Background 2016

AND… WE MADE IT TO 2016!

As we have seen, the growth of the DisCamino family meant that 2015 went absolutely crazy as far as projects were concerned. And 2016 headed the same way. We did SIX projects:

  • DisCamino-2016.1: Vigo-Santiago. June

The first of this year will be DisCamino for Kids.
Marta began with children in May 2015, and it was no longer possible to put their adventure any longer. It was a Vigo-Santiago towards the end of June, as soon as schools closed. 100 km in three stages to be split between the 12 kids who regularly train with our tricycles. We need more tricycles!!!

DisCamino Infantil 2016

  • DisCamino-2016.2: VIGO-SANTIAGO

In 2015, several users of APAMP told us that they also wanted to do the Road in their wheelchairs. Carlos Rivas’ experience with AIP led them to realize they too could do it and, if they could, they wanted to do it. They had spent some time training in an activity that we have called ‘trekking’ and they were all very much looking forward to it. We left Vigo towards the end of spring and, in 5 stages, we made making our way to Santiago Cathedral. Nacho and another companion of his from APACE Burgos came along with us. When we spent the night at Nacho’s house, he told us that he wanted to travel the Road, and this was going to be his chance.

DisCamino Infantil 2016

  • DisCamino-2016.3: VIGO-SANTIAGO 19th-23rd June

This was Marcela’s DisCamino, a 9-year-old girl from Guatemala. Pedro, her father, had contacted us asking us to help him to organize her Road. We did it walking and, for the first time, using a Joëlette, a wheelchair designed for trekking. That was in the second fortnight of June.

DisCamino Infantil 2016

  • DisCamino-2016.4: VIGO-SANTIAGO 13th-17th July

JuanDa and Nasi’s DisCamino, friends with problems who we found over the internet. That was early July, and we did this on a Joëlette, as with Marcela. They couldn’t go together because the dates didn’t coincide and because, for the time being, we don’t have more than 2 of those modern palanquins for medieval princesses.

Juan David has cerebral palsy and, although his idea was to calmly prepare a long Road by tricycle for 2017, he didn’t want to let 2016 go by without doing his first pilgrimage. His family and friends came along with him.

  • DisCamino-2016.5: Roncesvalles-Santiago. July

This was a very special DisCamino as it made loads of dreams – dreamt of and delayed for such a long time – come true:

  1. Javi Fernández’s (cerebral palsy and ataxia) and Grey Thunder’s (his handbike) dream. At last, the Great Road, which he had long been chirping about, working for and suffering for during almost two years.
  2. Paulita’s dream (cerebral palsy), shared by José Varela as co-driver, DisCamino’s granddad, a deluxe companion, a veteran in terms of age and a veteran along the roads.
  3. Rafa’s dream (blind-deaf), Gerardo’s friend and companion at ASPAVI, who had been training with us for some time now, but so far had not decided to launch into this adventure.
  4. And Unai’s dream along with her parents’, Koko and Susana, members and founders of Infant’s DisCamino and the first in the group of toddlers to do a long Road.

It was a new Roncesvalles-Santiago route in the last week of July and the first week of August.

DisCamino-2016_5

  • DisCamino-2016.6: Spain Cycle Tour 19th August- 10th September.
    The great project of the year – a touch of madness that can be likened to the Rome-Santiago route of 2014, with the same structure or very similar to the Seville-Santiago route of 2015, with 6 co-pilots and 3 pilots, but to do something very different to the general tonic of DisCamino so far. All of them, pilots and co-copilots, had already done their pilgrimage at least once, and for this reason, this time, we didn’t pedal with Santiago de Compostela as our goal. Once again, it was Gerardo who had the idea. One fine day he said that in 2016, he would like to do a tour round Spain and this idea buzzing around our heads led it to take shape and to become the DisCamino-2016.5, but not in the way that we had imagined. His trip around Spain became the Spain Cycle Tour for professional sports people. It was to be the 7 friends with special needs who were to take part in this adventure: 6 co-riders on a tandem-tricycle (Anita, David Gil, Gerardo, Isa, Iván and Maxi), and Borja, a 13 year old champion with Down syndrome who was to go on his bicycle. With them were 3 riders and 3 tricycles.

Our stages involved the same start and finish as in the official Tour, the only difference being that we did this one day before them.