I have been debating with myself about contributing to this thread. I walked from Roncesvalles to Zubiri in heavy rain in early May 2019 with no problems at all. The rain was so heavy that parts of the trail into Pamplona the next day were impassable because of flooding.
As I jogged past one pilgrim she asked me how I could go so fast and I paused to explain. Firstly I recognised that my feet, trail runners and socks would get wet regardless of what I did and so unlike almost everyone else I passed that day I was not hopping from one dry patch to another or trying to balance on rocks to keep my feet dry.
Most of the people who I passed (well over 30) were weaving left and right across the trail looking for dryer or less muddy patches.
I purposely walked in the same path as the running water. This ensured that there was less slippery mud, loose rocks or muddy foot prints. At the same time the water washed any mud that my shoes had picked up off the soles so that they got a clean grip. As it happens, this water path is usually the shortest/easiest as water seeks the lowest path.
Back home here in Aotearoa New Zealand when I go hiking with a group it is easy to spot the difference between experienced hikers and the inexperienced when crossing a stream. The experienced hikers walk through the water seeking good footing and ignoring the water while the inexperienced try to rock hop to keep their feet dry, unfortunately, sometimes one or more of the rock hoppers slip and fall and at the minimum get completely wet or worse they injure themselves when they fall.
I have to admit that I don't have a perfect technique though and in unavoidable, thick mud I have slipped and fallen. I now carry ice cleats for the really muddy sections.
This makes perfect sense.
I remember having to chase my small daughter who had run off, on a woodland walk, across one of the muddiest patches of ground I have ever seen. Her elderly godmother and I had been picking our way over the mud, creeping along at a snail’s pace. (I was wearing a pair of white (
) leather ecco so-soft shoes, with no grip at all). But needing to catch up with my toddler, I forgot about the mud and just strode ahead, ‘in my feet’, ‘grounded’ by my intention, and never slipped up once.
(Had I been wearing my walking boots, I wouldn’t have thought twice about the mud, of course.)
Many years later, somewhere on the way to Cirauqui, we found ourselves on that steep incline that rises to meet the road and consists of dense red mud.
It had dried out and resembled a miniature mountain range.
I’d rather have had that woodland mud, anyday!
Before the hardest part of the descent into Zubiri just before the jagged rocks, the police were there to provide geospatial emergency QR code’s if needed. We saw three pilgrims we (older man very unsteady who we told them about). Hope they were rescued. It isn’t hard but the rocks are so pointy and foot paths narrow. If someone were unsteady, like the older man… if anyone knows anything. Hope this code or number may be helpful or give you peace of mind. Not to worry. It is just a bit more technical than some other areas of the Camino.
