Update:
It looks like this didn’t upload for some reason! This was the day before I decided to go to Spain to rest.

Yesterday was a very strange day. It started out looking like the rain might blow over, but sure enough around 11 it started again. We had started on the road and around 10 decided walking in the mud would be better than along this awful highway, so we were in the woods along a cute little path. By as soon as the rain started we bundled up and didn’t look around much.

We missed a turn somehow and then had to double back on the road a bit, before getting a ride a couple of kilometers to Lambeye. We had a hot chocolate at the bar and then found the tourist office. The lady was very helpful but everything was booked!! Even the pilgrims place outside town, which is surprising because not many other people are walking.

The worst thing was my right knee. It was the left I had worried about before this trip, but now the right is just awful. At first it was just going downhill but by the afternoon, having favored it all day, it was almost unbearable to walk on it. The odd thing is it doesn’t seem to be any damage or problem with the joint itself. I’ve taped it up every way I know how but get no relief. After talking with my good friend Natalie last night (who is an athletic trainer) I think that my leg muscles have just all started spasming and gumming up because I did too much quickly and haven’t been stretching enough.

So we were stuck in a town with no where to stay and I wasn’t in any condition to keep going, my feet were squelching in my boots and it was still raining. So we decided to try to get a ride to where were planning to stay tomorrow night, Morlaas. The kind lady who pulled over was going all the way to Pau, the municipal capital, which was 2 more days ahead of us walking, but Diana and I looked at each other and with dreams of a nice hotel room (we had saved ourselves 2 nights of hostels after all) with a soak tub, agreed to go all the way to town! Claudia was her name, and she said there are avalanche warnings in the Pyrenees and chance of rain forecasted all week, so as of this morning were thinking of spending the day here, maybe finding a spa with a hot pool and then tomorrow maybe taking a bus over the mountains. Or give my knee another day to relax tomorrow and then figure out the weather and bus situation. This morning Diana mentioned holing in a little spa somewhere in the mountains until the weather changes! She is being a lovely sport, I think the bad weather (she has had a week more of it than I have) has affected her as negatively as my health is and she is being very patient with my situation. The knee does feel a little better this morning, I was able to walk to the toilet down the hall almost normally after stretching this morning. We need to get out of the hotel soon and find some breakfast, and Im just going to try to take it slow. Still have a bad cough as well, which isn’t getting much better or worse yet. Janet, I think my body is telling me to slow down!!

Update: I take it back. Diana is out wandering around the town before we need to check out, and I’ve taken all of the tape off and am feeling the kneecap as I bend and extend the leg, and its definitely popping over some tendons in the inside of the knee. I’m going to tape it like the other knee, pulling the kneecap off to the side, but I think it will take more than a day of rest to make any improvement. Not sure what I’m going to do. We have a reservation at the pilgrim hostel on the other side of town for tonight, and they have reserved a masseuse for me. I guess I’ll go through with that anyway and see it loosening the muscles helps at all. If not, I may need to find a place to stay for a week or more while I let it heal. Oh bugger.