Parque Nacional de los Picos de Europa, Spain (June 2022)

In hindsight, the time between the end of medical school and the beginning of residency felt like it was lived by a different me. At the time of writing this post I’m almost halfway done a 5 year residency, and June 2022 feels like it was the last time I had a [relatively] light load of responsibilities.

After travelling to Madeira, Porto Santo, Valencia, and Amsterdam earlier on the trip, I eventually made my way up to Cantabria. I had been to Cantabria briefly in 2018, but on this trip I finally got to hike through los Picos de Europa, a mountain range in Northern Spain which crosses the the Autonomous Communities of Asturias, Cantabria and Castile and León. I learned on this voyage that although I consider myself a “hiker”, I’m more of a “stroller/leisurely walker in nature” kind of guy. The views however were worth it.

The itinerary: fly into Bilbao (from Valencia where I was immediately prior) → road trip to Cantabria → back to the Basque Country → fly to Madrid → fly back to Canada via layover in Boston.

🎞 - Can’t recall but almost certainly a mix of Kodak Gold 200, maybe Kodak Ektar 100, maybe Kodak Ultramax 400

📸 - Olympus Stylus Epic Zoom 80 – the well-known and dreaded l of this light leak of this camera is present on almost every shot from this trip and played a huge role in why I don’t use it anymore. Better options out there (including my favourite, the Pentax Espio 70) that aren’t overhyped and don’t distort your images with regularity