Kathy Elkind in Conversation with Charles Wheelan -- to Walk it is to See it at The Norwich Bookstore

Wednesday, September 6, 2023 - 7:00pm

Kathy Elkind and her husband take a grown-up “gap year” and walk the 1,400-mile Grande Randonnée Cinq across The Netherlands, Belgium, Luxembourg, and France. She discovers wise strength and the realization that a long marriage is like a long trail: there are ups and downs, but the beauty is staggering. 

At fifty-seven, Kathy has chosen comfort over hardship: Unlike the Appalachian Trail and the Pacific Coast Trail, the GR5 winds from village to village instead of campsite to campsite. She and Jim get to indulge in warm beds and delicious regional food every night and croissants in the mornings. The GR5 is not all comfort. Walking day after day for ninety-eight days bring sickness, accommodation struggles, language barriers, and storm-shrouded mountains in the Alps. Meanwhile, Kathy finds herself reflecting on difficult topics--primarily, her struggles with dyslexia, overeating, and shame. But she also finds that the walking becomes a moving meditation and the beauty of the landscape heals; she begins to discover her own wise strength; and as the days unfold, she comes to the gratifying realization that a long marriage is like a long trail: there are ups and downs and it takes hard work to keep going, but the beauty along the way is staggering.  Written with raw honesty and compassion, and rich with dazzling scenery, To Walk It Is To See It will inspire you to lace up your walking shoes and discover your own path.

Kathy Elkind is a long-distance walker, writer, and speaker. Along with her husband she has walked the GR5, the Anda­lusian Coast to Coast Walk in Southern Spain, and parts of the Cammino Mater­ano in Italy. She can be reached at www.kathyelkind.com. Kathy lives in the Mad River Valley of Vermont.

Charles Wheelan is a senior lecturer and policy fellow at the Rockefeller Center at Dartmouth College. He joined the Dartmouth faculty fulltime in June of 2012. He has been selected as one of Dartmouth’s ten best professors by three different graduating classes. He teaches courses on education policy, health care, tax policy, income inequality, and related topics.  Wheelan teaches the Practicum in Global Policy Leadership in which he travels with students to examine an international policy topic.