Day 36, Samos to Barbadello

I’m in a bit of a panic tonight. My ankle has been quite uncomfortable for about 6 days, especially when walking downhill. Today we walked 20km, which is very much our usual distance, but it became really sore. We are staying at an albergue with a pool and I swam this afternoon, hoping this would ease the problem and I did think it helped. We are due to walk 27kms tomorrow and I was concerned about how I’d cope. I started looking up exercises online to ease ankle problems and did a few.
I’m not sure if I’ve made it worse but later this afternoon I went out to the tiny village where we’re staying and found walking very painful. By the time I got back my ankle was swollen and I began to wonder - for the first time really - whether I would be able to finish the Camino. I have grown confident over the last 5 weeks that I could do it and I would be so devastated to get this far and have to bail when we only have 5 more walking days to go.
I’ve decided to take a taxi to the next town (19km to Portomarin) to visit a physiotherapist in the morning. The only appointment available was at 10am and there’s no way I could walk there by that time so a taxi seemed the only option. It’s expensive but I can live with that. I’m feeling worried about whether I can get the problem sorted out and, at the same time, guilty about not walking in the morning. I suppose the best outcome would be to meet Fiona at Portomarin and be able to walk the final 8kms with her to tomorrow’s destination and go on from there to Santiago.
That’s enough anxiety. Brief highlights of today. We walked 15kms without passing a cafe for breakfast but did enjoy stopping at a private house where they had left out coffee and tea, fruit and cake for pilgrims. This wasn’t a commercial enterprise - they left out a donativo box to cover their expenses - but it is typical of the kindness local people offer to pilgrims on the camino.
We were surprised to pass a herd of cows walking along the main thoroughfare in one of the villages we passed through, though I suppose they had as much right as we did to be there. The entourage included a very young and sweet little calf. We had a lovely lunch in a veggie cafe in Sarria. Some of the best food of the trip. And we are now 110 kms from Santiago.
I am writing this with my leg elevated on a pillow with a bag of ice from the bar on my ankle. I’m very much hoping that I’ll be gearing up for a proper day’s walking when I’m writing tomorrow’s blog.Read more