Walking wounded

[nidarosa]

Hi, I am new to this forum, but I have already found lots of help and tips here - thank you all! I intend to walk the Camino Portugues from Porto in the autumn 2008 or spring 2009, depending on when a very good friend of mine, aged 60+, gets the all clear from several attacks of cancer and other severe illnesses ... Walking the Camino with her will be a strongly spiritual if not religious act, and I am looking forward to it - because I am looking forward to her recovery. Has anyone else walked the Camino with a physically weak but mentally determined partner? I worry that she will wear herself out. I am also wondering if there are hospitals and easily accessible transport along the way just in case something should happen? I will be carrying just about everything for both of us, and she wants to walk the whole way in two weeks or less. Is this sensible, doable, or should we take it a bit slower? Very thankful for any advice or comment.

Best of luck to all other pilgrims

nidarosa

 

[sillydoll]

I have read of diabetics walking the camino, haemophiliacs, the blind, wheelchair users, cancer survivors, kidney transplant survivors, amputees, you name it, they have walked it.
You sound well prepared. Take a cell phone with you and make sure you have all the emergency numbers just in case.
112 is the Europe-wide emergency number. It works even if you have no money in a pre-paid mobile phone or even if your supplier has no network. It works 24/7 365 days - and the operators speak many languages. The number for the Guardia Civil in Spain is 062.
Good luck to both of you!

 

[vinotinto]

When I was on the Camino this summer, I ran into a retired Norwegian teacher who had started walking in Le Puy, France. Both his knees were artificial, but he made decent time (in fact, for awhile we kept a similar pace, since I was hurting bad for the first couple of weeks after beginning my trek in St. Jean).

As far as I know, he completed his trek, since the last time I saw him he was relaxing at a cafe just a couple of days away from Santiago. He'd managed to keep going even after a couple of bad falls down some albergue stairs. I wish we'd gotten to do a Viking charge together into Santiago, but I never encounted him again... :arrow:

 

[Javier Martin]

Hi, Nidarosa.

In this Camino there's two different parts, the portuguese one and the spanish one. There's several quite important cities where any medical attention can be found: Porto, Barcelos, Ponte de Lima in Portugal, Tui, Porriño, Pontevedra, Caldas de Reis, Padron and Santiago in Spain.

I suppose that a good help for you should be to have a note in spanish and portuguese with her medical treatments, as clear as possible. And to know which are the local medicines she can need.

If you can send me this medicines, I can ask to spanish pilgrims doctors how easy or difficult can be for you to obtain that medicines. And I can try it in Portugal, too. Just answering this topic (it sends me automatically an email)

Have a wonderful Camino,

Javier Martin
Madrid, Spain.

 

[nidarosa]

Thank you all for your replies! I will make a note of your helpful info and have bought a book about the Camino Portugues to read for inspiration and tips on how to make the walk as comfortable as possible. Incidentally, we are both Vikings as well, and we hope the old conquering spirit will kick in along the way!

I will keep an eye on this forum to gather info, experiences and travel tips from the seasoned pilgrims - looking forward to the trip so much I thought I should bring another friend and do the English camino as a trial run, seeing as I will be coming from England, and also it's shorter!

Happy new year to all of you out there, all the best, and may you all find your way,
nidarosa

 

[vinotinto]

Incidentally, we are both Vikings as well, and we hope the old conquering spirit will kick in along the way!

Nice! My Viking blood certainly helped me - with a name like Erik Olson, what do you expect?! :lol: Since we are on the Norske thing, I made a sort of pilgrimage to Scandinavia back in the summer of 2005. I visited Oslo, Copenhagen, and Stockholm. I stayed in a hotel in Olso that used to house folks emigrating to America, and I even got to experience leaving the "homeland" by ship when I took the night cruise from Oslo to Copenhagen. A number of folks I encountered in Oslo initially spoke Norwegian to me, and they were a bit surprised when I let them know in English that I was an American tourist... :wink:

Has anyone else walked the Camino with a physically weak but mentally determined partner? I worry that she will wear herself out.

I posted info on this book in another thread - you might want to check it out:

Santiago de Compostela - Journal of Our Camino by Roger and Nancy Rhoades. They walked together in the spring of 2004. Nancy is a marathon runner, but Roger's right leg is crippled due to polio (no calf muscle, so he has knee dislocation issues). I haven't finished it yet, but you might find their physical and relational struggles on the Camino informative. I got it on Amazon US - not sure if it's on Euro Ammy, though. Buen Camino! :arrow: