Dear Viajeras,
Welcome! I’m so glad each of you are coming.
As you know, on this trip we will be walking an 8 day section of the Camino del Norte. We won’t be ending our walk in the city of Santiago de Compostelo. We will be ending it with an exploratory four days in the high mountain villages and trails of Los Picos de Europa. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Picos_de_Europa
I will send out a detailed itinerary before the December 6 meeting.
First:
Keeping track of these emails.
There will be lots of important information coming to you from me.
You will want to be able to find it when you need it. Your easy access to this information will provide you with peace of mind and ease of decision making in the months ahead. Your tracking this carefully will also help me avoid ‘grumpy leader syndrome’ which I sometimes succumb to after repeated requests for the same information. Thank you.
Second:
Travel arrangements.
I am responsible for the trip beginning on the evening of May 3 in Comillas and ending the morning of May 15 in Arenas de Cabrales.
You are responsible for all the rest of your transportation. I know this can be daunting.
Here are some suggestions:
Mac’s Adventures can provide 8 person vans to and from the Oveido/Asturias airport if you want to coordinate flights and organize yourselves in smaller groups. The van could drive you to Comillas on the evening of May 3 and pick you up on May 15 after breakfast in Arenas de Cabrales.
Alternately, here is a link to lots of information about travel to northern Spain.
http://www.macsadventure.com/walking-holidays/camino-del-norte-travel-guide/
We will certainly talk more about this at our first meeting on December 6.
Third:
Pre-Trip Meetings
I would love for us to meet four times between now and when we gather in Comillas on May 3. We will meet 2 Sundays at 11:30 at Bainbridge Yoga House. http://bainbridgeyogahouse.com/about-us/location/
At the first two meetings we will start ourspiritual work together. We will talk about training our minds as well as training our bodies for this experience. We will also talk about logistics!
The second two meetings are group hikes - one on the island, one in the Olympics. Its important that I get a sense of our pace - as individuals and as a group - so I can plan accordingly. I also like to do some teaching about body awareness and cardio-vascular training. Most importantly, we get to know one another and have some fun.
December 6: Sunday 11:30 - 1:30 at Bainbridge Yoga House
January 10: Sunday 11:30 - 1:30 at Bainbridge Yoga House
March 6: Sunday 11:30 - 2:30pm at Battlepoint Park, Duck Pond.
April 2: Day Hike 8am - 6pm Meet at Grace Church.
Fourth:
Look for three separate emails coming soon.
First will be the Itinerary. Second will be the Training Plan.
Third will be a list of Guide Books and Topo Maps relevant to this trip. (You don’t need to own them but I know some of you love to have them.)
Fifth:
Passport, Travel Insurance, Medical Information, Risk Release forms
(more on these on December 6)