My goodness, I see I started this post back in January! Now we've made our plans, booked our flights and this post is to "re-introduce" us to this welcoming community.
Next Sunday we leave for Paris. A couple of days there, then a flight to Madrid to visit the Prado, Reina Sophia and Thys. Then to Santiago to pick up a parcel at the Camino Travel Center, then a bus to Porto and our camino begins. We are June and Chris Behr and we live in Vermont, USA, a beautiful spot on Lake Champlain, an hour or so from the Adirondack Mountains to the west and the Green Mountains to the east. For many, many years our recreation was hiking... backpacking, actually. We hiked Vermont's Long Trail, the Northville–Placid trail in New York, and climbed the 111 peaks over 4,000 feet high in New York and New England. But, in later years, (we're in our 70s now, in the 53rd year of our marriage), caring for an elderly relative kept us away from the trails. So, we've had to get back “in shape,” walking almost every day for a few hours.
Our plan, originally, was to visit our daughter who lives in Moulins, France. Then we got the idea to make a quick trip to Madrid to visit the incredible museums there. Flipping through a Rick Steves guide, I came across a description of the camino (Frances). We were quite taken by the idea of walking to Santiago. As we learned more (mostly from this Forum), we decided to walk from Porto. We will walk out of the Se on 13 September but, in fact, it seems we've already begun. If possible, we will post our journey here. Thank you, all you posters, for your help.
June and Chris
PS and yes, we will visit Karen after our walk