Unbelievable but true: no one has raped or killed me yet during my walking tour in France

“An adventurer generally doesn’t complain. He discovers, learns, shares… but he doesn’t complain! », comments a man under one of my posts on Instagram. I provoked him because my latest article for Madmoizelle is titled “Crossing the Pyrenees on foot, a torture I wouldn’t wish on anyone”. I’m a “bad” adventurer because I complain and many men criticize me on social media: “You are too aggressive in your stories”, “You’re not a real mountain girl”etc.

I have accumulated 325 days of walking in 21 departments

However, I have just hiked through the Pyrenees along the GR10, one of the most difficult long-distance hiking trails in France. I traveled just over 1,000 kilometers in three months. I suffered a lot from the difference in altitude and the weather conditions but I achieved my goal. On September 26, 2023 I touched the Mediterranean Sea in Banyuls (Pyrenees Orientales). I haven’t seen so much water since the Atlantic Ocean, which I left on July 1st in Hendaye (Pyrénées-Atlantiques).

This walking adventure is not my first. I started this walking tour of France, called the Survivor Tour, in the North in 2020. From Dunkirk I have already covered 4,150 kilometres. I walked for 235 days and crossed 21 departments, including Manche, Finistère and Landes. After the Atlantic coast and the Pyrenees, for 2024 I am aiming for the Mediterranean coast. I will resume my tour in France against gender violence on September 1st in Banyuls.

I walk alone and I’m not afraid

This solitary journey amazes everyone I meet. They ask me if I’m not afraid, if I don’t feel alone, if I meet bad people… I proudly tell them that I sleep in the forest, in my tent or under the stars. I am certainly appalled by the pretension and selfishness of the male hikers I encounter. They attack me about my feminism and give me unsolicited advice. But no one has raped or killed me yet since the Tour de France started.

“I wouldn’t let my daughter do what you do”However, many women confide in me. Even though I tell them that an attacker is unlikely to follow me into the forest at night to tear me to pieces and that I run more risks in the city, at home, they don’t move: “I’d be too scared.” Since 2020 I have been meeting attackers, but not in the forest. I came across a man masturbating in his car, looking at me, in Honfleur, Normandy.

Another time I filed a complaint against an ex-boyfriend who was harassing me and following me on the GR34, in Finistère. This summer in the Pyrenees I have nothing serious to report. But I anticipate potentially encountering more abusers in the future and that’s okay. It’s my life. I have already filed a complaint for sexual and sexist violence six times. I trained in feminist self-defense to no longer fear all men.

HAS read also: 6 hikers to follow on Instagram who combine walking and activism

Beautiful moments of sisterhood

This summer in the Pyrenees I particularly enjoyed the moments spent with other women hikers. I will always remember the English girls Safia and Ingrid who accompanied me on a windy stage in Ariège. And my best friend Tara who joined me at the end of the GR10 to share a week of effort and simple pleasures in the mountains. Our nude swim in Lake Lanoux remains the highlight of my summer. I also think of my sister and my father who one day came to visit me unexpectedly while I was resting at the campsite. I suffered so much, physically, that I cling to good memories, to rare moments of relaxation and serenity.

I look forward to my regular camping breaks, during which I have been able to work on the phone or watch women’s World Cup football matches. In particular, I wrote seven articles for Madmoizelle, including one on the rules of hiking, and published six episodes of my podcast Sologamie, recorded in my tent. I sent out newsletters, shared my adventures on social media, and was happy to see my community following and enjoying the adventure. Many have participated in my Tipeee and Patreon prize pools or purchased my book The power to support me financially.

I am an adventurer and I am strong

This summer changed everything for me. I became aware of my strength. Now that I have crossed the Pyrenees on foot, I feel invincible. Completing this Tour de France seems possible and probable to me. I’ll get to that in a few years. But above all I learned some important news that I kept to myself. In mid-July I received a transfer of 17,000 euros to my bank account. The issuer is the Guarantee Fund for Victims, a public body that offered me this sum after I contacted the Commission for Compensation for Crime Victims (Civi) in 2021.

Not only did Civi recognize my status as a “victim of a criminal crime” after the attempted rape I suffered in March 2018 in a Paris library, but the expert psychiatrist noted my psychological and physical trauma. The Guarantee Fund then paid me 17,000 euros as compensation for the damage suffered. This sum gives me immediate relief and some financial security.

I’m probably not the “good” adventurer that the men who criticize me on social networks expect. But I am a feminist adventurer recognized as a victim of sexual violence by the French justice system. It’s rare so I appreciate it. Until the next departure, 1^um September 2024.

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