I am a week out from setting off for the next stage of my camino. For any pilgrim or walker, the question of how their feet are, and what they will wear on them, is of prime importance. I thought I would share my experience with feet and footwear (without gory pictures, I hasten to add), but if such things are unpalatable to you, then please skip this blog post!

For the first three stages I didn’t pay much attention to my feet. I had no blisters, my shoes were comfortable, and I seemed to be able to walk reasonable distances without discomfort. However, the Meindl shoes I was wearing, while admirable in many ways, decided to come unstitched on the upper, and the consequence of this was that they started to let in water. When I complained to the manufacturers they informed me that the Gore-Tex was not covered by the warranty, and therefore they could not help me – why was I not surprised? This was, however, very unsatisfactory. Then I fell over outside Sainte Foy la Grande, and wore my medical boot while my torn ligament healed.

So I decided it was time to change shoes. I got some Hoka Kaha boots. These gave me blisters on the edge of my heel, and then, when I added an insole, blisters on the edge of my big toe pad, where the insole bent. Back to the drawing board. For the next trip I decided to try an old pair of New Balance mid-height boots, which I had had for a long time and were very comfortable.

These I wore last time out – and that is when the problems really started. The weather was very wet, and over the first three days I got sodden feet, and though I tried to dry the boots out as much as possible during my overnight stops, I didn’t always succeed. By the time I got to Rochefort, I had cooked up serious blisters on the soles of my feet. Walking was very, very uncomfortable. I took an extra day off at Mont de Marsan to give them a bit of a chance to recover., and applied Compeed, which is like a second skin and is, frankly, a lifesaver when blisters strike. I abandoned the New Balance boots, and got some Quechca shoes from Decathlon. They weren’t ideal, but for a modest price they made walking bearable, and, so shod, I made it to Orthez.

The consequence of walking on blisters was that I had altered my gait, rather hobbling along, and when I got back to the UK, I started having a lot of heel pain. It took me some time to work out that this was plantar fasciitis, and over this summer I have been stretching and massaging and generally trying to get my feet walk-ready. The left foot is now fine; the right foot is 85% better. So, I am going to have to manage the distances I walk so that any remaining inflammation does not flare up. But that is ok – it is not a race, and I now have support from my local chiropodist/orthotics practitioner, and some excellent insoles in a very comfortable Merrell Moab shoe.

When I set out in a week’s time I will be more aware of my feet than I have ever been thus far. I would like to think that I am being both realistic and practical in the plans I am making for progress – based on the training walks I have been doing and on how recovery gone. What I need, perhaps, most of all is patience, not a quality that comes easily to me! But here is an opportunity to learn a bit more of it in relation to my rather ageing body.