The Mystery of the Camino Boots

The case of the missing boots - Two days ago (Thursday) we were leaving the Fuente del Peregrino Albergue. Pauline, me and a set of German twin sisters were the last of the 9 pilgrims to set off. 

The twins are German women a few years older than us- they have been walking the Camino together for several weeks. As we prepared to leave one of them discovered that her boots were gone. There was a pair the same brand and size but th color of the laces was different and the remaining boots were not as worn. Another pilgrim had mistakenly put on her boots and departed. 

There were 3 other women who had departed earlier - Olga from Russia, Harriet from Sweden and a young Danish woman.  Over the course of the day pauline and I and the German twins crossed paths many times- each time exchanging new information about the boots. 

By the end of the day- we were eating delicious boiled octopus in the same restaurant and it had been determined that Harriet the older Swedish woman  must be the person with the boots. Pauline and I promised to keep a lookout. 

On Friday we hiked 15 or so km and stopped to take a picture of this roman bridge in Ribadiso. When I turned around  from taking the picture there was Harriet from Sweden, resting and waiting for the albergue to open. Harriet only speaks Swedish and a tiny bit of English 

We pointed at her boots, explained in English that they were the wrong boots and suddenly a light bulb went off - she recognized these were not her boots.  We manages to get her phone number and email so that if we ran into the German sister again they could connect.

About 3 km down the road in Arzua we found the German sister having coffee in a cafe. We gave them Harriet's contact info and continued on the Camino. 

Today, Saturday, we ran into the German sisters again. They used had called Harriet, taken a cab back to the town where she was staying and completed the boot exchange.

Here are the boots on their proper feet. The German twins were thrilled and Pauline and I feel like Nancy Drew or Trixie Belden- girl detectives solving a Camino mystery.