An inveterate hiker and wanderer (as a journalist, he’s been in more than 100 countries), Stratte-McClure undertook the “MedTrek,” as he names it, in 2000 “to reflect, stay in shape, forge new friendships and perhaps have a life-changing adventure or two.
When his wife of 20 years fell in love with a 24-year-old bar
bouncer and told him "to take a hike," the author, a Redding native
who's lived in France for more than 30 years, took her advice
literally. Starting in Antibes, on the French Riviera, he set out
to walk around the Mediterranean Sea, a journey of at least 10,000
miles. An inveterate hiker and wanderer (as a journalist, he's been
in more than 100 countries), Stratte-McClure undertook the
"MedTrek," as he names it, in 2000 "to reflect, stay in shape,
forge new friendships and perhaps have a life-changing adventure or
two." With a well-thumbed copy of Homer's Odyssey in his backpack,
he ambles unhurriedly along the coast of "the sea that has seen it
all," joined at different times by his dog Bogart, his son Luke, a
French muse named Delphyne and others. Along the way he meets
Gypsies and monks, nudists and thieves, and like his mentor
Odysseus he sees in them "gods and goddesses" there to help or
hinder him. He's still walking: "It took Odysseus 20 years, so I
figure 20 years is enough time." The book's title suggests its
tone: at once ambitious and self-effacing, literate and
down-to-earth. Stratte-McClure is an erudite man whose lust for
life is balanced by Buddhist wisdom, and he brings to each moment
on his journey a genuine affection for all he encounters that is
irresistible.
