When walking, the system requires large amounts of water, and, generally speaking, one should drink freely. If one stops by a roadside spring on a hot day, he should rest a few minutes before drinking, and, if the water be very cold, he should drink sparingly. It is refreshing before drinking, and sometimes instead of drinking, to rinse mouth and throat with spring water. In the Alps the guides caution one not to drink snow water. In settled regions, drink boiled water only, unless assured of the purity of the source. Beware of wells. It is a matter of safety, when traveling, to be inoculated against typhoid fever. Practice restraint in the use of ice cream, soda water, sweets, coffee, and tea.
The pedestrian should be careful to get as much sleep as normally he requires at home, and somewhat more. He may not be so regular in hours, for he will find himself inclined to sleep an hour at midday, and at times to walk under the starlight, to be abroad in the dawn. And a walking tour would be a humdrum affair, if he did not yield to such inclination.
A bath at the end of the day—a sponge bath, if no better offers—is an indispensable comfort. While on the march one will come upon inviting places to bathe. Bathe before eating, not immediately after. If the water is very cold, it is well to splash and rub one’s body before plunging in. If much bathing tends to produce lassitude, one should limit himself to what is necessary.
Don’t overdo; on the march, when tired out, stop at the first opportunity—don’t keep going merely to make a record. Don’t invite fatigue. If, in hot weather, free perspiration should fail, stop immediately and take available measures to restore normal circulation.
Lameness in muscles is due to the accumulation of waste matter in the tissues; elimination may be aided and lameness speedily relieved by drinking hot water freely and by soaking one’s body in a warm bath: the internal processes are accelerated, in freer blood circulation, while much is dissolved out through the pores of the skin. At the end of a long hard walk, the most refreshing thing is a drink—not of ice water, not of soda water, but a pint or so of hot water. Rubbing oil as a remedy for lame muscles is hardly worth carrying; alcohol is a mistake. Bruised muscles should be painted lightly with iodine.
Care of feet. Always wash the feet thoroughly at the end of a tramp, and dry carefully, particularly between the toes. If the skin cracks and splits between the toes, wash at night with boric acid and soften with vaseline. It is better to allow toenails to grow rather long, and in trimming cut them straight across.
When resting at noon take off shoes and stockings, and, before putting them on again, turn the stockings inside out. If the weather be mild, let the feet remain bare until about to set out again; if there be water available, bathe the feet immediately on stopping. If, on the march, the arch of the foot should grow tired, consciously “toe in.”
If there is rubbing, binding, squeezing, with consequent tenderness at any point, stop at once, take off shoe and stocking, and consider what is to be done. It may suffice to protect the tender spot, applying a shred of absorbent cotton secured with a strip of adhesive tape; perhaps the thickness of the stocking may be changed, or the lacing of the shoe be eased or tightened. By tighter lacing sometimes the play of the foot within the shoe may be diminished and undesirable rubbing or squeezing overcome. Talcum powder sprinkled on the foot will help to relieve rubbing, and soap rubbed on the stocking outside, above the tender place, is efficacious.
Sometimes, in spite of forethought, one may find one’s self walking in ill-fitting shoes; for example, the shoes though broad enough may be too short, and one’s toes in consequence may be cramped and squeezed in the toe of the shoe—particularly on down grades—until they become tender and even blistered. If then other expedients fail, one has to examine his shoe carefully, determine precisely where the line of binding strain lies, and then—remembering that the shoe as it is, is worthless to him—slit leather and lining through, in a line transverse to the line of strain.
Should a blister, in spite of care, develop, let it alone, if possible. Don’t interfere with nature’s remedial processes. But, if one must go on walking with the expectation that the blister unless attended to will tear open, then one should drain it—not by pricking it through, however. Take a bright needle, sterilize it in the flame of a match, and run it under the skin from a point to one side, and so tap the blister. Then cover the area with adhesive tape. If there is abrasion, paint the spot with iodine, or apply a few crystals of permanganate of potassium and a drop or two of water, then cover with absorbent cotton and adhesive tape.