Cape Town - Seniors, proving to be young at heart, are gearing up to fulfil an age-old dream of walking the El Camino in Spain next year.
The Golden Walking Girls, Esther Bothma, 69, Antoinette Iske, 73, Annelie Tromp, 69, Marietjie Luyt, 63, and the youngest of the group, Isabel Pelser, 42, have started to raise funds to turn their dreams into a reality.
The merry bunch from Parklands, Table View and Philadelphia, collectively decided not to let their age stop them from pursuing this dream and have been fund-raising by selling cookies, pancakes and other baked goods.
Bothma said walking the El Camino has been a goal for her for many years and she finally decided there would be no more procrastinating, and would be doing it for her 70th birthday.
“Although we don’t like to admit it, our age does hinder us, so much as we'd like to we won’t be walking the whole route, only the last 100km to qualify for our Compostellas (certificates),” said Bothma.
Bothma’s daughter, Pelser said: “My mother has been talking about doing the El Camino walk since I was young, so I am over the moon that we have this chance to fund raise and share this experience with her.
“We hope to do the Camino de Santiago route, from Sarria to Santiago and complete the walk in five days. This is the beginning of our journey and we would one day like to assist others with similar dreams,” said Bothma.
The group’s next fund-raising event will be held at Pepper Tree restaurant on May 26 at 10.30am, with renowned children's book author Wendy Maartens on how to create a “me-time” journal.
Bothma said all contributions would be highly appreciated and sponsors would be recognised and kept informed on the Jolly Oldie El Camino Walk 2022 on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram - https://www.facebook.com/Our-Spanish-dream-108945611368030/.