Picos Mountain holiday, Spain - the big stretch
| country: | Spain |
| location: | Picos de Europa |
| departures: | 2008: 20 Sep, 19 Oct |
| price: | From £2480 (8 days) excluding flights, includes unlimited access to leading coaches, mountain guide, gastronomic meals, spacious rooms, private Jacuzzi, activities and transport. We can arrange flights from the UK and bespoke trips for single organisation groups |
the amazing things you'll be doing
One week in the mountains is enough to create a defining shift in your life.
The Big Stretch takes you on an exciting mental journey and stimulates you with high-peak walks in a wild unspoiled terrain.
You wake in extreme comfort, your hotel high in the hills. Each morning, our worldly-wise life coaches stretch your thinking, illuminating your sense of purpose and sustainability through inspiring creative challenges. If familiar obstacles loom, our approach is proven to unblock you completely. We coach you until you’re clear what you’re passionate about, and you know exactly what you need to do to create it - a liberating process.
In the afternoons we hike through lush craggy landscapes, and on one day, kayak an exquisite river. As you’ve probably noticed, when we’re active in nature our brains slip into their most creative state. So, on Big Stretch walks, your subconscious ‘incubates’ the recently-surfaced thoughts of the morning. Insight bubbles up, and almost effortlessly, forms fresh, intuitive ideas. The coaches also help you use nature to trigger all sorts of lateral new perspectives.
At night you soak in your private jacuzzi then head to authentic restaurants for hearty local meals. Big Stretch groups are spirited and highly intelligent, so there’s much laughter over good Rioja too.
Unlike most holidays, this isn’t passing inspiration: we support you to take reality into account and no-one goes home without a concrete, time based plan. Little wonder lives have significantly changed.
The Big Stretch takes you on an exciting mental journey and stimulates you with high-peak walks in a wild unspoiled terrain.
You wake in extreme comfort, your hotel high in the hills. Each morning, our worldly-wise life coaches stretch your thinking, illuminating your sense of purpose and sustainability through inspiring creative challenges. If familiar obstacles loom, our approach is proven to unblock you completely. We coach you until you’re clear what you’re passionate about, and you know exactly what you need to do to create it - a liberating process.
In the afternoons we hike through lush craggy landscapes, and on one day, kayak an exquisite river. As you’ve probably noticed, when we’re active in nature our brains slip into their most creative state. So, on Big Stretch walks, your subconscious ‘incubates’ the recently-surfaced thoughts of the morning. Insight bubbles up, and almost effortlessly, forms fresh, intuitive ideas. The coaches also help you use nature to trigger all sorts of lateral new perspectives.
At night you soak in your private jacuzzi then head to authentic restaurants for hearty local meals. Big Stretch groups are spirited and highly intelligent, so there’s much laughter over good Rioja too.
Unlike most holidays, this isn’t passing inspiration: we support you to take reality into account and no-one goes home without a concrete, time based plan. Little wonder lives have significantly changed.
day-by-day itinerary
| Day 1: | Two hour flight from London and direct transfer to your mountain hotel. Introduction to coaching principles and Big Stretch methodology, devised by a leading psychologist and business strategist. |
| Day 2: | Tune in to your purpose and values, your place in the environment and wider society. Know your sources of joy and your non-negotiable boundaries. This is the compass to guide your movement forward. Walk the coastal range, from where you can see both higher Picos peaks and the sea. |
| Day 3: | Develop your picture of a fulfilled exciting existence. Elaborate your vision of the (ambitious) possibilities you want to move towards. Walk the epic, giant-scale Cares gorge. |
| Day 4: | Use one on one coaching to pinpoint the area where you want to create really new behaviour. Defuse stuck assumptions and limiting beliefs. Wander meadows, have massage, relax. |
| Day 5: | Learn to have a limitless flow of lateral ideas. Let the group expand your repertoire of ways to tackle your big question. Kayak from mountains to sea in pairs. |
| Day 6: | Integrate the realities of home with your new ideas – and convert inspiration into realistic plans you commit to. Walk a stunning roman path high into the peaks of the main Picos range. |
| Day 7: | Develop conviction and commitment to your plan of action. Articulate your shift so that it attracts support. Map out who will undermine and support you at home. Picnic on deserted beach and swim in clear seas. |
| Day 8: | Fly home re-invigorated in both body and mind, ready for action, plan in hand. |
how this holiday makes a difference
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The Big Stretch helps people to integrate their feelings about the environment and wider society as they’re making their future plans. Many discover a great sense of purpose when they see they can use their talents towards subjects that matter to them.
Several people have used Big Stretch to establish a sustainable balance in their lives. Some professionals moved sideways to roles in development organisations; others have started trusts, invented socially responsible initiatives, created authentic dynamics at work. On the ground, our guide Diego Martin, is a local owner of the travel company. We use small independent hotels, locally owned. We book directly, ensuring maximum benefit for local communities. We eat at independent restaurants, and compose picnics from local producers of fresh foods. We have helped a little-known mountaintop hotel become the Best Rural Hotel in Spain. We’ve put lots of urban people back in connection with the natural world. We keep our groups very small (8 max) and we send you lots of information about your destination before you leave – guidebooks, maps, local information, etc. Because you travel as an informed tourist, you get more from your holiday and you will know how to minimise the environmental impact of your visit. You can choose to offset carbon emissions from your flights. |
Tourism can be good and bad for destinations & local people. We carefully screen every holiday against our criteria for responsible travel. 'Look behind the brochure' to find how each holiday makes a difference (see left). We don't claim to be perfect - there is no global accreditation - but we've led the way since 2001 and screened 1000's of holidays. We invite every traveller to write a review about their experiences and responsible tourism. This valuable feedback is sent to the people who run the holidays. We keep a very close eye on it and take off holidays that don't live up to our standards. |