Smote by God

For reasons we can't quite understand (we went to pilgrim mass; we were blessed?!??) Lexie and I have both been supposedly cast out of God's good grace.

As our audience is aware, Lexie has been sick since Sunday, with no real improvements and a cough that would practically trigger a seismograph, if she ventured too close. Like the brave little soldier she is, she's powered through, with many rest stops and nose blows, but it's understandably been taking a toll. For this reason, she had decided to skip out on the days walk from Puente la Reina to Estella and booked the bus instead. She would rest up in the albergue while I walked and, delightfully, take my pack ahead for me. Great result for all!

She organised this while we were having our sacred Horizontal Time on our respective bunks, after arriving in Puente la Reina, before promptly falling victim to a nap. After a while I decided I'd toddle a few minutes down the road for some snacks, and this, friends, is where it all goes wrong. While the walk from Pamplona that morning had gone perfectly well, as had my time laying around in the albergue, the walk a few hundred metres down the road did not go well, it did not go well at all. In fact, I cannot faithfully call what occurred a 'walk'. Following a ruthless interrogation of the internet, I later learned that a posteromedial shin splint was to blame. That, or, and I have my suspicions, someone with my voodoo doll has begun relentlessly driving a corkscrew into the fleshy part above my left ankle. Great! 👍👍

I wake Lexie and deliver the news. Then, I swiftly tumble down the greased up slope of stress and despair. This is the worst. Why me? Why am I burdened with a corporal form? Will this be the end? What if it doesn't get better? Was that blessing secretly some kind of anti-tourism pilgrim curse?? We'll have to change our plans; I don't like change!!

Medical advice says take a 2-4 week rest period. Camino advice says take 1-2 days if you can, start back on shorter sections, send up a prayer and hope the big guy's listening.

One bus ticket has now become two.

After a lazy 2 hour wait at the cafe across the road, we boarded the bus at 10.30am, arriving in Logrono just past lunch. Logrono was where we would end up in 2 days time, were we walking. By busing straight there, we can spend those 2 days resting instead. I was very pissy to be 'cheating', and missing out on two walking legs, but, if you can keep a secret, I'll admit that what we saw of the trail from the bus window looked....pretty shit. Dry, exposed, mostly next to the highway, dusty and hot. This improved morale. Slightly.

- BrannaRead more