August 15, 2018
PLEASE READ TO THE END AND GIVE ME YOUR SUGGESTION(S).
But first, I walked 16.97 miles from Triacastela to Sarria. This means I have completed Day 27 of walking and have four days until I reach Santiago de Compostela. Of course, I do plan on walking four days to Finisterre and will most likely use the four free days I have yet to use at Santiago and Finisterre.
I left a 6:30 AM today and it was pitch black. It was the first day I had to use my headlamp to find and see the markers. I had two choices today in terms of how to get to Sarria. One was a scenic view and the other was also a scenic view that was 6.5 kilometers longer but included walking by an old monastery. I kept telling myself to take the shorter route since I am this close to Santiago. Over and over, I kept saying take the shorter route. Guess which one I took? Yes, the longer route.
The photo I am posting is one from the trail. There were times I walked on the side of roads and times I walked on trails like this.
Of course, I have no way of knowing whether that route was more scenic. But my gift from the Camino was to meet Armando and Elvira from Las Vegas. They both immigrated to the U.S. from the Philippines over 30 years ago. They are engineers and retired four years ago and moved from the San Francisco area to Las Vegas a year ago.
They have been planning their Camino for a year and were diligently walking to prepare for their walk on the Camino. Unfortunately, Elvira injured her heel a few weeks before they arrived. They had planned to walk the entire Camino like I am doing but the injury means they are walking slower and took a bus for a lot of it. They think they can walk the remainder if they do it in small doses.
We walked together for three miles and then I went ahead. But while talking to them I kept saying to myself that immigrants from the Philippines are some of the nicest people I have ever met.
And I will get to see two members—Julia and Astrid—of the original Fellowship soon. I hope the three of us can walk together into Santiago the next four days
So let me explain my problem. I mentioned the other day that I was developing a blister on the bottom of my right foot. It didn’t hinder me much today but hurt the most when I would stop for a break and then restart.
After getting to my room I took off my shoes and noticed my feet and toes were once again very dirty. This started happening four or five days ago, and I didn’t think anything of it at the time. I just figured the dust from the trail was getting through the socks via the mesh in the shoe.
But the biggest reason may be because of the heel on my right shoe. You may recall that I shared many days ago that I had a flat tire when that bubble in the heel burst. Well, the bad news is that I can put my finger all the way through the heel into the shoe where that bubble should be. Fortunately, the orthotic shoe insert is protecting my heel. The bad news is that I suspect it is the fine dirt that gets into the shoe that is causing the blister. Therefore. I think I have the following choices:
Do nothing. I am four days from Santiago and if I wrap my foot sufficiently I will probably be okay. Of course, there is the risk the blister could get infected if it bursts.
Get a new pair of shoes. The risk here is that it took seven pairs to find a shoe that didn’t create more blisters. A new shoe could be worse.
Find some duct tape. Certainly one of the 1,001 uses for duct tape must be to tape shoes. But how would I tape the shoe without the tape falling off after a short distance. Maybe I would tape my foot and shoe together.
Find a bag and put my foot in the bag to keep the foot and dirt separated. But my foot may not be able to breathe in that bag.
Walk in my sandals. I walk around with them in the afternoon and evenings. But they might create blisters in other areas, and I don’t think I can walk as fast in them.
Other.
Any suggestions you have would be appreciated. I am going to walk around to see what I can find. But given the time difference I may not get ideas that I can implement until I get to Santiago. Sarria may be the biggest city in a while, but I need to check on that.
Thanks for your support!
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See additional photos from August 15th below: