What could you do with three days of uninterrupted thinking?
Not three hours. Not a stolen Friday afternoon. Three actual days, walking, talking, and thinking through what matters most.
Walk, Talk & Connect is three days walking the Camino del Norte near San Sebastián, Spain, one of Europe’s most spectacular coastal routes, with a small group of business professionals and two coaches. You bring a challenge. The path, the people, and the fresh Atlantic air do the rest.
There is research behind this too. A Stanford study found that walking increases creative output by up to 81%. Movement also changes your brain chemistry, reducing cortisol, lifting mood, and opening up the kind of thinking that is almost impossible to manufacture sitting at a desk. The Camino Norte has been creating these moments for walkers for centuries. We have just added coaches, a small group, and a challenge worth thinking about.
What you’ll do
- Walk 5–6 hours a day through stunning Basque scenery
- Think out loud, your challenge, your way, at your pace
- Have real conversations with people who are listening
- Learn research-backed practices for building deeper connection
- Discover new insights, relationships, and skills
What you leave with
- Clarity on whatever you brought
- Connection skills, learnable not personality-dependent
- A small group who genuinely cared about your challenge
- New perspectives from people with no stake in your answer
Clarity
On the question, decision, or transition you know you need to address, but never quite find the time for.
Connection skills
Research from Prof. Nicholas Epley at the University of Chicago shows that connection is a learnable skill, not a personality trait. You’ll leave confident in your ability to build and strengthen relationships.
The group
A carefully curated group of 4–6 people, each carrying their own challenge, each genuinely curious about yours. No agenda. No office politics. No history. Just people walking together, learning and listening.
There’s something powerful about being heard by people who have no stake in your answer. They’re interested and empathetic, not because it affects them, but because good conversation on a long walk has a way of making people genuinely care.
The format
What’s included
- 4 nights boutique accommodation, own room
- All meals from welcome dinner through to departure
- Three days of executive coaching
- Pre-walk introduction call (Zoom) with your fellow walkers
- A reading list and tools to help you arrive ready
- Support car available throughout the day
- A small original artwork from a local Basque artist, yours to keep
About your hosts
John Maxwell
Executive coach John Maxwell, a former engineer and CEO, brings decades of experience guiding leaders through complex transitions and decisions. His global career in advanced materials took him across the US, China, Germany, and Belgium.
While completing the Advanced Management Program at Harvard Business School in 2010, John discovered that leadership is a truly learnable skill. Since 2017, he has spent over 2,000 hours coaching leaders across technology, law, strategy consulting and beyond. His love for the outdoors and walking inspired him to create an environment for deep thought and connection.
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James Carrier
Executive coach and facilitator James Carrier, a former chartered accountant, brings deep experience working with teams and leaders across the UK and Europe. His career in financial services gave him a front-row seat to the power of connection, team dynamics, and leadership, not just as drivers of business performance, but as forces that fundamentally shape people’s working lives.
Since then, James has worked with leaders and teams around the world on exactly that. He leads a running group and a community of facilitators in Edinburgh, and his love of the outdoors, from long walks across Europe to the trails on his doorstep, inspired him to take coaching into the open air, where real thinking happens.
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