Murias de Rechivaldo, Castilla y León, Spain and Canary Islands
Distance by the guide book - 22.3km
Total distance for the day - 22.6km
Flights climbed - 11
Kathy R. asked about our shoes so I thought I would start this blog with a description of what we call our morning foot ritual. First of all our shoes were almost new when we left home and as you can see they are slightly the worse for wear now. We are a little concerned that they may not make the whole journey but we’re hoping they’ll at least get us to the end in Santiago. Fingers crossed!
Dressing the feet each day starts with rubbing in Nok cream between the toes and around the ankles. It just lubricates everything. Then because I have a small callous on my big toe that likes to rub, I cover it each day with a soft gel sock. I brought a supply of these with me from the chemist at home and they are great. I’ve used them on other toes that have developed small blisters. Covering them just gives the blister time to re-absorb and not break. Then, yes, Kathy, I am a great believer in toe socks. They are the bomb! Love them! The brand is Injinji and they’re not cheap but they are worth the money.
They keep all the toes separated and nothing rubs. I have a toe that gets squashed under another one and the socks keep them separated. Because my shoes are wearing out on the heel I put a little bit of Hiker’s Wool between myself and the heel just in case it rubs. It hasn’t yet but just covering bases. I have bursitis in the pads of my feet. It’s usually kept at bay by my orthotics, but I was finding the bursitis was starting to hurt after a number of kilometres, so I bought those padded socks just to raise the pads slightly and so far it’s working a treat. So after all that, the shoes go on.
If you noticed, I don’t have the laces through the first two holes. That’s because my big toe and my little toe kept rubbing on the sides of the shoe and I remembered a friend doing this ( thanks, Helen D.) to create a bit more space in the toe box. Problem solved. My second toe went black after the walk down off the Pyrenees in the rain. I thought I might lose the nail but so far not. As you can see, getting ready in the morning is quite a process.
Thanks, everyone for the lovely birthday messages. One Camino friend has lit a candle for me in a church in Rabanal and another random walker bought me a block of fancy chocolate today. People are very sweet. Sheila gave me a gorgeous Spanish bull to remember this Camino birthday.
It has been a lovely day of hiking. Lots of variety and colour. And they even threw in a few good steep hills to get us back in training for the mountains to come.
Today we’ve had cows, crops, wildflowers, rolling hills and beautiful scenery. A lovely elderly gentleman made us a cup of tea on our first stop and another was providing refreshments to pilgrims for a donation along the way. The only thing we didn’t like about our walk today was the road surface. It was fist sized boulders all the way. Very hard on the feet and ankles.
We stopped in Astorga for lunch and then only had about 5 kms to go to our night’s stop. Astorga is a beautiful city, very vibrant especially on a Sunday when everyone comes out to eat and enjoy their day off. The streets were very busy with people going out to eat dressed in their Sunday best. On our way out of town we saw a flag procession. We were told that they were carrying the flags from one church to another over a week praying for rain. Spain is in a drought at the moment. We’re in the sleepy little village of Murias de Rechivaldo this evening. It’s so close to Astorga I’m sure there are people living here who work in the city. Our hotel is quaint and very comfortable. We’ve just enjoyed another communal dinner.
It’s quite cold tonight and our heating doesn’t appear to work so we’ll be wrapped up tight in our bed clothes tonight.
Sue
2023-05-21
Happy Birthday Leanne! You won’t forget your Camino Birthday! 🎉🥳🎂
Jayne
2023-05-21
I needed to follow your foot ritual Leanne. I still have 3 bruised toenails
Claire
2023-05-21
Good luck with your shoes ( and toes) surviving until Santiago. You really are giving them a monumental workout. Maybe you’ll be able to add them to another ‘shoe tree’ like one of your previous photos , when you get to the end.
Marl
2023-05-21
That is a ritual, Lan! Hope the shoes make it to the end for you. Must feel good to have accomplished so many days now and counting down to the finish line. Keep going, you’ve well and truly got this! Xx
KR
2023-05-21
Cheers for the toe/shoe update. That’s an amazing ritual you go through each day, but your feet are the heroes and need all that care. Glad your birthday threw up a number of little happenings and random events.
Andrra
2023-05-21
Happy belated birthday Leanne. You won’t be forgetting this birthday, with so many happy memories and adventures.
Chri D
2023-05-21
I hadn't even thought about the need for daily foot preparation. You certainly are well prepared and it's paying off for you.
Beth
2023-05-22
Fascinating reading about your 'feet preparation', Leanne. I've certainly picked up a trick or two. Ta heaps. Love Beth x
glenys
2023-05-22
Hope you had a great Birthday on Sunday. Really enjoying your adventures with Sheila.
Suzanne
2023-05-22
Your morning ritual is a little more complicated than I had thought. Do hope the shoes last until Santiago. Glad you had a good Birthday.
Karen
2023-05-24
Looks like everything was perfect for your Birthday, Leanne. What special memories you are making. Stay safe.🤗🎂
Liz Davis
2023-05-28
Interesting to read about your morning foot routine. Worth the effort as not too much foot trouble in terms of all the wear and tear that they are getting.