My Favorite Hiking Boots Are……SANDALS. The best advice I took before doing the Camino last year was to bring Hiking Sandals as well as lightweight Hiking Boots. Well I must have tried on every pair in the giant sporting store before I choose my Merrell hiking shoes and Merrell Sandals. My wife decided that the Teva brand was best for her. Buying shoes is almost as confusing and expensive as buying airline tickets. And then there’s the high tech moisture wicking socks: regular or ankle length, medium or light or ultra light. So ¾ of the way through my first day of walking on the Camino, I realized I had a nasty blister on one foot, even though I was sure I had broken the hiking boots in. Fortunately we brought band aids and mole skin and I could switch to the hiking sandals until my foot healed. After a few days my wife had a painful swollen big toe and found that her toenail was rubbing the top of her boot every time she stepped. She too switched to her hiking sandals and never went back to her boots for the rest of the Camino. She wore only her Teva sandals, usually with socks, for over 200 miles. Up and down mountains, in all types of trail conditions, and loved them, although they were a little slippery (and of course wet) in the rain. What worked best for me was to switch foot gear once or twice a day, wearing my hiking shoes on hilly or rough areas and my sandals on mostly smooth areas. I ended up wearing the sandals about ¾ of the time, but with two pairs of light weight socks. Every couple of hours I liked to take off my sandals or shoes and switch the socks, putting the outside one on the inside for a while. Of course they needed to be washed each night. Next spring, when we return to walk another section of the Camino, we are leaving our expensive hiking shoes at home. We are each taking our hiking sandals and a pair of well worn running shoes plus four pairs of light weight socks. Also I recommend a pair of cheap flip flops to wear around the albergue at the end of the day so you aren’t barefoot or wearing out your socks. As you can see in the photo most albergues do not allow dirty smelly boots inside.
Posted on: Sun, 28 Dec 2014 17:33:17 +0000
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