Berkshire Camino: Town-To-Town Guided Walks That Inspire A Journey Within
Twice, Mindy Miraglia has walked the famous Camino de Santiago pilgrimage in Spain. The first time she set off for the 500-mile walk (“a Don Quixote moment for sure”), she had left a job as a marketing researcher at Kripalu and was at a loss for what to do next. Along with finding self confidence, an inner fortitude and a new connection to herself, she also found her next chapter in life: establishing Berkshire Camino.
Less than two months old, Berkshire Camino offers town-to-town guided walks and hiking journeys in the Berkshires. At this point, there are Saturday and Sunday itineraries: The Main Street in Lee to Main Street in Lenox tour; and the Lenox Villager Tour. Both cover approximately five miles and take about three-and-a-half hours. Miraglia terms the challenge level as moderate with rolling hills, and the pace is leisurely, allowing the tours to be accessible to people in halfway decent shape.
Inspired by her experiences of the Camino de Santiago, Miraglia’s first inclination was to open a hostel-to-hostel business, similar to the Spanish walking pilgrimage model. With the arrival of COVID, however, that was simply not practical. Removing the hostel portion left her with the walking tours, a better fit for our time and one that has resonated with locals and visitors. Since her opening weekend, she’s earned nothing but rave reviews on Tripadvisor.
Mindy Miraglia greets walkers at the meetup location.
During a walk last weekend with a group of like-minded hikers, I learned why reviewers were so enthusiastic. Eight of us gathered behind the Lenox Commons at 9 a.m. for The Lenox Village Tour, where we met Miraglia and her assistant guide, Dave Lysonski. We hopped in a van (masks on, windows open) for a short ride to Tanglewood’s Main Gate, where our journey was to begin.
Housekeeiing rules were simple: You can remove your masks when walking, but keep your social distance. Put masks on when passing others on the trail. Watch for cars. And what I found most comforting: Miraglia gave us permission to go slower if we needed. Either she or Dave would be the sweep and no one would be left behind. She also encouraged us walk with intention and curiosity. Dave led us in a few warmup exercises and we were off.
I’ve driven Undermountain Road many times, but there’s nothing like walking to discover sites and sounds you can’t get from a car. I’ve seen the ducks at Stonover Farm while passing, but never stopped to watch them splash and play, or looked up to see the whimsical weather vane pig holding court at the top of the inn. We turned off the road to explore Parson’s Marsh, one of the Berkshire Natural Resources Council’s newest paths, and continued on Undermountain Road with a stop to have a sit and refuel. A bit farther up, we came to an entrance to Kennedy Park, where, Miraglia said, we’d finally encounter some real elevation.
A view of Parson's Marsh
This is also where she encouraged us to pick up something along the trail that spoke to the intention we’d set for ourselves and to think about what the walk meant to us in preparation for an observance we’d share at the highest point of our journey. While the elevation got fairly steep, it wasn’t impossibly hard, and nobody in our group seemed to be having any difficulties. At a forested intersection called Five Corners, we shared the tokens we’d picked up along the way and placed them in an unobtrusive pile. Miraglia had gathered an acorn for each of us, symbolizing the seeds that become future trees, in hope that we were part of group establishing a path in the Berkshires and walking Berkshire Camino into being.
Miraglia plans to offer the tour through October, and will change the morning tours to a noon start as the days get colder. All groups are limited to eight guests. Solo travelers (as I was) are made to feel comfortable. Tours go on rain or shine, unless severe weather is predicted.
While a half-day walk is not long enough to really experience the deep insights and emotional revelations that a 500-mile expedition in a foreign land brings up, it certainly does take you out of your zone — be it a comfort zone or just daily life. “Unplug to connect” is the tagline of Berkshire Camino. During my walk with the group last week, not once did I see a person talking on a phone or staring at a screen. That alone was as restorative as the walk itself.
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