Following yellow arrows!

Last weekend we wanted to go on longer walk, and ended up doing part of first stage of the Camino Português that starts in Lisbon. It's a trail that we already knew well, with no elevations and barely no tarmac, mostly dirt roads. That means we we're actually following yellow arrows! So that was kind of a mental preparation for the real deal!

We're already walking towards Santiago! 

Detail of the above picture.

We walked about 25km. It was a good practice walk, I used walking poles and I prepared my feet as I'll do on the Camino: proper socks, taped toes and lots of vaseline. We made one stop halfway through to have a rest and I aired my feet, rubbed them and dried them out. Would have smeared vaseline again, if I had it with me at the time, but I forgot it at home. On the other hand, Luís prefers to do it as we have always done our walking: no breaks (not even to eat), not to much worries about his feet or anything else, really. But The Way won't be a ordinary walk, so he better get used to the pace!

Conclusions: I hated the socks we bought. Although I have bought the same size I usually buy, and the same brand, they are far too big on my feet and feel too stretchy. I felt that if I had walked an extra 5km I would have got blisters for sure. Therefore, note to myself: to buy new and different socks next time.

Overall we felt very tired at the end of the day, but the truth is that we walked at a very fast pace (we did it in about 4h30min, mean speed of 5.5km/h), but no major issues on the next day, although my feet felt kind of tender; I would like to try and walk slower next time, but I know this is the pace we're used to walk and I don't think we'll slow down until we have full packs on our backs. Next time maybe we'll tackle some nearby elevations to get our leg muscles into the equation.

One last thing: on our way back, we stopped at a little café we know. I left the walking poles outside, and after entering and ordering a bottle of cold water, the owners looked at our day packs and asked if we were walking to Santiago! We really feel like pilgrims now. :)