“It’s funny, the encounters we have in these situations…” An 89-year-old woman started hitchhiking in June for the first time in her life. “I had lost my husband in January 2022”, says Therese to West FranceFriday, July 29. “To cheer me up, my grandson Jules told me that we would do something together.”
On the occasion of the Pentecost weekend, this unusual duo left Saint-Prévin-les-Pins, in Loire-Atlantique, and joined Concarneau, in Finistère, a journey of 480 km round trip. “I was not convinced that she would do it”confides Jules Riss, a young 25-year-old Messin, to the Lorraine Republican. His grandparents were always worried about seeing him hitchhiking, hence the idea of taking his grandmother with him.
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“At first she followed backwards, she didn’t want to carry the card or give a thumbs up”, remembers the grandson. But the cars stop quickly and Thérèse gets caught up in the game. “She was like a child”he laughs.
“The drivers were curious and admiring: so many people gave him compliments! It was a pure dose of happiness.”
Jules Riss, grandson of Thérèseto the “Republican Lorrain”
“At the beginning, I was a little reluctant, recognizes the apprentice hitchhiker. But we met people of a kindness…” The pair shared the route of about fifteen drivers, some of whom made a detour to prolong the pleasure of talking with Thérèse. Perhaps they will meet the octogenarian again next year: “If I’m in the state I’m in today, we’ll leave. But this time four or five days!”