Okay, now I have had my camino bubble popped with two days of walking that makes me kind of an expert on the whole thing right?? Let's not get ahead of ourselves. I'm sure there are many, many books out there on camino's, where to stay, what to pack blah blah blah, I feel I could now write a book on what NOT to do, strictly based on my very limited experience. So gather round children and let me spin you a tale or 2 (it's actually going to be a list, but whatever).
1) Number one, and most importantly do not, I repeat DO NOT prematurely shoot your wad, so to speak. I was so eager to get on the road I went way too fast too soon and I am paying for it in spades now. I started walking about an 11 minute kilometer for the first half of the first day, probably about 12 k, thinking to myself the whole time, this isn't so hard, and the end of the day I'm probably going to be all like, that was it?? Now what? Oooooh Laura, you sweet niave innocent little bird you. One cannot keep up that pace when one has not trained nor broken their boots in properly. You will get blisters all over our toes and it will feel like they are going to blow up. LEARN from me people! On day two I only made it about and hour and a half before I had to sit down and start cutting up my boots to relieve some of the pressure on my toes! I have also become an overnight expert in threading blisters, I currently have thread ends sticking out of 4 of my toes. Drain my pretties, drain!
2) Perhaps the second most important thing is to keep your deodorant in a readily accessible place, you will need it. If you are someone like me you will be sweating like a fat kid in Mexico on summer break in an hour, it also doesn't help it was 26 the first day and 27 the second with 100% humidity. On a side note about the heat, on day two dad and I finally met up with mom after 22 km, only to realize after we sat down we were suffering from mild dehydration and sun stroke. It never occurred to me we were that close to danger zone after I started shivering and shaking. Thank God dad said he was done for the day or I would have just kept on going too, oozing blisters and all. In all likelihood I would have just fallen over and passed out in a ditch somewhere. Which leads me to my next point.
3) For the love of god and all that's holy, break in your boots PROPERLY before leaving, and especially make sure they are actually going to work for you, or will end up pulling a Laura and having to spend 164 EUROS in new friggin boots. NOT impressed with myself what so ever, but the thought of having to put my feet in my old boots frankly makes me want to cry, so money well spent??
4) Use whatever you have to make things easier. For example, one very wise person pointed out my very expensive but light rain umbrella is now a sun umbrella. Like duh, probably should have figured that one out, I blame it on the dehydration... You will get super weird tan lines. From straps, shirts shoes, hats and sun glasses. Right now I look like a really random red, brown and white patchwork quilt. Awesome.
5) You will get chafing in the most random places. For example, the inside of the left arm, but not the right. It's from my pack strap, but why not on the other arm? Does it hang differently? Does it swing differently? Is it just plain fatter than the other one?? WTF?!
6) From what I understand, one of the ways this walk is different than the one my dad did previously is there are far fewer towns and places to stop along the way. So when you finally reach a rest stop where you can eat, it is exceedingly hard not to turn into a feral dog a the sight of food, scarfing it down as fast as you can for all you're worth. Remember, you are representing your country, it is not Canadian nor polite to bite or swat at people who come in between you are your food.
7) Perhaps I was wrong before, this could very well be the most important thing. DRINK SANGRIA!! I mean, like a lot of it! 1 Liter, 2... I'm talking like a personal serving here, none if this sissy by the glass garbage. Thank heavens both my parents are light weights and I get to just "finish it up"
I think that is all for now at least. We have a rest day in Barcelos, land of the painted rooster apparently. I have spent a minimal amount of time walking and maximum amount of time tending to my feet. We've got a 24 km day on the docket for tomorrow I think, so hopefully my healing blisters and new boots will be up or it!
Wish me luck!
Dart the Younger
Ahhh the lessons learned in the first few days! I wrote something like this on my phone too! Always stop for food, water or to pee as we always regretted it and became hangry when we didn't stop and then there the next stop was far away. For the chafing if you have a the strap across your chest I would alternate having it on and off that made a difference for my underarms. Also if you have Vaseline or Chapstick rub that where you are chafing before you start and it will not chafe as badly during the day-reapply after you sweat. If you have a headband dunk it in the water every time you pass a fountain or stream and heck it might feel good to take your boots off and put them in every time you pass. Now that the blisters are bad its important to keep your feet as dry as possible so switching socks midday might help too. That's something I learned when hiking with blisters. It feels so good to take the boots off when your feet are sore, I would recommend doing that every break that you take. The dehydration thing was something my dad ran into more than I did (he drank a lot and I'm a lightweight in the drinking category) but I found drinking a glass of water to every drink of booze would help me stay hydrated. Dad swore that he was having plenty of fluids (coffee, beer, wine) but sometimes fluids can dehydrate you so it's important to make sure you drink at least 2.5 L of water if not more a day. Oh my goodness I sound like a coach! Above all, stop and enjoy the sangria, sights and family time. Sometimes it's easy to camino on in the pain but I think what I will always cherish is not the walk as much as the walk with my dad and the wonderful feelings of being in Europe with all the history and culture all around. Thinking of you and wishing I was there with you all. L
ReplyDeleteThanks Leanne! Good advice. I finally had to bite the bullet and get a ride the rest of the way today after 15k, my feet were just too bad to go on. I decided I would rather keeps toenails and not be in a painful pussy mood than slog the last 10k!
DeleteGood call! Are the new boots a bit better? Hope so!
ReplyDelete