No Kneed To Worry....

Saturday, August 14….

Friday I walked from St. Chely d’ Aburac to Espalion and today, Saturday, I walked from Espalion to Golinhac. The area I’m passing through now is comprised of long broad mostly open ridges with green forested valleys. The path generally follows near the top of a ridge but regularly dips down as it passes through one charming village to the next. Tonight I’m camped at a small municipal campground in the quiet ridge top village of Golinhac with expansive views.

The only downside to camping in a quaint small village in France is that most have an ancient church with a bell, if not two bells, and a clock. In France the bell goes off right before the hour to let you know that it’s getting ready to announce the hour. A few moments later it rings for the hour. This goes on 24 hours a day. The old church bell sounds kind of nice during waking hours but at 2 am it doesn’t sound as good. However, after walking all day with a pack it’s pretty easy to sleep through it.

This morning got off to a rough start. The day before yesterday I slightly twisted my right knee. I didn’t think much about it and woke up yesterday morning with very mild soreness. It went away with walking. I walked all day with no problem but last night it began to stiffen and hurt quite bad. When I awoke today I was a little worried because it was difficult and painful to get around. Nonetheless, I packed up my things just like every day, wrapped my knee with an ace bandage, and walked on. For the first two hours I kind of hobbled along slowly. Unfortunately, the knee wasn’t loosening up like I hoped. I stopped and wrapped the ace bandage tighter and continued on. I was feeling kind of low but the tighter wrap seemed to be helping and my walking was becoming a little more normal.

At one point I thought I might have made a wrong turn so while backtracking a short distance to check I met up with a friendly German by the name of Klaus. Klaus immediately introduced himself and initiated conversation. The conversation was good at taking my thoughts away from my knee.

Klaus is a 55 year teacher of Sociology and Biology. He is of typical German build and stature and is a good steady walker. He discovered the benefits of long distance walking after going through a period of life when he became very burned out with work and personal issues. Miles of walking helped to clear his mind and that is why he continues to walk today.
As we strolled into the village of Estaing we decided to stop for a break. My knee was finally starting to loosen up. Klaus bought me a café au lait “Grande” and my spirits began to rise. We finished our drinks and continued talking as we walked out of Estaing and headed up a long climb to another ridge.

I’ve found that a Long Distance walking is full of high, lows, and everything in between. Sometimes, all in the same day. You never really know what the day will bring and who you might meet. Sometimes it’s the people you meet while on a long walk that make the experience all the better. Walking also gives a person plenty of time to think and reflect while exercise in itself helps to clear the mind.

By the end of the day I was managing the knee issue pretty well and this evening it’s not feeling too bad. I likely stretched something the wrong way the other day when I mildly twisted it. This probably caused some instability which made the knee track a little improperly. Naturally this can cause inflammation. The ace bandage does a good job at helping things stay in proper alignment which alleviates the cause of inflammation. Anyway, that’s my Dr. Todd assessment so I don’t think it’s going to be a real problem. I’ll just continue to wrap it snugly.

No kneed to worry...