Day 34 - Ribadiso to Arca do Pino - 22km

I was off nice and early in a very misty morning. I stopped for my first coffee in Arzua after a gentle climb and then followed the path through attractive pine forests. There were a series of hamlets along the way and I stopped in several to give my leg a rest as it was getting steadily more painful and a swelling had appeared halfway up my shin. The day was also getting hotter and hotter as the mist cleared, although in the shady forests it was pleasant. Luckily there were only three shallow river valleys to cross, so there was a bit less up and downhill to put added strain on my leg. Thank goodness I had my pilgrim´s staff to lean on, it really did make a difference.

Also hobbling along was my Danish pilgrim with the poorly knees (unfortunately I never knew her name). We tried to encourage each other to keep going, motivated by the fact that Santiago was only a couple of days away. My biggest fear was that I would be unable to complete my pilgrimage. Having to stop two days before Santiago after having walked 750km didn´t bear thinking about. I was determined to get there under my own steam even if I had to crawl. I was having to stop fairly frequently by now, even if there was nowhere to sit just standing still with most of my weight on the other leg helped a little.

By the time I´d covered about 15km I was limping badly and wondering if I´d make it to the next village, let alone the next albergue a further 5km away. I sat on a bench by the road and rubbed more gel on my swollen leg and took some paracetamol to try and ease the pain. I had wanted to reach Arca that day but now would have been happy to have made it to a small private refuge in the nearer Sta Irene. After a rest it felt a little better and I managed to struggle into the next village where I sat in the shade outside a bar and wondered what to do next. I was joined by my Danish friend and we sat there taking it easy for quite a while. She had also decided to stop at Sta Irene, and when a bakers van came to make a delivery we tried, half seriously, to cadge a lift in the back, but to no avail.

When I set off again the long rest had helped and I think the paracetamol had kicked in as I managed to get along fairly well and even changed my mind about the detour to Sta Irene. By the time I reached Arca though I was really struggling again and headed for the municipal albergue regardless of the open mixed showers. There I was told they only had upper bunks available and since I knew it would be very difficult to climb up and down in my present state I decided to carry on slowly to a private albergue further on. Good choice! It was very nice and modern, even having a water feature in one area, and I got a bottom bunk. A nice surprise was that my friend Jan was also staying there.

I was very hot, perspiring, tired and in pain when I arrived but after a refreshing shower and a rest with my leg up I felt able to do my usual chores. Jan was now part of a little group which included a nurse. She said I had tendinitis and gave me some ibuprofen to take for a couple of days. Ideally I should have taken time out as well, but that was out of the question at this point. I later went out for a nice pilgrim dinner with the group and kept my leg up as much as possible the rest of the time. Tomorrow was to be the BIG day when I would hopefully make it to Santiago. Unsurprisingly I had taken no photographs during the day so all I have to record my last-but-one day´s walking is a group photo taken at dinner.