Epic Horseback Journey, Olive Oil, & Buen Camino

I’m back from Spain! It was an incredible trip. I completed two pilgrimages, saw beautiful new landscapes, made new friends, and pushed my limits horseback riding on a sweet borrowed little gray Arabian horse named Dubai.

The trip began in Madrid, where I adjusted to the local time and wandered through museums admiring works by Pablo Picasso, Salvador Dalí, and other Spanish artists. From there, I took the train to Pamplona to meet up with my tour. In the afternoons we walked the Camino together. We had a lot of conversations about conservation, work, and life. Along the Camino, we passed through tiny villages with other pilgrims and even stopped at a wine fountain.

That portion of the trip ended in León, and from there I traveled to Barcelona to join my next tour. For five long days, I rode horseback from the Pyrenees to the Mediterranean, crossing into France and passing castles, monasteries, forests that looked straight out of an elf story, olive groves, and vineyards. We forded rivers, rode through rainstorms for hours at a time, and climbed steep mountains both on horseback and on foot. Altogether, we traveled about 160 km, including one day where we rode 50 km (32 miles).

My riding group included three German women, one Swiss woman, and a fun guide from Germany who has lived in Spain for 23 years. I was unbelievably sore by the end of each day and still have no idea how I managed saddling Dubai three times a day and leading him down steep mountain trails. He was so careful not to step on me, such a sweet horse.

Both parts of the trip also featured incredible food. The olive oil in Spain really is as good as everyone says. And I was buzzed on “Catalonia Lemonade” (Cava), most of the trip.

One of the highlights for me was just how full and alive the whole experience felt, a mix of movement, nature, conversation, and a lot of very simple, very good meals shared with people along the way. Buen Camino indeed.