nike

Which shoes to wear on the Camino (Part III)(With free Camino shoes spreadsheet!)

/ antonioyrocinante / Leave a comment
Enjoying my Nike Juniper trail shoes

Which shoes should I wear on the Camino? This is arguably the most asked question by folks preparing for the Camino. Everybody who has walked the Camino has an answer and is happy to tell you all about it. But nobody who has walked the Camino has your feet. So you can only answer the question.

Not surprisingly, one of the most viewed posts on my blog tackles precisely this question, you can read it here: Which shoes to wear on the Camino?

But I am nothing if not professional, and I noticed the spreadsheet on that post was from 2022; with the mad advancements in shoe technology and rampant Capitalism, I should do a new one. So I did, voila.

There is little to add to that original post, but I do have some thoughts that I did not elaborate on back then:

Some pilgrims are more prone to blisters and foot issues than others. I am not a specialist, but it might depend on how much training you have done in those shoes, how appropriate those shoes are for your particular circumstances, weight, stride, mileage, etc.

The shoe is only 50% of the equation; your socks are the other 50%. I use mostly wool with no stitching or seams. I still wear some Darn Tough socks from my first Camino in 2017! Then I got some Icebreakers from New Zealand, which are 60% Merino wool. You want the socks to fit properly to eliminate friction between the shoe, the sock, and your feet.

Sam, the first (and only) person to tell me about Camino prep, told me to lather Vaseline on my feet before putting on my socks. It works for me, in 4 full Caminos I have only gotten a couple of blisters, and they were my fault, not the shoes nor the socks…

During my Camino Aragonés, I walked some stages with Juan Gameros, a hardcore Mexican mountain guide (follow him on Insta: juan_gamerosmx). He wore Injinji toe socks, and he swore by them!

So you must find your magical shoe/sock combo that works for you.

In the attached spreadsheet, I only ranked 25 shoes by going to some random Internet rankings. The number of shoes and the number of criteria prove that there are shoes for all types of feet.

I was delighted with the Nike Pegasus Trail 3 from last year (read about it here); So this year Celia gave me a pair of Nike Juniper Trail II. I have already taken them out a couple of times and I can’t wait to walk the Camino this Summer!

Buen Camino

  • The spreadsheet is in Excel format so you can sort, add, or manipulate it as you want, enjoy!
Which trail shoes 2024 – 2025Download

Museo Arqueológico Nacional MAN

/ antonioyrocinante / 2 Comments

When one of your best friends is a noted fine antique art restorer and he invites you to walk around the Museo Arqueológico Nacional, something you had not done since you were a schoolboy, you drop everything and go!

First, what a wonderful job they have done renovating it! The museum shares building with the National Library -One side Library, one side Museum. In it you will find everything from prehistoric bones to early 19th C artifacts. Of course, the main exhibits are from Spain’s first inhabitants, the íberos, with their rich sculptures, like the Dama de Elche -the museum’s undisputed jewel, and their falcata swords feared by the Romans… (Jaime restored a bunch of these curved swords and told me everything about them).

The room of Roman mosaics is mind blowing, the Greek room, the Romanesque room also, and on and on. The whole museum is jaw dropping! And if that was not enough, under the garden, they have recreated the Altamira caves with their prehistoric paintings, it is literally a cave with the painting on the walls and ceilings.

Jaime even introduced me to some of his colleagues and showed me the labs and workshops, even the library where he works when he collaborates with them.

So, if you are in Madrid, do not miss the Museo Arqueológico Nacional, also, it is on Calle Serrano, a main shopping street so you can kill two birds with one stone!!

You are welcome!

What shoes to wear on the Camino – Part II

/ antonioyrocinante / 1 Comment

This is a follow up on my surprisingly popular What shoes to wear on the Camino post (which you can read here).

This Summer I walked my third full Camino, the Primitivo (you can read about that here) and it was awesome! It is a relatively short Camino of 320 km (200 mi.) which I managed in 11 days. Part of what made it great was my shoes…

This year I switched from Salomon to the Nike Pegasus Trail 3, and they were fantastic: great support, cushioning, grip, comfort, weight (or lack thereof). Overall a 10. I did get one blister, but it was not the shoe’s fault, it was the wearer’s fault for doubling up a stage and walking 40 plus km (25 miles) with the last 20 km (12 mi) on tarmac on a warm day; I deserved it.

Let me reiterate that if you are walking the Camino in the Summer, you normally do not need boots, unless they are really lightweight, and you need the ankle support. Trail running or hiking shoes are the best option, much lighter, more breathable, etc.

Of course, every foot is different, but I wholeheartedly recommend this shoe!

Have you done the Camino with Nike Pegasus Trail 3? What was your experience like? If not, what shoes do you recommend? Let us know in the comments!

Buen Camino!!

Which shoes to wear on the Camino

/ antonioyrocinante / 6 Comments

Shoes are arguably the most crucial element in your Camino kit. You are going to walk many hours a day for many days. The number one issue with pilgrims is blisters. You have been warned.

I am really excited to walk my third Camino this Summer, and I needed new shoes. For my first Camino I used Salomon XA Pros, and they were formidable I did the whole Camino with nary a blister (I might have gotten a couple of “hot spots” -pre-blisters- but never developed full blisters).

For my second Camino I chose the same shoe, only newer model in bright blue. Unfortunately, these did not perform as well as the first pair, and I ended up losing both my big toenails, twice (yes my toenails were cut very short, but wet feet in a steep downhill are going to slide). If you have never lost your toenails, it is not painful, but it is a bit of a nuisance, and they take almost a full year to grow back out.

This year I did my homework. I did a comparative spreadsheet checking out a few internet websites. (attached) –it is in no way comprehensive, or professional– it is just a few references from a few random running shoe websites. Once I had my ranking, the move was to find the best price, that is where the Palm Beach Outlets come into the picture. New Balance, Nike, and Asics all have shops there, and the Nike Pegasus Trail 3 came in as the best ranked at the best price. I “broke in” the Nikes during Easter break and loved them! I will give you a full report after my Camino…

Here are a few pointers on Camino shoe buying:

  • Unless you are doing the Camino in the Winter, you do NOT need boots. Most pilgrims walk in the warmer months, and you do not want your feet baking inside of boots.
  • I once met a very bright German pilgrim; PhD in math, an internet startup in Berlin in their fourth round of capitalization… but his feet looked like steak tartare from wearing Alpine hiking boots!!
  • On the other hand, you do not want to wear sneakers/running shoes/tennis. They are not designed to pound the ground for miles with a backpack on, and you will also soon develop blisters.
  • The ideal shoes are trail running/hiking shoes. They are designed for this kind of thing.
  • When you are at the shop, with the laces undone, inch your foot all the way forward, you should be able to put a finger between your heel and the shoe. This means that your shoe should be half a size to a full size bigger than your “normal” shoes. Your feet will expand when walking for hours every day.
  • Gore-Tex or no Gore-Tex? When it rains, your feet will eventually get wet, Gore-Tex or not. So, I opt for NO Gore-Tex, this way when it is not raining my feet will breathe, and when it rains, they will get wet either way. Remember if you are in the Gore-Tex club you are going to have to stop and take your shoes and socks off every so often to let them breathe a bit. A rhythm busting nuisance when you are walking.
  • Soles: the terrain you are going to walk on is going to differ vastly from long stretches on tarmac (yuck) to grassy fields, but most of your walking is on dirt tracks, so you do not need a super aggressive pattern (unless again, you are going to walk in the mud of winter)
  • Once you have your shoes, make sure you break them in. Try to walk at least a few miles with your new shoes in order to avoid any unwelcome surprises.
  • Your feet do most of the work on the Camino so make sure you take care of them! Remember to have your toenails cut very short.

A whole blog post could (and might) go into socks. For the time being remember wool and no stitching…

Which trail shoesDownload