injury Archives - helpful mammal

CCIII – Sligachan to Kyleakin

THE previous day’s walk may have ended ended in grey raininess but the third day of September 2018 began with mostly bluish skies and sunshine, though a crisp bite to the air had developed. As I stepped from my hotel, I was confronted with the sight of the Cuillin veiled lightly in thin, misty haze.

Extra 3 – Kilmelford to Oban

ON THE sixth and final walking day of my July 2017 trip I knew I was in trouble the moment I got out of bed. My knee was stiff and slightly inflamed and the previous day’s 20-miler had done it no favours at all. My plans for the day involved another 20 miles but that was now looking rather foolish. Perhaps I should abandon my walk altogether? I mean, I could hardly do that using only one leg…

CLXXV – Cairnbaan to Kilmelford

DAY Five of my most recent trip began with an urgent assessment of the damage to my knee. The previous day it had chosen to protest — through the medium of pain — against my plan to walk six days straight. An evening of rest and a cold compress had reduced the inflammation to almost negligible levels and a tentative stroll up and down the hotel hallway revealed that while it was in some indefinable way not quite right, it didn’t exactly hurt.

CLXXIV – Kilberry to Cairnbaan

AFTER an awesome breakfast, I emerged from the Kilberry Inn full of bounce and enthusiasm to embark upon my fourth day of walking in July 2017, which would be a 21-miler taking me from Kilberry — which had to be my start point on account of it being where I was — to Cairnbaan near Lochgilphead.

XCIX – Aberdaron to Porth Oer

MY 99TH walk was supposed to carry me from Aberdaron from to Nefyn. And technically it did but not quite as I’d intended. As it turned out, I abandoned the coast path after only nine miles and walked the rest of it by road. This was in no way what I had planned and I quickly resolved that I would return and complete the coast path route next time. So why did I do this?

Let me take you through it step by step…

Interruption Due to Injury

IT’S summer! I can tell because the rain is warmer! And that means it’s time to go and do more walking… but I can’t.

Last week, I found myself running for a bus, which was immediately followed by keeling over halfway between the start of the run and the actual bus, while clutching my knee and making ‘nnnng!’ noises. That weird tingly numb feeling that you get when your body is trying to hide what you’ve done from your brain started to spread through my leg.