Jane V. Blanchard is the author of the Woman on Her Way series. Her books describe hiking adventures on the back roads and trails of the world. In her most recent award-winning book, A Short Walk on a Long Trail: A Couple's Sauntering on the Vermont Long Trail, she co-authors with Dennis Blanchard the story of her first wilderness hike.
Before retiring, Jane was a technical writer. Off work, she enjoyed biking and hiking and, over her lifetime, climbed twenty of the forty 4,000-foot mountains in New England. She retired in 2011 to walk 500 miles on the Camino de Santiago in Spain—her first long walk. Now, Jane explores countries on foot and then writes about the adventure for her readers' escape and entertainment.
Jane's first book, Women of the Way: Embracing the Camino, mingles her personal story with conversations she had with other modern-day female pilgrims on the Camino. In her award-winning Hadrian's Wall Path: Walking into History, Jane shares her discoveries along the 84-mile path across northern England.
Jane was born in Hartford, Connecticut. Upon graduation from college, she worked as a travel guide in Madrid, Spain, and cried at her first bullfight. In 1975, she and her husband, Dennis, lived in a tent in Winchendon, Massachusetts, for six months (until December) while building a log cabin. After two years of living off the grid, they lived a self-sufficient lifestyle on a five-acre "gentleman's" farm. Before moving to Sarasota, Florida, she lived in Hampstead, New Hampshire, for twenty-four years. There, she raised two children, coached soccer and Odyssey of the Mind, and received the New Hampshire Excellence in Education Volunteer of the Year Award in 1996.
In Sarasota, Jane became involved with several national and local organizations bent on helping women. She hosted a weekly radio show, Woman Matters, for two-and-a-half years.
In her 50s, Jane started mountain biking and racing. In 2002, she placed second in the Eastern Fat Tire Association Senior Division. "Even though I was not the fastest competitor, I did attend and compete in the majority of that year's races. Like with the turtle and the hare, slow and consistent wins over fast but sporadic."
When she married in 1974, her husband, Dennis, and she joked about creating a lifetime of memories to chat about when sitting on their rockers in old age. Now in her 70s, Jane is still making memories, experiencing life as fully as possible, and looking forward to a long future. "I have to live long enough to write about all my adventures," she says.
In addition to having adventures, writing, and publishing, Jane enjoys gardening, cooking, reading, and spending time with friends and family.
