Written by Stephanie Mutsaerts
Photos by Jesus Caso and Stephanie Mutsaerts
For those of you who are contemplating slow travel the Camino de Santiago with your kids, whether by bike or on foot, our aim is to inspire you to take on the challenge and be pleasantly surprised at how much your family will enjoy and grow every peddle or footstep of the WAY.
Taking the time to travel, as you can see in this “Camino de Santiago with Kids” sequel is a step in the direction of “going slowly”. Travelling with kids on the Camino provides moments that can be thought provoking or sweet and cozy, each day presenting plenty of time to be together, sharing a challenge, discussing an observation, feeling a thousand year old pathway beneath you, and all this as you travel at your own gentle pace.
You have plenty of time to reach your destination, and revel in the day’s events, always remembering that it is the path, not the destination that matters. As stated in the famous poem by Antonio Machado – one of Spain’s most famous 20th century poets – “Walker, there is no path, you make the path as you go.”
My name is Stephanie Mutsaerts, the founder of Northern Spain Travel, and these are my two Spanish–Canadian kids, Oliver, age 9, and Tasio, age 6, back in 2010. With all of the extra time on our hands due to the COVID situation, I have attempted to organize our many video files. In the process, I came across photos and footage that brought to mind many sweet memories of my experiences as a mother and adventurous traveller with young kids as we travelled along the Camino de Santiago by bike.
Leave your worries at home. For the time being forget those things that interfere with your connecting with one another. As you and your kids travel on the Camino de Santiago your goal should not be just the single one of reaching the final destination, the beautiful city of Santiago de Compostela, but should include the many special moments to be experienced along the way.
Help your kids find resilience within themselves
Every day of the journey brings a special gift in the form of leisurely peddling or striding forward and feeling the kilometers pass beneath you as you follow the yellow arrows and concha shells, the Camino route markers, on the pathway. That sensation of moving forward as a family adds to the sense of adventure, of undertaking an authentic journey together with all the time in the world to take it slowly and savour every moment.
This was our first Camino de Santiago trip and every day was an adventure. If you the boys today which of the many adventures we have experienced together is their favourite, they would, without doubt, select this particular journey on Saint James Way. They are now 22 and 19, and that spirit of adventurer that we developed as a family is with them to this day.
We would love you and your family to join us on the Camino. Find out more about what we can do for you and your little adventurers by writing us an email or plain old whatsapp me, Stephanie Mutsaerts. Let’s get connected!
https://northernspaintravel.com/tour/camino-de-santiago-family-bike-tour/
