Arriving in Spain

Our Camino

After an overnight flight from Toronto to Amsterdam, 6 of our Camino group then flew to Madrid. There we met 3 other pilgrims, two from New York and one from Barrie.  We waited a couple more hours and then got on a 5 hour bus ride to Ponferrada,Spain. 

We finally arrives in Ponferrada and booked into our hotel. We went out for a wonderful dinner and got to know each other a bit more. The next morning we took a group pic in front of the hotel and set out to walk 14 kms to Cacabelos on a gorgeous sunny day. 

I

Before I left for the Camino, I had a nasty split in the skin on the sole of my right foot. A small stone lodged in it and I soaked my foot in Epsom salts and used Tea Tree oil. Several days after I was doing yard work and a thorn found it's way in. I couldn't get it out so after several days it became infected. 

Concerned about how I could walk barefoot, I redesigned my Barebottom Shoes to add a leather demi-sole to cover the ball of my foot. I thought I could wear test them on the Camino.

The morning I was to leaveI ended up in emergency to have it checked. After an xray, the Dr felt it was an infection and prescribed an antibiotic. 

The first day we only walked 14 kms and it was the perfect distance to get accustomed to being Pilgrims! I wore my Merryl minimalist shoes the entire day. The sidewalks in Ponferrada are made of a tile that has a sharp edge and cuts up the soles of my feet so I couldn't walk barefoot anyway!

Day 2 was better for Barefooting.