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Thanks, Barry!
Agreed about his Camino being his Camino. Except that as an adult in charge of a minor child, his problems become my problems. And he would never do a multi day hike beforehand -- that's precisely why he's going on this trip. He's spoiled, sheltered and bubble wrapped, but...
We are walking the Camino Luxembourg (plus a few other long trails in Luxembourg), which seems to be something of a mystery Camino.... I had planned to walk alone, but my intuition said, take him along, and so here we are... :-)
Thanks, Dave! Unfortunately, the son is a very passive person, which is part of why I suggested he come along. He is not motivated enough to have any opinion on this at all and it's like pulling teeth to even get him on a test hike. (Yes, I know... I'm not quite sure why my intuition said to ask...
To clarify: I didn't intend to imply in my original post that it was about size numbers -- I was referencing that the shoes were the same size as his school shoes only as a way of illustrating that they'd been purchased as though they would be everyday shoes with no allowances made for long...
Thanks! I'll take a look. I'm a bit out of the norm when it comes to pack sizes, I think, being a minimalist. I walked in January with a day pack weighing seven pounds and felt like it was too much... I always think everyone's pack is too big... :-)
Thanks, Domigee. Yes, he did, but only in the store (and apparently not even on the incline). The shoes fit just the way his regular everyday shoes fit -- that is to say, with a thumb's gap between his toes and the front. His father is worried about his toes banging into the front in a larger...
Yes. We don't leave till July 8. But I'm picking my battles... the shoes are the more urgent issue. Too big a pack is a Camino Lesson for him, but the wrong shoes is a Camino Problem... for me. ;-)
Thanks, Dave. Yes, I also weighed in about the problem with REI recommendations on that same thread. I am at my wit's end with their bad advice when it comes to the Camino, not just with shoes, but with having sold the kid I'm walking with an oversized pack...sigh.
Thank you, Dave! Alas, he is not my husband and it isn't my son, or I'd have more influence in the proceedings... it's the son of a dear friend, so I have to be more diplomatic than with a husband. ;-)
"The "need for roomier shoes" is only met if the shoes are in fact roomier than some alternative. " Brilliant. Thank you. Common sense way of putting it.
Thanks, C! They fit him like a regular everyday shoe would, which allows no room for foot spreading with extra feet or with heat or with extended walking or with downhills or, as you mention, teenage feet growing. They were purchased entirely on the recommendation from the REI person that...
Apologies for the shoe post.
I'm walking my second Camino in July/August, this time with a 15 year old boy who has zero outdoor experience. He is not my son, but the son of a dear friend. All well and good, but his father has purchased for him a pair of size 8.5 Salomons. The boy wears a size...
You aren't walking through the wilderness. There will be grocery stores every few kilometers and food is ridiculously cheap in Spain. There is no need to carry two pounds of food -- overpreparing is the antithesis of what the Camino is about.
But I suspect you will figure that out on day one. :)
I wonder if there's ever a time he's NOT standing at that corner... maybe he's truly a Camino angel who requires no sleep or work or food but to guide pilgrims to the church.
Reading this post made me think of one of my favorite Camino stories, in which Everything Is Not As It Appears:
"As we walked through a village, an old man spoke urgently to us in Galician. Not understanding, we waved him away thinking he was a panhandler or a scammer as we've encountered many...
I think really the only thing that one would need to be careful about planning ahead would be shoes. Only because the cost of having the wrong shoes would be so high in terms of maybe not actually being able to walk and it would probably take a significant amount of time to replace them...
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