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<TITLE>Re: Hola de Espa?a</TITLE>
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> My name is Bill Lopez and I live in Spain. I have recently subscribed to<BR>
> the GOCAMINO list. I will be starting my walk from Saint Jean de Pied around<BR>
> 22MAY of this year.<BR>
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Dear Bill,<BR>
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> 1. Is there a town along the route that repairs hiking shoes?<BR>
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in 1998 I had a boot problem (I discovered that my insoles needed replacing) and walked for almost ten days before I found a store that sold anything more substantial than light dress shoe liners. Several people suggested Continente in Ponferrada. It only had a wider selection of the dress shoe liners. Probably there was a hiking shop in a city that big but we didn't find it and none of the local shoe stores could direct us to it. We had seen a place in Leon that had hiking equipment and might have been able to help, but that was before I'd figured out why I was getting such bad blisters on the soles of my feet. <BR>
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> 4. I am a little nervous around dogs, especially in groups. Any words of<BR>
> advice? Where there any towns where dogs were encountered that were<BR>
> problems?<BR>
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A couple of the guide books talk about vicious dogs and recommend being ready to use your walking stick to protect yourself, but our experience of dogs along the route is that the ones that seemed threatening were all chained. Sometimes they came lunging to the length of their chain, but we never faced anything at all threatening. Most people along the way seemed wonderfully concerned for pilgrims' well-being. I would be surprised at someone letting a vicious dog loose with a steady stream of pilgrims walking by day after day. <BR>
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buen camino,<BR>
<BR>
Donald </TT></BLOCKQUOTE>
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