Socks and sandals

[Deleted member 3000]

From The Times:

"Just what is our national problem with socks and sandals? To hear some people go on about it, you’d think it was a crime right up there with paedophilia and mass murder. When, a few years ago, it was discovered that the Romans might have worn socks with their sandals, the strength of public reaction implied that their achievement in having bequeathed us the aqueduct, sanitation, roads and irrigation ought suddenly to be rendered null and void. There’s even a website — http://www.sandalandsoxer.co.uk — the modern-day equivalent of the stocks, designed publicly to humiliate with embarrassing pictures anyone caught wearing the dreaded footwear combo.

"But are socks and sandals really such a terrible thing? At the risk of being pelted with rotten tomatoes, I’d say not, and this isn’t just a fashion-pundit-being-gratuitously-controversial thing going on here. The truth is, it is perfectly possible to carry off this reviled Nuts-in-May look. All you need is to be youthful, good-looking, utterly self-possessed and totally fearless. For the rest of us, however, the law stands. Socks and sandals may serve any number of functions, such as stopping your feet freezing, sweating or chafing, and they may look quite attractive if you get the combination right."

 

[Sansthing]

I wore socks and sandals while doing the 4-day Inca Trail to Macchu Pichu. This caused some comment amongst other walkers, but quite frankly I was more amused than annoyed. One member of a group actually took a picture of my feet when he thought I wasn´t looking! I cannot understand why people have a problem with socks and sandals and I intend to wear them during my Camino, regardless. I am neither young nor beautiful so won´t be starting a trend :roll: I am more interested in comfort and practicality than in making a fashion statement.
Get real, folks :!:

Sandra

 

[ksam]

This I am neither young nor beautiful so won´t be starting a trend :roll: I am more interested in comfort and practicality than in making a fashion statement.
Get real, folks :!:

Sandra

Ain't life grand, when you get that little bit older!! Comfort over damn near anything!! If when the time comes, that combo works for me.. I too, being neither young nor beautiful, will also joyfully wear socks and sandals!

Considering what some of our other hiking attire (to say nothing of cycling gear!) looks like, sandals and socks are the least of my worries!

Buen Camino Karin :arrow:

 

[Anniesantiago]

Those Romans who "wore socks and sandals" also had very short life expectancies.

There are several reasons for not wearing socks/sandals on the Camino that I can think of.
One is the simple fact that you're walking 6 hours a day and your feet will appreciate the support of a shoe or boot, not only in the ankle area, but the arch.

Second, there are MANY long stretches of VERY rocky terrain. Those rocks can bust your toes, get into your sandals, and cause you to slip.

Personally, having done the Camino, I'd never wear sandals to walk it. :roll:
I did take Tevas for evening wear, however.

One reason not to wear sandals.. this is the TRAIL, not the trailside:

 

[KiwiNomad06]

I walked often with a woman from Quebec who wore socks and sandles for most of the last 300km when her boots started causing her repeated blisters. She managed fine, except for having to remove the odd stone, as the track was not particularly rough then.
A few years ago I was in Germany in summertime, and was walking (on very well formed paths) with a family, wearing my sandles only. People kept staring at my feet. The family told me it was because it was incredibly un-German to be out walking with sandles and no socks!!
Margaret

 

[sillydoll]

I wore socks and sandals for over 650km of the camino in 2007. The socks were there to secure the dressings and foam pads on my poor, raw heels!

 

[JohnnieWalker]

yes - so have I - but the question is surely, would you wear socks and sandals in public at home?

My name is John and I have worn socks with sandals...

 

[JohnnieWalker]

errrr - but only ever when walking a Camino route

 

[MermaidLilli]

Glad to see, JohnnieWalker, that you used them. Hope you felt comfy.
Well, you all know me and my sandals and socks postings. Even posted a picture of not just mine but an Italian girl wearing the same. Teva trail walkers can go over anything. And that's the thing.... Teva makes many types, but the trail ones are the ones to use. I am sure there are other makes. It has good arch support and I got zero blisters. I sent my shoes to Madrid and only used the sandals. And yes, with socks. That meant less weight to carry, too.
Go for it
Lillian

 

[Anniesantiago]

I didn't know Teva made trail sandals.. Kowabunga!

 

[Dale]

NO NO NO NEVER SOCKS WITH SANDALS. :mrgreen:

http://hubpages.com/hub/Fashion_Tips_for_Men_-_Socks_and_Sandals_Are_a_No-No

 

[Deleted member 3000]

After I have lubricated my feet with silicone ointment to prevent blisters, I need socks to keep the dirt and sand from sticking. Sorry, fashion mavens, avert your eyes.

The Japanese have been walking the streets in their geta sandals for centuries, always with socks, those cute kind with a separate big toe:

Tabi
Tabi or also called tabi boots or tabi socks are a Japanese sock that have a split in the sock for the large toe so that they may comfortably be worn with sandals. There are two basic types of tabi. The odori tabi socks which people call the tabi boot or the stretch tabi socks.

 

[MermaidLilli]

THose are cool. The only blister I got was between by big toe and second toe. That would eliminate that friction. Oh, and that blister I got? I was not wearing sandals.
LIllian

 

[Anniesantiago]

Lilli, I went and again looked at the photos from your Camino and I see that you are, indeed, wearing socks and sandals!

Well.. I have to rethink this.. you may be bringing me to the other side ::laughing::

I guess this is just another proof that each person just has to decide for themselves what works for them...

If you're a sock/sandal person, looks like it's been done plenty of times!

I wonder if anyone has walked the Camino barefoot? :lol:

 

[JohnnieWalker]

Well yes of course they have

http://www.barefooters.org/gallery/pilg ... index.html

But Annie this isn't about fashion there is a long tradition of long distance walkers wearing hiking sandals. They are very robust and provide good support. The theory is that your feet are kept dry and therefore blisters are avoided. From what I have seen people who try them and like them never go back to shoes or boots - so watch what you are doing going over to the other side

 

[Rebekah Scott]

I always assumed it was a northern European thing. Like women who don´t have to shave their legs and armpits.
One person thinks sandals & sox and personal fur are nasty and no one should wear them. Another doesn´t think a thing of it.
One of these people is more free than the other.

Live and let wear sandals.
Reb

 

[Bridget and Peter]

I always assumed it was a northern European thing. Like women who don´t have to shave their legs and armpits.

NOW you're opening up a can of worms!! Surely a razor is unnecessary weight? How could anyone justify shaving on a pilgrimage?

Tongue in cheek - honestly! :twisted:

Now I'll put my head down again and get on with my Camino Ingles blog!!

 

[MermaidLilli]

I feel I have been touting for Teva, hahaha, I own no part of it.
But I just now ordered my Teva sandals for this walk in May (the straps are the color of the Spanish flag, could not resist), and wanted to remind people, that if you are getting Teva sandals, it is the Terra-Fi type which is made for trail walking. They have many types but these are the better ones for the caminos.
Wanted to make sure,
Lillian

 

[Deleted member 3000]

Well, if you have to leave the socks behind when wearing sandals, then how about leaving the skivvies, too? If Spain will get these Scottish bar stools for men wearing kilts, it might just be very comfortable.

 

[Anniesantiago]

:::Laughing:::: :lol:

 

[Kitsambler]

Yup yup, here in the States wearing socks with your Tevas is a sign of being a true Pacific Northwesterner. (Weather here in Seattle is very much like northern Europe.) No Californian would be caught dead doing this, however. In fact, this is so iconic of our region, it shows up in bank advertisements.

 

[Anonymous]

Ooohhhh... what did the Romans ever do for us? ... I think that as most of the walkers in Europe over the last few thousand years tended to wear sandals (Roman military sandals had hobnails) then they could be pretty good for the Camino, don't you? Rough ground indeed back in those other days.

As for wearing socks with them ... Romans wearing socks with their sandals? Perhaps in the north of Europe in winter as they didn't have boots .. but surely not because they thought it correct :shock: - though I suppose that they could always kill anyone who made fun of them.
(Just to clear up a point, and regardless of what you may have read, folk from the past did not have short lives - unless ended suddenly through violence - it is just that when stats are compiled they always add in the baby deaths, which skews the whole thing).

Socks with sandals??? Crikey!! what next .. you see, you can get away with things on holiday that you wouldn't do at home, and pilgrimage is the same ... but start doing it at home? Ok, it starts with socks under sandals, then non-Scottish men start wearing kilts at weddings, women get short haircuts and then the next thing you know it all goes terribly down hill to the dissolution of society in general ... I mean, what next? Catholic female priests? (shudder) ...... :shock:

no, if you do have to wear socks please wear a German flag or similar - nothing British.


:lol:

 

[Anonymous]

my last post wasn't meant to be serious folks .... :wink:

truth is, if I had really cold toes I would wear socks with sandals (I'd just put a bag on my head so I couldn't be indentified, that's all).

 

[ksam]

my last post wasn't meant to be serious folks .... :wink:

truth is, if I had really cold toes I would wear socks with sandals (I'd just put a bag on my head so I couldn't be indentified, that's all).

Hmmmm got me thinking.... perhaps if you took the cowl part of your habit and put a cord thru it you could simply cinch it up when the need arose to hide your identity!! Come on what else were you expecting from an ex-Protestant...reverence and quiet lady like answers...H*ll no!! :mrgreen: :lol:

Hey, what ever works for you, go with it! Just give it a trial run before you hit the trail...and LISTEN to your body when you are on the Camino! (Or your wife!!, Raymond the reluctant...who got blisters!!)

Karin, the Cranky one...wishing you Buen Camino :arrow:

 

[Deleted member 3000]

From "Life of Brian":

"What have the Romans ever done for us?"

"All right, but apart from the sanitation, the medicine, education, wine, public order, irrigation, roads, a freshwater system, and public health, what have the Romans ever done for us?"

Can we add "socks with sandals?"

 

[Anonymous]

:lol: :lol: :lol:

 

[Timo]

Hello,
as a diabetic my doctor told me never to wear any shoes without socks, including sandals. So we have developed very low cut socks that are the same colour as your skin!
-T-

 

[Anonymous]

but apart from the sanitation, the medicine, education, wine, public order, irrigation, roads, a freshwater system, and public health, what have the Romans ever done for us?

Ummm... They gave us Silvio Berlusconi?

Gareth

 

[brooke]

I wear Injini toe socks with sandals when needed and the liner version with light wool socks in hiking boots. Injini socks have toes and are left and right foot specific so they fit well and cut way down on blisters and other between toe problems.

Last Camino, I wore skin colored toe socks with sandals, after losing toe nails and moving up to to sandals, and only a few people noticed. This year (next week) I am going with brightly stripped socks with black toes! So if you are on the Camino this September, point, laugh and then say Hi.

Brooke

 

[futurefjp]

My feeling is Boots! Meindl Bhutan are mine.