[Gocamino] An abbreviated Camino...

[Rebekah Scott]

My hat is off to Wes and Rita, who´ve hit hard trails from the very start but who keep on keepin´ on!  

As for the "advice" that "the Meseta (which is
over 800m) was an arid, arctic wasteland..."
I am shocked and dismayed at the slander. Yes, the wind blows hard and it gets cold up here, but once you´re past Burgos there´s not nearly so much snow and ice and frost! 

Another camino legend, I guess? 

Rebekah Scott, of the Frozen Arctic Tundra
www.moratinoslife.blogspot.com

--- On Thu, 1/1/09, Sil <sillydoll at gmail.com> wrote:

> From: Sil <sillydoll at gmail.com>
> Subject: Re: [Gocamino] An abbreviated Camino...
> To: "Wes & Rita" <wesrita at comcast.net>
> Cc: gocamino at oakapple.net
> Date: Thursday, January 1, 2009, 8:45 AM
> Dear Wes and Rita,
> I am so sorry this has happened to you.  One hears about
> Deep Vein
> Thrombosis (DVT) but never expects to have it happen to
> you.
> I'm pleased that all your plans went well at the start
> and that you have
> decided to go back.
> Perhaps you should consider going a little later than
> April?  For the last
> three years winter has lingered in Spain and April has been
> a treacherous
> month for many pilgrims.  As you know, a pilgrim died
> crossing from St Jean
> to Roncesvalles in 2007 and three Italians were lucky to
> live after being
> rescued on the mountain.
> If you decide to go in April, start at Pamplona rather than
> St Jean.  Even
> though there was still snow and flooding around Pamplona
> last year  - and
> the Alto del Perdon path was closed due to mud slides -
> you'll have a better
> chance of making it if you don't start in the
> mountains.  A South African
> pilgrim experienced knee deep snow as far as Villamayor and
> eventually
> abandoned her camino in Burgos when she was warned that the
> Meseta (which is
> over 800m) was an arid, arctic wasteland.
> I have a post on Winter walking on my blog that includes a
> few  reports from
> April pilgrims.
> http://amawalker.blogspot.com/2008/10/winter-walking-on-camino.html
> Please wish Wes a speedy recovery and wishing you both a
> happy camino.
> Abrazos,
> Sil
> 
> 
> 
> 2009/1/1 Wes & Rita <wesrita at comcast.net>
> 
> > Here's our tale of a (near-tragically) abbreviated
> Camino.  So many people
> > responded to my questions over the year spent planning
> our Camino and have
> > shown a kind interest in our journey that I wanted to
> share with you our
> > experience (with an important few words of warning!).
> >
> > We left Massachusetts on September 8, 2008.  Wes and I
> arrived at the
> > Madrid airport and had an easy time following
> Glenn's instructions on the
> > metro to the train station.  We caught a train to
> Pamplona and shared a taxi
> > to STPP with another peregrina.  We arrived early
> enough to have a beautiful
> > walk around the old town and a picnic dinner on the
> tiny balcony off our
> > room at the lovely bed and breakfast Sil had
> recommended (Errecaldia, just
> > outside the old town wall at the top of the hill). 
> The next morning we
> > headed off and it was beautiful -- and so exciting to
> join and be joined by
> > the other peregrinos.  Then...
> >
> > It seems that Wes had developed a blood clot on the
> flight from Boston to
> > Madrid.  He didn't feel it until that first day
> walking over the Pyrennees.
> >  He couldn't catch his breath on hills that were
> less steep than those we'd
> > been walking at home.  Apparently the clot had
> traveled to his lungs -- only
> > we didn't know what was happening!   To make a
> pretty scary story short, on
> > the third day he was willing to acknowledge that
> something was terribly
> > wrong and we turned around and walked back to the last
> town.  There, a
> > wonderful woman at the first place that was open
> called a taxi for us, we
> > returned to Pamplona and took the train back to
> Madrid, the metro back to
> > the airport, and finally got seats on a flight to DC
> (the only flight we
> > could get) still not knowing about the pulmonary
> embolism!  The next day we
> > flew to DC  and stayed overnight at my daughter's,
> then flew back home to
> > Massachusetts the next day.
> >
> > We saw a cardiologist (we thought it might be his
> heart, his blood
> > pressure, we didn't really have any idea)  in
> Boston the day after we got
> > home and found out what it had happened -- a pulmonary
> embolism.  The doctor
> > said Wes was lucky to be alive.  The short of it is
> the clot broke up on its
> > own over the next several weeks and Wes is back to
> himself, even back to
> > running.  But, we both were so sad to leave the
> Camino.  After all, this was
> > our second attempt -- the year before I put my back
> out and we had to cancel
> > the week before we were to leave.  We both said,
> We're going back! and we
> > are planning to do that in April (not to wait till
> September, we can't bear
> > another full year).
> >
> > So lessons learned:  First, when taking a long air
> flight, GET UP AND WALK
> > AROUND!  It doesn't matter what age you are (you
> can be 18 or 80) or your
> > physical condition (you can be a couch potato or a
> runner -- like Wes) you
> > need to move about on long plane trips.  I had a
> friend to whom this had
> > happened on a flight from LA to the east coast but I
> never really thought
> > much about it.  Now that it has happened to us, we
> hear lots of stories
> > about other people having clots on long flights. 
> Yikes!
> >
> > And second, the camino, at least the first few days on
> it, was everything
> > and more than I'd dreamed.  We are counting the
> days till we set out again
> > and now we finally have fewer weeks till we leave than
> we've passed since we
> > got back.  And this time we will give ourselves a
> little more time so we can
> > be sure we'll be able to walk the entire distance.
>  And we will start in
> > SJPP again so that Wes can enjoy the first few days
> this time.
> >
> > I never dreamed that it would be such a challenge to
> get started on the
> > Camino!  But now we are focused on our return -- the
> third time's the charm,
> > right?  But to repeat one more time:
> >
> > On long flights, GET UP AND WALK AROUND  --
> frequently.  And Glenn suggests
> > taking an aspirin before a flight -- sounds like a
> good idea to me.
> >
> > Buon Camino
> >
> > Rita
> >
> > _______________________________________________
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> >
> 
> 
> 
> -- 
> Sil
> http://amawalker.blogspot.com/
> www.vfpilgrims.blogspot.com
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