Walking with friends, and walking alone

We started as three. I finished alone, and the middle of this trip is the part I get asked about most. The thing we did right, before we flew. The three of us agreed on one rule in advance: if anyone decides partway through that he wants to leave, that is completely fine. Everyone comes to a trip like this for something different. That sounds like a small thing. It is not. It meant that when it happened — twice — nobody had to justify anything and nobody had to be talked out of it. Alon left after twelve days. Azri left on day 34, at a lake, with the weather turning: I decided to carry on, he said he was stopping, we had a last meal together and said goodbye. Have that conversation before you book the flights. It is the single most useful thing in this guide. What actually changes when you are alone. The obvious things are the logistics. Every decision is yours, which is faster but heavier. And when Azri left, the tent left with him — so from day 35 I was sleeping out with a bag and a mat, which changed where I could stop and how carefully I had to read the forecast. The less obvious thing is that it is boring. I will say it plainly, because most accounts do not: walking alone all day is fairly boring and lonely, and sometimes it is hard. That is not the same as bad. But it is true, and I was not expecting how true. What I did about it. Once I was alone I tried to call a friend every day — talk a bit, catch up, pass the time. That was deliberate and it worked. And you are not actually alone out there. You meet people constantly and fall into small talk with other walkers. A Swiss man who made me coffee and talked for half an hour. A group of Italians four days into their own route. Four women doing part of my route over eight days instead of three. Two groups of Israelis. A 77-year-old Frenchman doing exactly the same trek, sleeping in a hotel every night and taking six months over it. The huts are the fix, and this is the real argument for paying for one. After a whole day alone — or several days without properly talking to anyone — sitting down at a long table with strangers is not a cost. It is one of the best parts of the trip. That is why I recommend the hut dinner to everyone, more for what happens around the table than for the food. Was it better or worse? Different. The first half was shared and easier and funnier. The second half was mine. I wrote at the time that it was frightening and exciting at once — a chance to see how I would manage on my own in all that mess, and some time to think. The change from walking with friends to walking alone was hard. I got used to it. Both halves were worth having, and I would not trade either one for a trip made entirely of the other. Everything here is my own, from 2025.