With just 8 sleeps to departure, my mind goes to the final prep and packing – this includes ensuring I have what I need for my feet (socks and shoes) and to treat my feet (blister care).
Walking Long Distance Paths (LDP) can be about the views, the experience, the people you meet, the culture you discover, the health benefits, the goal, etc. Everyone has a different reason or reasons for taking the first step on their LDP of choice, but one thing is true for all of us … our feet are stars of the show here, they are making the magic happen! Step by step.
When I think of our upcoming Coast to Coast Path walk and how many steps it might be, it’s a lot! At over 300km and assuming the average km is 1,400 steps, that’s a whopping 420,000 steps, at minimum. With how hard I will be making my tootsies and footsies work, I better take care of these little beauties.
With just over 2000 km of LDP steps under these feet, I thought I could share my footsie and tootsie care tips to see if one or some may also help you on your long or short distance journeys!
Before you go …
- Pick the right shoes! Don’t opt for a backpacking boot if you only need a trail runner, and vice versa. Consider a trainer instead of a boot if you are mostly walking on footpaths and quiet county roads, rather than up and over mountain passes. The bigger, the more robust, the more waterproof, the heavier (and expensive). That’s, of course, perfectly fine if you need that, though. Go into an outdoor store where outdoor people work and give details on your adventure for the best advice!
- Train, train, and train! This is incredibly important for your joints, strength, and stamina, as well as your footsies. They will get used to a lot more steps if you give them a little runway before you head out. And I don’t mean a couple of big hikes or a single weekend on the mountain either. I am talking sustained and regular hiking over weeks before you depart. You are NOT looking to jump-start your tootsies; rather, you are looking to build up their resilience. Check out my 20-Week Training Plan, which has never failed me for a 300km trip lead up.
- Discover your sock combo! The goal of your training is half getting your body ready, and the other half is finding your perfect gear! As you train, try out different sock types and combos. My sock combo has changed a few times over the years with different shoes and trails, and the ole body (including my feet) getting older and wider. I have been a liner and medium hiking Smartwool, I have been a light single Smartwool, and am currently an Injini (the socks with individual burrito toe pockets) gal. Find your combo through trial and error, most importantly, before you go!
While you are hiking…
- If it’s hot, you stop! Any tiny rub or pebble or sock bunch or hot spot or odd pain or odd twinge from your feet as you are on the trail is a sign! Stop, drop, assess, and treat! Even if you are hiking in a group, do not hesitate to drop and check things out – people don’t mind, you would stop for them! So don’t wait for lunch or until you get to y or see x. Right now! The best thing you can do for your feet is prevent a blister from ever happening – once they are there, you go from a little hot spot happily protected with a Compeed to an open wound that has the potential to hurt, get infected, ruin your time, and maybe even your trip. Yeah, that sounds dramatic, but for all those in the crowd who have been there, it’s for real! As you work on opening up to the sounds and feels of nature, keep a few of those senses tuned in on your feet, too. There are a number of ways to treat blisters. Deep dive into some YouTubes and try what works for you – everyone has their own trick.
- If you sit, your socks come off! Your feet need a break, too. When you stop for snacks at 11-sies, lunch, late lunch, 2-sies…whatever your schedule…give your feet a break from their shoe and sock prison. Take the shoes off, open up the laces, and pull back the tongue to get some air in there. Then take those socks off, lay them out to dry (from sweat or rain or both). Finally, do a little footsie and tootsie inspection. Wiggle the toes, give each a little rub, and give your foot a rub too. While feeling for any issues, also visually check things out. Treat what you find. Wash those hands, and then have your break while your feet are up! Don’t hang your feet down off a ledge or sit on them, pop ’em up on your backpack or a stump, or at least beside you on the picnic bench. Before you set off again, give your tootsies one more inspection, then put on dry socks! Either change out the ones you had for new dry ones, or the ones you had if they feel dry).
End of your hiking day …
- Put those feet up or cool them down! When you arrive at your destination, put those feet up for 15-30mins! In a hotel or BnB, literally lay on the floor or bed and put them up the wall OR in a tent, lay on the ground and get em up a stump or fence! Pulling off the shoes and socks before you do is extra special, and some nice slow ankle rolls and toe wiggles feel amazing, My sister (my usua. LDP companion) and I like to use this time to sip a post hikng day tea and a little debrief of the day as we wiggle our toes in the air. The other option is a cold soak. If you hae a place to stay with a foot bath or tub, cool if not cold water and a 15min soak will be your best friend. Heck even in a river works. Your feet have done a lot today, this is a big thank you to them and a gentle ask that those tootsies not swell up on you from all that they went through today.
- Use your sleep to recover! Take advantage of the time you are of your feet and in bed to further thank your feet and prep them for the next day. A nice massage with some moisturizer before you turn off the night-night light. Put one of your pillows down the bottom of the bed and sleep wth your feet slightly elevated. If you do have swelling, toss on a pair of compression socks too.
Before you step out of bed …
- Gently welcome your feet to their next day of hiking! Before you even put a foot out of the bed, stetch those feet, wiggle the tootsies, rub the arch and stretch the toes. I also like to do a few leg, hip flexor and upper body stretches before I even sit up. Nothing like a slow, quiet morning stretch to get you ready for another adventure day. You may also want to do another footsie inspection just to make sure any spots you were watching or treated yesterday are looking good. I keep my blister care items and next day socks beside the bed and update my blister prevention and put on my socks before I even get out of bed to get the day started.
The love you give your footsies and tootsies matters. They can make each step a joy, a chance to look up and around, to be amazed at all you get to see and experience OR they can have you wincing each step counting down to how soon you get to your designation and can make the pain stop.
I know many a hiker that can go a full LDP of 100kms without a single blister – thats the goal!
8 sleeps folks, just 8 short sleeps – England here we come!
Brandé
Day 2 on the Arran Coastal Way proved to be another doozy. A beautiful doozy that has left all of us with a bit of a hobble or a limb tonight- tight muscles, dogs barking, sun burns, and blisters seems to be the order of the body today for our crew.
After breakfast we packed up and heading out the door. Leaving our big bags for Contours Walking Company to carry forward for us, and just taking our daytime backpack.
From there, we started out on the path. This included a short distance on the road around the headland and a steep, long uphill to take us to a fern filled, undulating path on the cliff above the beach.
Following our up on the cliff walk, we then came down a very steep hill to the village of Catacol where we got to step over our first ladder stile.
The village of Catacol is famous for the row of 12 white houses that face the sea. Each has a different shaped window design so the wives of fisherman who lived there could signal their husbands by placing an oil lamp on the sill.
From Catacol we did a bit more road walking (about 4-5km) before making our way back onto the beach for some Coastal hiking. This is such a beautiful way to see the coast but it’s hard work keeping your balance and purchase on the rocks. Worth the work though for the amazing views! Well the view from the road is awesome too but the is just something fun about hiking on the road vs on a path or the beach!
We soon left the beach to walk into Pirnmill where we were excited to have a warm lunch and a pint at the Lighthouse Cafe. I could already taste my cheese and tomato toastie and a cold pint of Tenants lager.
After our picnic, we had a few more kms of road walking before getting back on the beach. The road walking while flat surfaced and easy is tough on the body and the mind.
Along our travels we came across 2 seaside graveyards. Wow they were pretty old. The stone fence around the outside always falling down in places and all the graves were covered in lichen. I think the oldest grave stone we could read was for a poor soul who died in 1812. What an amazing final resting place.
By mid afternoon we were no longer beach walking but rather rock balancing and hopping – these amazing lava formations stretched for kms of the coast with a few random grassy or beach breaks. The surfaces were very rough making for sticky walking allowing us to easily walk up and over and across, picking the route we wanted so long as the ocean stayed on our right we were heading in the right direction.
From here the path turned into a very grassy headland with lots of vegetation- mostly some type of tall fern and thistles. At some points we were pushing through shoulder high ferns on the path hoping spiders and tics were in residence on another part of the island today.
Totally worth the vegetation foraging as we got a glimpse of a golden eagle above the cliffs and found some cool caves!
Our beach walking wrapped up around 430pm and a quick look at the map and some math confirmed we still had 8km of road walking left before our day was done. None of us were keen to be back on the road.
Instead we called our Greannan B&B lady who was picking us up to drive us to the accomodation in Blackwaterfoot as it was far off today’s walking route. She was lovely and had lots of say about the island so raised our spirits some. Oh and what she couldn’t raise, the beautiful B&B did! A bed has never looked so comfortable!
No time for resting! It was almost 7pm and we still had to walk … hobble, shuffle, wrangle … the 1km down to the Kinloch Hotel for some supper before they stopped serving meals. Our B&B lady was so sweet and called to book us a table to we wouldn’t miss out on getting some eats! We cheered our amazing but tough day and commiserated on our hate for road walking over cold pints!
What an awesome day and fantastic evening meal – now let’s back to our home for the night to tend to the blisters, muscle pain and sun burns!
Today was quite the Arran Coastal Way kick off … perhaps a little trial of fire really with such high temperatures, 27km distance, bouldering, beach walking, hill climbing and wardrobe malfunctions. Amazing every step of it, wow what an experience. We began our day with a yummy continental breakfast at our B&B, The Broomage, after a decent night’s sleep. Most of us were up a few times in the night – our brains refusing to adjust too quickly to Scots time from west coast Canada time but we felt rested and ready all the same. Breaky in, water bladders full, and packs on we headed out the door to start our walk – there may have even been some high 5s! We headed to the start of the trail which is marked with a really cool map of Arran on this big stone slab thing – I am not doing it justice with that description haha! 
The day started with a walk along the path, boardwalk and across the beach around the Brodick Harbour. Easy walking makes for such nice start to the day – lots of good conversation and a good way to get the muscles warmed up.
From there we progressed from beach to forested path. Now we are talking! This is the kind of walking I love – in the trees, shaded from the sun, lots of up and down and stepping over roots and across little streams. We were still feeling amazing! 
Once through the forested section, we arrived in Corrie & Sannox a string of small villages along the coast. This had us walking on the road for a few kms and gave us a chance to stop for a wee spot of tea and some cookies! 
From there we were off for a bit more road walking and then refreshingly back to coast line. About an hour or so later we stopped for a sea side picnic, boots off to give the toes a break and some air, some more sunscreen and we were off again. 
The afternoon was much tougher that the morning but wow was it amazing. We were back on the coast but now this was a rough coastline with loads of scrambling or bouldering – the views were amazing and the terrain fun to walk but this is the type of trail that’s hard on the body and oh I love it. But wow those random moments of flat terrain were such a welcome break for the tired ankles!
Wow – after 10 hours of hiking, a total of 53,640 steps and 4,939 calories we finally arrived in the cutest little coastal town of Lochranza. This town could not have come sooner – we were tired! Some of us switched from boots to shoes to give the feet a break and all of us enjoyed a few Haribo chewy candies (coke bottles, fried eggs and such) for a boost for the last couple of kms. Mmm Once in Lochranza, we headed straight to the Lochranza Hotel. The only place you can get food in town and only until 830pm (and it was already 7pm). The gulp of that cold pint was a dream! Oh like you have no idea – too good. We had a yummy dinner out on the hotel lawn at a picnic table with with views of the old Lochranza Castle across the harbour. You could tell we were tired, loads of giggles and laughing till we cry moments! Best finish ever to an awesome day!BrandePS for the Outlander fans out there … despite multiple attempts, Rosa has not yet heard the buzzing of bees. No worries though, our scientific endeavour to find Jamie Fraser will continue! 
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