Camino Day4 – Chris

Well, despite what I thought I might do today, I pressed on to Puente La Reina, about 24km from Pamplona.

Upon waking up, my feet felt better than when I went to bed, and I thought I´d be good to go.  I walked about a km before stopping to try a different pair of socks.  By the time I stopped for a coffee and sandwich another km down the road, it was time to try something different again… I ended up with my thickest socks again for comfort, but it comes at a price of feeling like my feet are in a vice… very tight, and uncomfortable on the end of the toes when going downhill.

So, in the end, I quite literally hobbled my way to where I am… the pain got progressively worse as I went on… and I was glad to finally arrive at the albergue (4 euros)… mental note… I seem to be spending more on beer than sleeping arrangements…  🙂

I´ve had a few people along the way showing concerm for my ´hobble´, and giving some advice on how to deal with blisters… they say the best way is to penatrate the blister with a needle and thread, leaving a bit of thread on either side, and the liquid will ooze out by capilary action… (side note… google the word ´penatrate´for fun… I did, to check out the spelling of the word…)  Anyways… I wish I had know about that trick before leaving… would have brought a needle and thread with me…

I can just hear Christina now… she´s saying ¨´you NEVER listen to me…´¨  🙂

She in fact, suggested I bring a needle and thread for just this purpose, but I declined, rationalizing that I NEVER get blisters, and that my boots were ´broken in´… folks… guys specifically… LISTEN to your wives (at least once in awhile…), they have wisdom to impart.

Walked, and by that I mean ´painfully hobbled´the last little bit with Layla… a nice young lady who stayed with Christina just passed Pamplona last night… apparently she had a really nice stay at the little place they ended up at… great hospitality and food… it´s funny talking with people who know of us, that we´re walking independently… sometimes they simply recognize the identical backpack… we just might be the ´talk of the walk´…

Well, I off to drain some blisters… Layla has kindly lent me some thread and a needle.  The new gel inserts I put in my boots helped a bit, but damn, it would be great to retire my current footwear for something more up to the task… I tried a few pair of new shoes last night, but my feet were so beaten-up, that nothing felt right.

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