Walking with a blister sucks, its right up there with stepping on lego and your favourite TV show getting cancelled. Now image doing it for a month. Yeah it sucks. Last year my family and and I hiked the El Camino for a month and between the 5 of us we had pretty much every size, shape and placement of blisters imaginable. Through extensive field research (Spain, Nepal, Romania, Canada) I have come up with an extensive list of every thing I know about blister prevention and blister treatment in the hope that you will be able to fearlessly embark on your next long distant hike blister free. While this mostly applies to warmer weather hikes like the El Camino, it’s applicable to all long distance hikes. Without further ado… 

Buy Big Shoes

One of the very first things to do in your quest for blister prevention is to buy shoes that are too big for you! I know, I know seems counter productive, but I swear this is probably the most important item on this list. If you stop reading after this (don’t), but buy big shoes you might be able to avoid having blisters at all!. The reason for this is that on long distant hikes, particularly in hot weather (like the Camino) your feet swell. Your shoes that you bought that fit you so perfectly for your short day hikes will be too small! My suggestion is buy a 1/2 size too big and some insoles. That way when you do go on day hikes you can wear your insoles and on multi-day treks you can take your insoles out. Other popular option depending on the terrane is hiking sandals – very popular on the El Camino. Your feet can swell all they want and sweat less than in a boot. 

Day 1 on the Camino aka Start of the Blister War

Bring Extra Shoes 

Now once you’ve bought your big shoes – bring extra ones. I was the only member of my family to bring extra shoes with me and everyone was making fun of me for carrying extra weight. Not every one week in to the El Camino my entire family had purchased an extra pair of shoes! An extra pair of shoes lets you switch it up when particular areas of your feet are feeling a little pre-blistery. For something like the El Camino sandals are the extra shoe of choice as they are light and the terrain is generally pretty easy. Just strap em to your pack and walk away. 

Do Your Laces Up

An obvious one maybe, but an important one. My first day hiking in Nepal I didn’t do my laces up correctly because we were only walking a short distance. 16 days of blisters later I learned my lesson. While you’re at it, bring extra laces because they break. Often. (See duck tape below) 

Vaseline it Up

Otherwise known as foot lube, Vaseline is a hikers best friend. On the Camino many shops sell some sort of derivative of it and its all pretty much the same stuff. Either put it on problem areas or slather it all over your feet. Vaseline will reduce the friction between your foot and sock / shoe therefore lowering your chance of blisters. I learned this in Nepal then on my later El Camino trip applied my new knowledge – blister free!

Change Your Socks Often 

While some foot lube is good, you must be careful about the sorts of foot lube you indulge in – foot sweat falls into the bad category of foot lube. Particularly on hot days sweater socks could spell blister disaster. Carry an extra DRY pair on the outside of your bag and switch them up at lunch time. 

Baby Powder 

  At the end of every day kick up your feet, grab a beer and toss some baby powder on your feet. I don’t think this actually does anything for blisters (although it might) but it does prevent foot rot aka athletes foot – plus it feels AMAZING (seriously).

That feeling when you’re blister free

A Needle and Thread = Your best friend 

Now if you’ve failed in your quest to prevent blisters you now have two options; to pop or not to pop. I fall in the ‘to pop’ camp, but make sure your doing it right. Get a needle and thread and stick a hole in your blister and pull the thread through. Don’t worry it doesn’t hurt and you’ll only be squeamish the first time. Although I would suggest avoiding doing this at dinner time. Once you’ve got the tread in, leave it, preferably overnight. Once you pull the tread through you will have a completely drained blister with very little exposed skin. Guarenteed to heal very quickly. 

When in Doubt, Duck Tape 

If all else false duck tape fixes everything. Through some on a particularly troublesome spot or over a healing blister to prevent it opening up. But please don’t be that person who carries a huge a heavy role of duck tape on your trek. Take some a wrap it around your water bottle or a back pack strap – it will be much lighter! Bringing some duck tape is generally a good idea even if you have mastered the art of blister prevention, it can be used to hold together just about everything (see broken laces above)

Now that I’ve divulged all of my knowledge on blister prevention, I’m curious, have I missed anything? What are your blister prevention methods. 

My sister demonstrating blister prevention methods on the Camino

To see more photos from the Camino Frances check out my galleries for Pt 1 or Pt 2 of the Camino Francis.