Four days on the Via Jacobi that transformed our friendship.

François Thouret
Sep 22
2 min read

The idea was born a year ago, over a drink: "Hey François, what if you introduced us to Woaching?"

Those who were there nodded in unison. I said yes.

And this was the starting point of a simply unforgettable human adventure.

A group unlike any I'd ever accompanied. I had to innovate.

Friends. They are friends. And I am one of them. We met during a professional training course at INSEAD, thirteen years ago. We were between forty and fifty years old at the time. And since then, almost every year, we meet again in one or the other's country, for three or four days. Most often, with our partners. Thus, over the years, the complicity born from the shared experiences we experienced during our training has turned into true friendship.

They come from all over Europe. It's a matter of accompanying the group in English. I regularly do this individually. But for a group, over several days, it's necessary to have two English-speaking guides. This is an ideal opportunity for Nelly le Bot and me, both passionate about walking support and multicultural experiences, to carry out our first Woaching project together in a group and in English. Our first innovation.

We needed a route that was easily accessible from anywhere in Europe. The Via Jacobi (the Way of St. James in Switzerland) is ideal for this thanks to Zurich Airport and the train network that serves all the villages. Thanks to the train, we were able to complete three stages of the Via Jacobi, starting from Stans, while staying in the same hotel, and thus walk with lighter bags. A form of comfortable roaming. Second innovation.

The groups I accompany are, most often, made up of people who don't know each other. But here, it's a group of friends of which I am a part.

What themes should they explore together?

How to juggle between the position of the companion and that of the participant with them, at certain times?

Thanks to Nelly's presence and experience, and my constant attention to making my position explicit at each moment, we were able to walk together, as friends, on the meaning of our lives. Third innovation.

We experienced our friendship on another level of depth.

It was a very enriching experience for me to be at times in the role of participant. In particular during the two-person "bubble" journeys, during which each person shares deep reflections with the other, with a double effect of personal enlightenment and enlightenment for the other. I was thus able, like the other participants, to share and listen to reflections on questions such as: "what made me who I am?" or "what are my aspirations for contributing to the world?".

Thus, over the course of four days, the trust, attention, and listening between us reached new intensities, leading our friendship to even greater depth.