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Coming down the Roncesvalles side of the Pyrenees on the Napo Route 2014 young chap walking fell and cut his thigh after slipping on grey clay covering the rocks on the descent when he went into hospital he had stitches and was kept in over night due to severe dehydration it pays to have your insurance.I was posting on another thread about my trepidation about descents - on a bike in my case. I was reminded of an incident in 2014 when we passed a group of Italian bicigrinos on the descent from Cruz de Ferro. One had misjudged a corner and ended up in a ditch with broken bones. We were just leaving the Bar Movil, before Manjarin, when a medevac helicopter landed, blowing shade umbrellas, plastic tables and chairs all over the place. I hope he was insured.
Me too i had to go into hospital to have compeed plasters removed over blisters Surgeon told me never use these and dressed the wounds with ordinary mesh and bandage which got me through but the insurance i used was the EHIC card i had with me at least personnel insurance gives you a choice.I'm in the last days of holding an EHIC.
I'm going to miss that.
My first camino was 2015 when the young woman was murdered. Every stop we discussed it seeking updates. The authorities responded quickly and in full force.Coming down the Roncesvalles side of the Pyrenees on the Napo Route 2014 young chap walking fell and cut his thigh after slipping on grey clay covering the rocks on the descent when he went into hospital he had stitches and was kept in over night due to severe dehydration it pays to have your insurance.
I do love your writing, John. I’ve missed seeing those blog posts in my mailbox and you’ve inspired me to go back and read from the beginning.Not quite an accident, but certainly an alarming medical moment, and in a rather significant location too.
Keep Your Head Up
The significance of this experience is beginning to challenge my ability to keep up with it – physically, spiritually and literarily. This morning’s post covered the events of a memorab…johnelsewhere.blog
@JohnLloyd, I'll put this newly updated link here since you touched on the topic although the thread is about accidents and not about accident cover. There have been some positive changes since 24 December 2020 although it is still a little unclear to me what these changes will involve. This UK gov webpage was updated today: https://www.gov.uk/guidance/uk-residents-visiting-the-eueea-and-switzerland-healthcareI'm in the last days of holding an EHIC. I'm going to miss that.
Yea that grey mud on the rocks seems to be risky crossing those big rocks on the way down to Roncesvalles makes it even more difficult if you leave late in the day and 300 pilgrims have travelled there prior to you coming down that was in april can only imagine what it was like in September. Have you ever kept in touch with anyone on the camino. I met quite a few kept intouch with some but lost touch shortly after coming home.September 2016, a young Canadian girl tripped coming down the steep slope outside Ronscenvalles and broke her leg and was eventually carried out once the ambulance found her. Camino over on day 1. It stayed with me the whole Camino, because no matter how bad my day was with blisters and the heat wave, it could have been worse. At least I was still walking.
This is a thread about accidents and not murder.My first camino was 2015 when the young woman was murdered. Every stop we discussed it seeking updates. The authorities responded quickly and in full force.
Aw, thanks for that. The Camino provides us with unbeatable material!I do love your writing, John. I’ve missed seeing those blog posts in my mailbox and you’ve inspired me to go back and read from the beginning.
I think that it may still be valid from what I read somewhereI'm in the last days of holding an EHIC.
I'm going to miss that.
Each time we've entered Roncessvelles, we've always walked on the easier, tarmac path/ small road .....lstill a lovely walk down....and well markedYea that grey mud on the rocks seems to be risky crossing those big rocks on the way down to Roncesvalles makes it even more difficult if you leave late in the day and 300 pilgrims have travelled there prior to you coming down that was in april can only imagine what it was like in September. Have you ever kept in touch with anyone on the camino. I met quite a few kept intouch with some but lost touch shortly after coming home.
I have seen several on the CF.
We are the snails...first to leave but most pass us before we arrive. We stop about every 5km, if we can...@Marbe2 please keep us updated on your next camino with a Live from the Camino thread so the rest of us can stay safely behind you.
In 2008 walking the path just after Sahagun I turned to speak to a Camino friend who asked a question I walked straight into the corner of a huge roadsign. I split my face open above and below my right eye and across my nose. Of coursebb be I should have been looking where I was going but in fairness the sign extended across the footpath and was too low. It knocked me for six and dropped to the floor in pain..... but my guardian angel was with me for a few metres behind were two ladies who were nurses. They looked after me, tended my wounds and got me back on the Camino. I will never forget them.I was posting on another thread about my trepidation about descents - on a bike in my case. I was reminded of an incident in 2014 when we passed a group of Italian bicigrinos on the descent from Cruz de Ferro. One had misjudged a corner and ended up in a ditch with broken bones. We were just leaving the Bar Movil, before Manjarin, when a medevac helicopter landed, blowing shade umbrellas, plastic tables and chairs all over the place. I hope he was insured.
Ah, that’s good news.I think that it may still be valid from what I read somewhere
Even then, we always have full medical/travel insurance
Our EHIC are dated until the end of 2022
I don't have a link but sending a screenshot of what I've seen
Each time we've entered Roncessvelles, we've always walked on the easier, tarmac path/ small road .....lstill a lovely walk down....and well marked
We had heard that more than a few pilgrims had come a cropper on the stony, steep path
Also walking on Tarmac has the advantage of being able to look at the lovely scenery and fields instead of wondering and waiting for a trip/slip/fall
I've walked twice so far Cathal and have kept in touch with a couple from each Camino, including the lovely @tpmchugh who commented after you about his own accident on a later Camino.Have you ever kept in touch with anyone on the camino. I met quite a few kept intouch with some but lost touch shortly after coming home.
Me too i had to go into hospital to have compeed plasters removed over blisters Surgeon told me never use these and dressed the wounds with ordinary mesh and bandage which got me through but the insurance i used was the EHIC card i had with me at least personnel insurance gives you a choice.
True not an accident, but for those of us who were on our first camino at that time have this etched into our memories. We watched and waited because we did not know at the time if it was an accident or something more sinister. That memory is first and foremost in my mind when I remember that camino.This is a thread about accidents and not murder.
Just saying.
The manufacturer won't do this because sales will be lost. I warn about it though. SeeOUCH. Cathal, you are not the first to be so affected. I have never used "compeed" but feel it should come with some type of warning about how, when and where it can be used. Cheers
Idiotic behaviour like this gives cyclists of all stripes a bad reputation, whether they deserve it or not.some local bike club decided to take that stretch at full speed, at least 14 people in all.
All that said, I do wonder if Sr. Spandex was paying meticulous attention to his bicycle simply as an act of displacement behavior. It would be an acutely uncomfortable experience to cause that kind of harm to someone, to say the least. And what to do? Do you stay out of the way? Help? Crawl under the nearest rock in shame?The whole time that I am working the scene - - the WHOLE time - - Senor "Don't I look great in Spandex?" is checking over his bike!!!!!
Unfortunately very true, and it is worth noting that there was a perfectly good bitumen road metres away from where this accident happened. These guys are in it for the certainly dangerous thrill. (But it needs to be said it's their country).Idiotic behaviour like this gives cyclists of all stripes a bad reputation, whether they deserve it or not.
That must have been terrifying....glad it turned out Ok! So did your husband return? Or, someone in a cars stop?Or?Walking into Casrojeriz with my husband and two sons; husband was ahead with one child and I was with the other, taking photos. I tripped and fell falling on my front (hurt my knees but not too bad). The thing is, I was trapped under the weight of my backpack and was unable to get up. I was on the road (at the side) at the time and had to tell my son to wave at any cars that drove by while we waited for my husband to realise what had happened and come and help me up. My poor son was very concerned.... about my phone/camera as the screen had cracked lol. I still use that phone with its two cracks - my camino souvenir! (pack was around 8kgs as we were carrying some gear for the kids - not that heavy but the way it landed really pinned me. Hate to think if I was alone....
Aw thanks Mabe, no it wasn't terrifying, more bizarre or comical! No cars came by (I was worried they would run me over!) and husband turned when he was about 500m ahead of me so I wasnt there long. I was probably more worried about me son.That must have been terrifying....glad it turned out Ok! So did your husband return? Or, someone in a cars stop?Or?
Oh, yes. This happened to me as well when I fell. My hands were crossed in front of me, still holding my walking poles, and I was completely immobilized. It was both comical and embarrassing. But I was incredibly grateful to have three people to help me extract myself from the tangle of sticks and the pack weighing me down.The thing is, I was trapped under the weight of my backpack and was unable to get up.
Firstly , I really do not want yet another argument about Cyclists. I know accidents happen so all I ask is that if you are a cyclist , please use a bell and be vigilant - to traditional pilgrims , if you are playing music on your iPod then you are as much to blame?I was posting on another thread about my trepidation about descents - on a bike in my case. I was reminded of an incident in 2014 when we passed a group of Italian bicigrinos on the descent from Cruz de Ferro. One had misjudged a corner and ended up in a ditch with broken bones. We were just leaving the Bar Movil, before Manjarin, when a medevac helicopter landed, blowing shade umbrellas, plastic tables and chairs all over the place. I hope he was insured.
Not Camino related but a travel story in a similar vein. While traveling across Canada from West to East on the trans-Canadian hwy in the early 1980's we spent a night in a Youth Hostel somewhere which also had bunks and a concrete floor.On a 'Lighter'note , at the Logróno Parroquial there were two men who within a few seconds, fell out of their top bunk beds. The one broke his arm , the other had a broken nose. They both saw the humour in the incident although I think that there can be some lesson here and straps on the sides of the bunks could perhaps prevent this.
True not an accident, but for those of us who were on our first camino at that time have this etched into our memories. We watched and waited because we did not know at the time if it was an accident or something more sinister. That memory is first and foremost in my mind when I remember that camino.
I don't understand this statement Mike, if you are an EU pilgrim you will be covered by your E111 card and if you have Health and/or Travel insurance you are covered anyway. Where did you get that Spain does not honour these agreements?About health and accident insurance, more than a few EU pilgrims have attempted to rely upon the EU reciprocal arrangements only to find that Spain does not always honour the agreements.
Linkster, sorry that your initial treatment went wrong! Hope that wrist is not a problem anymore.I confess I was an accident on the Camino. It was my first Camino in 2017. We went as a family + 1 to walk from Sarria to SdC, and then vacation on the coast. It was the end of the first day. We were at a little tienda just before Portomarín. We stopped for something to drink. My wife and youngest son headed out ahead of us. My oldest son, his girlfriend, and I sat for a bit and started jogging to catch up to them. When we started down hill, my son's girlfriend drifted into me, and checked me. I tumbled and rolled, and popped back up quickly. She started laughing, and said "are you OK?". We got to the bottom of the hill, and I sat down on a bench, and told them that I had broke my wrist. They did not believe me at first, until they saw the weird bend. We immobilized it with an improvised splint, sling and swathe. There was a woman waiting for her daughter to be dropped off that called a cab for us.
My oldest son and I went to our hotel in Portomarín, and checked. Then, we caught a cab to the hospital in Lugo. There were actually three of us lined up with the same injury (I was the only pilgrim). It was a treat for them to set, and cast it (NOT!). I was never charged for my treatment in the hospital.
That was the end of my first Camino, and I spent the next three weeks in Spain with a cast. They did not set it correctly, so I had to have an open reduction and plate installed when I returned home. A couple of months of rehab, and I went back in the fall by myself, and walked from SJPD to SdC.
I don't understand this statement Mike, if you are an EU pilgrim you will be covered by your E111 card and if you have Health and/or Travel insurance you are covered anyway. Where did you get that Spain does not honour these agreements?
In 2017, on the second day of my camino, I broke a front tooth after walking into an unmarked glass door in an albergue. Despite having a valid EHIC card, I was charged for the dental work I received in Santiago, which I did not contest. Far from being aggrieved at the unexpected bill, I was most grateful to the young dentist for her excellent reconstruction, which has remained intact to this day. €60 was a small price to pay for restoring the tooth and my self-respect.On my 2015 camino I encountered a UK citizen who remarked that the day before he was in hospital ER and despite producing his identity card and health care card he was still charged around E50. They gave him a receipt and told him to claim it back from the UK health system. His remarks were not repeatable.
The E111 does not give you free treatment, just the same treatment and cost as going to your own doctor, although Spain would be cheaper than going to my own doctor here.I am not an EU citizen so I will admit to not knowing about the above specifics you quote. I do know that when I needed medical treatment in Salamaca I had to pay (E100). On my 2015 camino I encountered a UK citizen who remarked that the day before he was in hospital ER and despite producing his identity card and health care card he was still charged around E50. They gave him a receipt and told him to claim it back from the UK health system. His remarks were not repeatable.
Hi Wayfarer,The E111 does not give you free treatment, just the same treatment and cost as going to your own doctor, although Spain would be cheaper than going to my own doctor here.
I have had three full blown, hit the earth hard falls on my Camino's. Two consisted of slippery ground, lost footing and a controlled fall to the ground with a bit of a drop and roll, letting the pack take the impact. Got dirty and muddy, bit sore but no injuries. The first one I got up wearing the pack and later wondered why. The second one I slid the pack off and got up.I’ve had a few nasty falls ... usually on level ground ... and I found it’s easier to get back up if I unhook my backpack and shrug it off first.
If you cannot stand up with your pack on you have a problem but a solution is unclip pack roll over and let it fall off. Thank youSome nasty accidents related here. Good to hear of the recoveries.
A couple instances tell of falling down and being pinned down by the weight of the backpack? Wow. I think that's a good lesson to prospective pilgrims or any pilgrims contemplating pack weight. A good test for pack weight. Put on your pack with all the gear you plan on bringing. Cinch it up like your walking. Lie prone on the ground. Try and get up. If you cannot do so easily probably time to rethink what you plan on carrying and your fitness level as well.
I had a really similar accident in the same area; turned out my pole’s flared tip had hooked itself around a half-buried water hose that ran right across the path: I went over face first, with my loaded pack providing added momentum. I was fine other than a big bump on my forehead and a slightly black eye most of the way to SDC. It was my fourth Camino: what surprised me most was that no one stopped...one guy literally stepped over me and kept going.No, but I was an accident for others to witness. I was cruising along at a good clip near the reservoir after Logroño when I took a very hard full that was so sudden and fast that I didn't even have time put my arms out. I went down like a tree falling, and the first thing that hit the ground was my left cheekbone. The three other people I was walking with at the time we're incredibly kind, helping me up and helping to patch me up. I looked like I'd been in a fight for a coupke of weeks, and that cheekbone hurt for two months afterwards. You never know when your next step won't happen. Or why.
Edit~ I suspect I just scuffed my foot, and was going so fast that the momentum took me down. But I could have just as easily momentarily caught the loop of the shoelace on the lacehook of the opposite shoe. It's scary when that happens!
I remember it so well ... quite a gloomy place anyway! Rozanna ( Rozenn!)Not quite an accident, but certainly an alarming medical moment, and in a rather significant location too.
Keep Your Head Up
The significance of this experience is beginning to challenge my ability to keep up with it – physically, spiritually and literarily. This morning’s post covered the events of a memorab…johnelsewhere.blog
Seriously!??what surprised me most was that no one stopped...one guy literally stepped over me and kept going.
Amending that now! I have no idea where I got that other spelling from either!I remember it so well ... quite a gloomy place anyway! Rozanna ( Rozenn!)
Something similar happened to me at the end of my first camino. I was in Finesterre and crossing the main road from the harbour. I lifted one foot to step up onto the sidewalk and the toe of my boot caught on the curb, as I had not lifted my foot high enough. I went forward and landed on my face. As I was lying there, evaluating my condition prior to attempting to arise, a young woman passed close by me, paying no attention to my body on the sidewalk. Eventually, I crawled to my feet, totally uninjured. What went through my mind after that was that I was surprised by the height of the curb, which was much higher than I was accustomed to. I reflected that curbs in Spain are not at a standard height, as in Canada, where they are cement and all the same in different cities and regions. This curb was decorative, put together of brick paving. Ever since, I have been extremely aware of the variety of roadside curbing in Spain, much of it decorative and also much in a state of deterioration. I was lucky not to be injured and I have walked in Spain in a higher degree of awareness ever since.what surprised me most was that no one stopped...one guy literally stepped over me and kept going.
Ditto. In Sept 2015 I fell crossing a busy street in downtown Virgin del Camino and broke my right hand rather badly. I was immediately ambulanced to the Leon Hospital. There I was triaged, operated upon by English-speaking doctors, bandaged, given a prescription for pain pills, and then ushered out the door -- all within 3-4 hours. The hospital would not take a penny from me that day. It later billed me at my USA home, and after my travel insurance paid it's bit, I was out-of-pocket only $200. The treatment quality was quite possibly the best I've ever experienced anywhere. (Oh - and I carried on all the way to SdeC, in an enormous blue sling.. Ultreia!)I had to use the hospital in Leon, it was very inexpensive for Doc, treatment, meds etc...like $225.00 dollars.
That, for obvious reasons is to me a very scary story. I don’t like to contemplate how much worse it could have been.Some years ago , I was just starting the three long days to Finisterre after reaching Santiago. I was with a charming German woman when a woman on a bicycle came up behind and passed us going west . Within seconds we heard a scream and a crash . We had entered a cutting where the banks of the trail rose 3 meters on each side and a sapling from the top of the bank had flopped over and hung like a Lance into the walkway . The girl on the bike ,wearing sun glasses , but facing the suns glare , had run into the "lance" that struck her square in the chest(right between her boobs) knocking her off the bike and giving her a nice cut on her sternum . We ran up to her and rolled her over to see blood all over her shirt and her unable to breathe . She had the wind knocked out of her . We got a bandage on her chest and her ruined bra off her . She was an American who had finished her Camino but rented a bike in Santiago to ride to Finisterre . Fortunately we were only a couple kilometers out of town and got her & the rented bike back to town . It sure could have been worse , face , breast ,or throat could have been very bad . I tried to remove the tree from the ground but had no real tools , it had hit other people as to was limbless but sharp. I had just enough cord to tie up against the bank ,more or less out of the way .
I do love your writing, John. I’ve missed seeing those blog posts in my mailbox and you’ve inspired me to go back and read from the beginning.
Not quite an accident, but certainly an alarming medical moment, and in a rather significant location too.
Keep Your Head Up
The significance of this experience is beginning to challenge my ability to keep up with it – physically, spiritually and literarily. This morning’s post covered the events of a memorab…johnelsewhere.blog
I just read your blog post and was literally just a few minutes ahead of you . I met Dublin Debbie and Rozanne that day at San Juan de Ortegas - I took a selfie of the three of us which Rozenn is using as her profile pic. I likely nearly tripped over you too. It seems amazing we were all there at once...Not quite an accident, but certainly an alarming medical moment, and in a rather significant location too.
Keep Your Head Up
The significance of this experience is beginning to challenge my ability to keep up with it – physically, spiritually and literarily. This morning’s post covered the events of a memorab…johnelsewhere.blog
Yes. These stories of people being stepped over while they try to right themselves after a hard fall are shocking to me. Have we become so selfish or myopic that we can't even pause for a few moments to render aid? It's pathetic.I just hope the collective will cool its jets a bit.
Yikes. The reality of what can and does happen. Mishaps. Talk about the need to fully present as much as possible. Thanks for the reality check ... good to contemplate as a newbie Kanga!I've fallen over numerous times while on camino - and even on the way there. Once I did a spectacular face plant directly in front of the Prado in Madrid. Missed seeing a step down to a lower level of the footpath. Another time a big fall on a steep slope with slippery cobblestones. Another was a fall as I slipped in treacherous mud - again a face plant.
Each time people have immediately stopped and tried to help. Bruises and scrapes but no permanent damage to anything except my dignity.
One friend was reading her map book while walking and put her foot into a hole and came down. She knew immediately she was in trouble (it turned out to be a badly broken ankle). She was by herself at the time and could not get any of the passing pilgrims to understand she needed help. She managed to drag herself to a house, and hammered on the door, but the person inside just kept pointing towards the village. Eventually some English speaking pilgrims came to her aid and an ambulance was summoned. She was, I think, rather surprised that it took so much effort to get people to understand it was serious.
Not so, for my second friend, my walking companion who was ahead of me that day. She caught her foot and fell over a tree root in the eucalyptus forrest just before Santiago airport. She seriously damaged her elbow but she got help nearly straight away, I think because she was screaming in agony. That works!
Yeah.A guy stopped me and told me that a number of people die each year when continuing to walk and take photos and slip over the cliff edge so his good advice to me was - stop first!
I took several of embarrassing but harmless backwards slides (over the course of years) before I figured this out. Going downhill, whatever you do don't stiffen and lean backwards. Swiss friends taught me to drop into bent knees and hips, keeping the center of gravity over the legs - leaning neither backwards nor too far forwards. Think skiing. It makes a huge difference to one's stability with a pack.This thread is a good reminder that when wearing a backpack your center of balance changes completely.
Thank you for the tip! I was wondering about that with practice walking and my load! Keep 'em comin'!Yeah.
How many of us walk and take photos at the same time? It's really dumb, but I bet we've all done it at one point or another - whether from inner pressure, or simply trying to keep up with others.
I took several of embarrassing but harmless backwards slides (over the course of years) before I figured this out. Going downhill, whatever you do don't stiffen and lean backwards. Swiss friends taught me to drop into bent knees and hips, keeping the center of gravity over the legs - leaning neither backwards nor too far forwards. Think skiing. It makes a huge difference to one's stability with a pack.
Thank you for the tip! I was wondering about that with practice walking and my load! Keep 'em comin'!
I went right over my full suitcase, wheels got stuck (at 11 pm) on an Aberdeen bridge!Funny enough, I *turtled* on a bench in Viana. A walking companion was waiting for a bus to take him into Logrono and his brother and sister-in-law were walking on without him. I needed a rest anyway as I was really starting to hurt from the fall amen outside Roncesvalles. I settled sideways on a bench so that I could face him to talk, and the bench was on a fairly steep incline. The weight of my pack simply pulled me right over backward, and I'd probably had to have rolled over to right myself had he not been there to pick me back up.
The pack-weight alters everything.
Never, EVER, use Compeed if you already have developed blisters. They are one of the Devil's creations for preventing pilgrims trying to get to Santiago in order to get absolution and come to Heaven at the end of their misery here on Earth.Me too i had to go into hospital to have compeed plasters removed over blisters Surgeon told me never use these and dressed the wounds with ordinary mesh and bandage which got me through but the insurance i used was the EHIC card i had with me at least personnel insurance gives you a choice.
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