Gerry’s amusing new nickname for me (or my feet) came to him as we compared my feet to a photo taken on my first camino.  He has a selection of names for my feet which also includes pasties and bricks with toes… so you’re getting the idea that I have wide feet!

A few days into my first camino I had to stop for a few days because my blisters were just too bad.  I rested up in Estella and bought new shoes and fortunately managed to reach Santiago without too much more drama.

Having learned lessons from the first camino I felt that I had things under control on my second.  I bought the same Salomon GTX shoe and I took my Keen Newports as a second shoe.  But this camino was only 250km so I never really felt I pushed my feet or the shoes… but no blisters so I was happy.

Move onto my  preparations for the Via de la Plata and I intended to purchase the same Salomon GTX Ultra but life is never so simple; they have apparently changed the shoe and it’s different.  So I started my search again!

I wanted a wide fit shoe… plenty of choice in the US and very little in France.  I have to order online and I can only really find out if the shoe fits by wearing it on a walk… and then I can’t return the shoe… a very costly exercise!

So far I have purchased:

• Mammut Hiking Boots
• Keen Waterfronts
• Keen Newports
• Addidas Cloud
• Decathlon Quechua Forclaz
• Merrell Moab Ventillators
• Salomon GTX Ultra
• Salomon GTX Ultra 2
• Keen Targee’s Mid (Wide fit)
• Teva Terra F1
• Xero Z-Trail Sandals

I thought I had things sorted.  The Keen Targee’s Wide Mid’s are great.  I can spread my toes and not feel any pinching… FANTASTIC!  And I’ve worn my Teva’s since I bought them in February and I love them.  They are a little smelly at times but a spin in the washing machine seems to help this.

So what went wrong?  I lost weight.  I’ve lost 22kg so far and apparently I had fat feet too because my feet are now narrower and shorter.  My foot is 1cm around smaller and half a size smaller.  The result is that my beautiful Keen’s are now too big.

I’ve run a little experiment this week.  There is a great little circuit around our house, 4km, stoney and uneven, off road and on and chemin and forest… perfect to test run the shoes.

Thursday – Targhee’s Wide Mid.  My foot was rolling side to side and sliding in the shoe.

Friday – Salomon’s GTX Ultra.  I wore these on my last camino and they also felt too long and my foot was sliding in the shoe.

Saturday – Teva Terra F1.  I was sceptical that these would work because of the stones and gravel but I was proved wrong and they were very comfortable.

Sunday – Xero Z-Trails.  I’ve worn these at home for 5 days and for walking in town and along the beach.  They felt very comfortable on easy surfaces but failed badly on my test trail.  My foot moved around a lot and I’m now nursing blisters on the ball of both feet… I’ve never had blisters here!

So… Tevas are coming on the Via de la Plata… plus another pair that has yet to be decided!!

I hate being Sponge Bob Square Feet!