Catalonia Part 2

Girona to Olot and HF Holidays Hiking
  The second half of my time in Catalonia would be 5 days hiking with a well-established company from the UK, HF Holidays. I had a day to explore a bit in Girona before heading north to Olot, to begin my hiking adventure. 
  Upon arrival dining that evening, I met the other 20 or so hikers, mostly from a Canadian hiking club, several from UK, and me the one person from the US. We met our tour leader, Jill, and our two guides, Berta and Maddy.  Berta and Maddy live in Catalonia and are experienced mountain tour guides and as we learned, are very good at what they do. 
   I think everyone was over 68 years old, one lady who could pass for late 60’s, was 92 and another 88 or so. They were fit and experienced hikers and we were all duly impressed with their stamina and skills.
  The hikes often were challenging, technical trails with steep climbs and descents, averaging about 7 miles and around 1200 gain.  We hiked in Garrotxa Volcanic Zone national park into a volcanic crater formed 11 million years ago.
  After a few days in the Garrotxa area, we boarded our bus to Porto de la Selva, about 30 miles south of French border, on the Mediterranean Sea, where we would do more hiking in a coastal national park.  This area boasts the origins of Club Med and there’s a lengthy history to the establishment, then decommissioning of it.  Additionally, Salvador Dali spent many nights camping in this area, gathering inspiration for his weird (so the Gypsea thinks) art. We walked the Cami de Ronda, about 135 miles total (nah we didn’t go THAT far) along Costa Brava
   It was such a wonderful experience, meeting all these inspiring hikers and hearing their stories, getting to know the guides, and learning about HF Holidays, which I’ll definitely travel with in the future.
   We all said our goodbyes, and I boarded a bus to Figures where I’d get the train to Barcelona for a few days there before retuning (business class; yay!) to the US after this 20 some day excursion.  
   Next up ... a weeks' cycling with friends much closer to home.