Another rainy day for us...
At one point, we were walking through grape vines and the girls were in front of me and they passed five dogs without even noticing. We sat there with them for about thirty minutes giving them needed love and our lunch!!!! We travel with meats, cheeses and breads and surrendered it all to them!
Right after this stop I realized my left heel was not getting better. We were still in suburbs of Lisbon (which hurts to admit), and I knew any hope of good shoes would be there. From the vineyards I called 4RUN, a Lisbon store that sells Hokas, my shoe of choice. I’m wearing Hokas, but more of a boot since my trainers wear out quickly when hiking. I need my trainers and if they wear out who cares, since they always get me to my destination and that is all I need. What an amazing group of employees, via text they assured me they’d take care of me! They pulled the shoes in my size, told me which train to take and where to get off. I arrived to Santarém with Mario’s assistance and settled the girls with food and hopped a train back to Lisbon.
4RUN had a knowledgeable staff that sold me the new shoes and also figured out the rush hour traffic to the station back to Santarém . This was a lot more dramatic than it sounds as my feet were throbbing with pain and due to rush hour traffic, I was left standing on the train until it cleared.
This is my first Camino injury. I’ve had blisters but never have missed a minute of Camino due to injury. This has been difficult. I’m hoping my new Hokas are what is needed! Injury and constant rain doesn’t make for the best conditions.
I felt cheated not getting to experience Santarém today. But I loved the hostel and decided we would stay another day!
This hostel is so roomy, clean and welcoming! Thank you Mario for assuring me the girls would be fine, arriving back four hours later they convinced me they could travel Europe without me! :-)
