Day 11- Ages to Burgos

We traveled from Ages to Burgos today. It was about 14 miles.. As we were staying out of town, the owner of our hotel for the night drove us back to Ages at 7am for a very reasonable price. He was a very nice guy.

Our walk started in the dark and for the first time, I was actually cold as it was 58 and windy. The terrain is mostly flat except for this one section with a steep up then a steep down. The steep up went great, the steep down…. Well that was really tough on my knee.
After that I decided to use the ace bandage I had bought a few days ago and it helped a bit . As the day progressed it was hurting a bit more so I kept adjusting the wrapping to find what would work the best.
So during one of my wrap sessions a man from another pilgrim group , we had been passing them or them us for the last several days, came over to me and pointed at my knee and then his knee. He had a knee brace on . He does not speak English so I smiled and said yes we both have a knee issue. He took off his pack and rummaged thru it and found an extra knee brace he had and handed it to me! I mean how great is that!
I put it on and it was a bit big for me but that combined with the ace bandage got me to Burgos. Just a great example of pilgrims on the path together.
As we were nearing Burgos, CJ mentioned that there was a hospital .25 miles from where we were and he had read a post that it was relatively inexpensive in Spain. He went on to advise that his was the last big city we would be in for awhile and perhaps it was time to find out if something was really wrong with the knee. When did kids get so smart:)
I walked into the ER, used google translate to communicate my problem. 150 euro price. I sat in the waiting room for 30 minutes and they asked me to come back. Using google translate talked with the doctor. He played around with the knee for a bit and sent me for an X-ray. He walked me to the X-ray center. I sat there for 5 minutes. They came out and said that they need 2 X-rays and the second one would cost more as my fee allowed for one. I said fine. They did the X-rays.
I was sent back to the doctor in the ER. By the time I got there he had already reviewed the X-ray and said everything is fine it is just inflammation. Gave me a prescription for an anti inflammatory drug, a cream and said get a sports knee brace. He did mention something about rest as well:) I was done in 45 minutes. Went back to the desk to asked how much I owed for the X-ray……13 euro…

Went to the pharmacy and handed the front desk person my prescription. She walked into the back and came out with the drugs and cream. I used google translate to ask for a knee brace. She came out and measured my knee then walked over to where the braces were , selected the right size, price for all three…29.50 euros…..
I think they have health care nailed in Spain!!!

So rest will be rest of today then all day tomorrow then hopefully back on the trail. Will do a bit of sightseeing with CJ tomorrow as he has become a fan of the old churches and Burgos has a very large cathedral.

Not many pictures today as I was a bit fixated on the knee today

The Camino sure did provide today. What a wonderful experience!Read more