Multiple Sclerosis Ireland is encouraging active travel lovers to escape the Irish summer and trek the 26th consecutive Camino in support of services for people with MS – sign up at www.ms-society.ie. Camino 26 takes place from Saturday, 30th May – Tuesday, 9th June 2015 and is MS Ireland’s longest-running charity trek. It provides a unique chance to walk the ancient Camino de Santiago de Compostela pilgrim route in Northern Spain with the only Irish charity to reach this milestone.
Beginning in the Pyrenees Mountains the trek progresses along the crown jewel of the Spanish walking trails, through tiny sun swept villages and past majestic cathedrals ending in the mystical city of Santiago. This is a bucket-list destination and one of the most popular trekking routes in the world.
Money raised will help MS Ireland to:
- · Provide one-to-one and family support including newly diagnosed sessions, physiotherapy and symptom management programmes through our ten Regional Offices across the country.
- · Operate the MS Information Line to provide one-to-one professional support to people with MS.
- · Continue to deliver specialised services in our MS Care Centre, Ireland’s only respite and therapy centre for people with MS.
MS Ireland treks are unique in that every aspect of each walk is organised in-house by dedicated treks coordinator Caitriona Hughes. This attention to detail is what keeps people coming back on our treks year after year. Jean Maguire and Lorraine Rooney, who have walked the Camino with MS Ireland for a combined 49 years, are testimony of this.
“It was the challenge that brought me to the MS Ireland Camino,” comments Jean on her decision to participate in her first trek. “The more my friends told me I couldn’t do it the more determined I was! After that I fell in love with the Camino, the camaraderie of trekkers, the organisation.”
Lorraine adds, “The MS Ireland Camino Trek really is for everyone. It’s a very special place where you can experience your own personal journey, while walking along one of the most magical routes in the world with new lifelong friends. The feeling you get from knowing you are supporting such an important and vitally needed charity is indescribable. I’d recommend it to anyone.”
“When I saw this opportunity on the Irish Society of Chartered Physiotherapists website, I could never have imagined such an incredible experience and since then I’ve recommended this MS Ireland trek to everyone I meet”, says Siobhán Ryan, resident physiotherapist on the 2014 Camino Trek. “The beauty of the whole experience was that our only goal for each day was to get up, have breakfast and walk. Everyone had their own reason for taking part in the Camino, some talked, some didn’t, but everyone smiled as the stresses of life melted away as we walked and walked. It was a spiritual adventure that I will definitely take part in again, as the resident physio or not!”
Register today at www.ms-society.ie or call (01) 678 1600 to receive more information.