed with a progressive neurological condition. Setting out on the Southwest Coastal Path in England, the book follows the physical and emotional rollercoaster as they walk day after day, wild camping along the way. I found this book inspirational and motivational, given my own condition.

What’s next on the agenda for you?

More walking and more writing! I have a pilgrimage planned, this time 1200 km across Spain, starting on 23 April. I’ll be walking from Cadiz through Seville, up to Santiago de Compostela and out to Finisterre on the Via Augusta and the Via de la Plata, with an old friend and a small group of fellow hiking enthusiasts. If all goes to plan, we will arrive on the Atlantic coast in late June. I’m running a virtual Camino alongside this, allowing interested followers to ‘walk with me’ through the private Facebook group ‘Walking the Via de la Plata’, with access to my daily posts and pilgrimage resources.

On my return, I hope to write the second in my planned trilogy on my Camino experiences – based on my experience of walking 2,400 km from Canterbury to Rome on the Via Francigena in 2024. And for an aspirational goal, I plan to conclude the trilogy of pilgrimage to page by walking and narrating my Way from Rome to Santiago in 2026 through connecting five separate Camino trails. Watch this space!