Today was probably the highlight of the trip so far. After a relatively miserable night at the Bunk Barn, I needed a boost. I woke up and took a shower. Things started to go wrong right there. Remember, the showers are two buildings away from the bunk barn. So, I gathered up everything, borrowed Phil’s slippers and walked over to the showers. This time, I was smart enough to take the right most shower stall which I had heard was the one that worked best. I was half-way through my shower when I realized I had forgotten to bring my towel. Not sure what to do, I was happy when someone walked in to use the toilets (these were all in one small messy room – the five stalls were divided into two toilets and three showers). I yelled out asking who it was and hear “It’s Ian.” I begged Ian to go back to the bunk barn and bring me my towel, which he kindly did.
Then, I went back to the bunk barn and took my time packing up. I was very worried about my foot and so I used Phil’s athletic tape to bind up my left foot quite tight. The tape was very sticky and I was worried about its impact on my foot, but I had no choice. After a while, Phil asked me if I had had breakfast and I said no. Still wrapping up my things, I walked over to the main house and asked for breakfast. The lady looked startled and said that she had been told we were all done. I told her there were still six or so of us in the barn who needed breakfast and this set of a panic in the kitchen. They said they needed to go get more supplies and there was a little shouting back and forth between the people in the kitchen. Seeing what I had set off, I told her I would just make sure that the others in the barn needed breakfast. I ran back to barn and discovered to my horror that I was the only one who still had not had breakfast. I went back and let them know and there was a sigh of relief. They asked me what I wanted and I said, “anything.” “You don’t want a full English breakfast, do you?” she asked in a voice that made it clear that she was hoping my answer was no. I took the hint and asked for two fried eggs and toast along with some orange juice and coffee. As I was enjoying this breakfast, she stepped in and informed me that the last group was actually waiting for me outside and I needed to hurry up. I gulped down the last of the breakfast, filled up my Camelbak and headed out to join the last group to leave the Barn.
I had promised Phil that I would walk slower today in exchange for borrowing his slippers for my shower. I also assumed I would walk slower because of my injury. Also, today was supposed to be the day we would see more of the actual wall, something we have seen very little of so far. Both of us wanted someone who would take photos of us with the segments of the wall we’d see today.
It was barely fifteen minutes into our walk that I realized it was going to be hard. I was walking slower, but Phil was much slower. The truth is that it is very hard to walk slower than your natural pace. Especially since I was in pain and wanted to keep a steady gait going, I found it difficult to constantly stop and encourage Phil to move faster. So, I finally gave up and tried to walk at my normal pace. It didn’t take long for me to leave Phil far behind. The pain was bad but nothing like yesterday. I just kept going and discovered that if I planted my left foot on a rightward-sloping slope in such a way that it landed at an angle, the pain was much less. I tried to do this whenever I could. I also had borrowed Archie’s walking stick and that helped a great deal. I am convinced that it is going to result in
significant shoulder aches tomorrow though, since I am offloading a lot of weight on the stick now. If I said today was painless, I’d be lying. But, it certainly was not as excruciating as yesterday. I’d call it extreme discomfort. At one point in the afternoon, I felt a sharp pain in the foot and it almost immediately dissipated. The pain in the foot seemed to lessen considerably. Again, it isn’t painless, but it certainly seemed to drop. Maybe I strained the tendon back into its spot or something. The rest of the walk was only under moderate discomfort.
One problem was that the bandage I had tied this morning was cutting into my foot at the back. I had discovered this problem in the morning and used my nail clippers to slightly relieve the stress in the back by cutting part of it off right behind the heel. When I stopped for lunch, I took off my left shoe and sock as I could feel something that seemed like a blister. I couldn’t see anything and because the plaster was not feeling very good, I decided to take it off. Big mistake. There were about three blisters under the plaster. One on the left side of the foot, a small one on the right side of the foot and a fairly nig one in the center. When I peeled the bandage off, it took a chunk of skin along with it. I poured a bunch of Gold Bond foot powder on the open blisters and put my socks back on and kept going. I did have two more ibuprofen with lunch (so I am now operating regularly on 6 a day) and I was surprised at how little trouble I had the rest of the walk. Later I found I have another rather filled up blister under the little toe on my right foot.
And the scenery today was spectacular. We walked through woods, through sweeping fields of pasture, and along steep cliffs. We even got to walk on the wall during one small part (the only portion where you can actually walk on the wall). The terrain was very rough. There were many exceptionally steep parts both going up and down. It seemed like we were going up and down all the time, but we must have been trending up as we passed the highest point of the wall during the climb. It’s all downhill from here! We really had spectacular scenery almost throughout the day today. Plus, we got to walk along the wall most of the way. It was also a significantly shorter walk than yesterday and so I was very happy.
As we walked towards the “Twice Brewed Pub” at the end of our walk today, I was chatting with one of the walkers, Michael. We joked about trying to beat each other to the pub because we had found out that they had some rooms to rent. Given our miserable experience last night, we both were not looking forward to another night in a tent on the floor or in a bunk barn. We went in to the pub and I tried a pint of a local brew. Then, I asked one of the barmaids if they had a room available. “We have one double,” she said. “How much?” I asked, ready to pay up to about fifty quid (see, I’m adopting English slang!) for a comfortable room for the night. “82 pounds,” she said. As I was debating this, Justin, one of the other walkers came up behind me and said that he would really be interested in the room if I would share it with him. Since I had already spoken to Michael (and there was only one room), I wasn’t sure. Finally, Michael backed out and said Justin could have the room. We both agreed to share it. It was only later, when we were sitting at the pub when one of the people mentioned, “You know, a double means one bed, don’t you?” “Huh, how can a ‘double’ mean one bed? Then why is it a ‘double’?” I asked, thinking they were joking? “A room with two beds is called a twin. A room with one double bed is a double,” they said. I went to the room and checked, and sure enough, it did have only one bed. By this time, I was too vested in this comfortable room with an attached bathroom and the prospect of being in a tent at the campsite looked even less appealing. I looked at Justin and we agreed that we’d manage. Of course, the jokes started almost immediately. I heard all about big spoon, little spoon, head-to-toe, Velcro, and all kinds of other lewd things from the group. It was all just envy, of course!
Not only is the room comfortable, but it has wi-fi, which allows me to catch up on the blog posts. I’ll try and add a few photos today. But more will come later.
Then, I went back to the bunk barn and took my time packing up. I was very worried about my foot and so I used Phil’s athletic tape to bind up my left foot quite tight. The tape was very sticky and I was worried about its impact on my foot, but I had no choice. After a while, Phil asked me if I had had breakfast and I said no. Still wrapping up my things, I walked over to the main house and asked for breakfast. The lady looked startled and said that she had been told we were all done. I told her there were still six or so of us in the barn who needed breakfast and this set of a panic in the kitchen. They said they needed to go get more supplies and there was a little shouting back and forth between the people in the kitchen. Seeing what I had set off, I told her I would just make sure that the others in the barn needed breakfast. I ran back to barn and discovered to my horror that I was the only one who still had not had breakfast. I went back and let them know and there was a sigh of relief. They asked me what I wanted and I said, “anything.” “You don’t want a full English breakfast, do you?” she asked in a voice that made it clear that she was hoping my answer was no. I took the hint and asked for two fried eggs and toast along with some orange juice and coffee. As I was enjoying this breakfast, she stepped in and informed me that the last group was actually waiting for me outside and I needed to hurry up. I gulped down the last of the breakfast, filled up my Camelbak and headed out to join the last group to leave the Barn.
I had promised Phil that I would walk slower today in exchange for borrowing his slippers for my shower. I also assumed I would walk slower because of my injury. Also, today was supposed to be the day we would see more of the actual wall, something we have seen very little of so far. Both of us wanted someone who would take photos of us with the segments of the wall we’d see today.It was barely fifteen minutes into our walk that I realized it was going to be hard. I was walking slower, but Phil was much slower. The truth is that it is very hard to walk slower than your natural pace. Especially since I was in pain and wanted to keep a steady gait going, I found it difficult to constantly stop and encourage Phil to move faster. So, I finally gave up and tried to walk at my normal pace. It didn’t take long for me to leave Phil far behind. The pain was bad but nothing like yesterday. I just kept going and discovered that if I planted my left foot on a rightward-sloping slope in such a way that it landed at an angle, the pain was much less. I tried to do this whenever I could. I also had borrowed Archie’s walking stick and that helped a great deal. I am convinced that it is going to result in
significant shoulder aches tomorrow though, since I am offloading a lot of weight on the stick now. If I said today was painless, I’d be lying. But, it certainly was not as excruciating as yesterday. I’d call it extreme discomfort. At one point in the afternoon, I felt a sharp pain in the foot and it almost immediately dissipated. The pain in the foot seemed to lessen considerably. Again, it isn’t painless, but it certainly seemed to drop. Maybe I strained the tendon back into its spot or something. The rest of the walk was only under moderate discomfort.
One problem was that the bandage I had tied this morning was cutting into my foot at the back. I had discovered this problem in the morning and used my nail clippers to slightly relieve the stress in the back by cutting part of it off right behind the heel. When I stopped for lunch, I took off my left shoe and sock as I could feel something that seemed like a blister. I couldn’t see anything and because the plaster was not feeling very good, I decided to take it off. Big mistake. There were about three blisters under the plaster. One on the left side of the foot, a small one on the right side of the foot and a fairly nig one in the center. When I peeled the bandage off, it took a chunk of skin along with it. I poured a bunch of Gold Bond foot powder on the open blisters and put my socks back on and kept going. I did have two more ibuprofen with lunch (so I am now operating regularly on 6 a day) and I was surprised at how little trouble I had the rest of the walk. Later I found I have another rather filled up blister under the little toe on my right foot.
And the scenery today was spectacular. We walked through woods, through sweeping fields of pasture, and along steep cliffs. We even got to walk on the wall during one small part (the only portion where you can actually walk on the wall). The terrain was very rough. There were many exceptionally steep parts both going up and down. It seemed like we were going up and down all the time, but we must have been trending up as we passed the highest point of the wall during the climb. It’s all downhill from here! We really had spectacular scenery almost throughout the day today. Plus, we got to walk along the wall most of the way. It was also a significantly shorter walk than yesterday and so I was very happy.
As we walked towards the “Twice Brewed Pub” at the end of our walk today, I was chatting with one of the walkers, Michael. We joked about trying to beat each other to the pub because we had found out that they had some rooms to rent. Given our miserable experience last night, we both were not looking forward to another night in a tent on the floor or in a bunk barn. We went in to the pub and I tried a pint of a local brew. Then, I asked one of the barmaids if they had a room available. “We have one double,” she said. “How much?” I asked, ready to pay up to about fifty quid (see, I’m adopting English slang!) for a comfortable room for the night. “82 pounds,” she said. As I was debating this, Justin, one of the other walkers came up behind me and said that he would really be interested in the room if I would share it with him. Since I had already spoken to Michael (and there was only one room), I wasn’t sure. Finally, Michael backed out and said Justin could have the room. We both agreed to share it. It was only later, when we were sitting at the pub when one of the people mentioned, “You know, a double means one bed, don’t you?” “Huh, how can a ‘double’ mean one bed? Then why is it a ‘double’?” I asked, thinking they were joking? “A room with two beds is called a twin. A room with one double bed is a double,” they said. I went to the room and checked, and sure enough, it did have only one bed. By this time, I was too vested in this comfortable room with an attached bathroom and the prospect of being in a tent at the campsite looked even less appealing. I looked at Justin and we agreed that we’d manage. Of course, the jokes started almost immediately. I heard all about big spoon, little spoon, head-to-toe, Velcro, and all kinds of other lewd things from the group. It was all just envy, of course!Not only is the room comfortable, but it has wi-fi, which allows me to catch up on the blog posts. I’ll try and add a few photos today. But more will come later.
Oh you poor thing with your messed up left foot!!!! Hope it all gets bette. Nice pics..anyway, all the best for the remainder of the walk!
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