2002

 I had thought myself to be a bit of a pro at youth ministry. But I had a whole lot more to learn in Toukley. 

Our parish and school youth ministers had arranged a fantastic pilgrimage to Uluru. But because there were only female leaders, only girls went. And they came back saying what a great time they had and how they were able to be much more open because there were no boys around. 

This made me realise that there is a need for the boys too to have a tailor made program for them, because teenage boys are probably more in need of prompts to spirituality than teenage girls are. So I launched the Boys Beach Pilgrimage: five days in a borrowed minibus with me, another young adult youth leader and ten Year 10 & 11 boys, camping in national parks and on beaches up the north coast, including climbing Mt Warning to see the sunrise, pictured here. Along with the boisterousness of lots of beach soccer and cricket and swimming, we took time for affirmations and for silence, both of which were cumulative and progressive, taking the boys deeper than they had done with other retreat or prayer experiences previously. 

This launched an ongoing Year 10-12 boys group, with the parallel girls group continuing on also. I have done similar beach and snow retreats for boys ever since. 

But today in Spain was one of the most unusual days of my life. 

Cizur Menor, the town I stayed in last night had their annual fiesta (unbeknownst to us when we checked in to the albergue), which included an outdoor stage with a dance party until 4am. It might as well have been in my bedroom for all the good my earplugs were doing me. 

By 1am I would have gone out to join them (being unable to beat them!) bar one thing; an increasing muscle / tendon pain in my left lower shin. 

This emerged at the end of the second day of walking and took me greatly by surprise, because the terrain, distance and speed were nothing out of the ordinary for me. Oddly enough, two other otherwise fit pilgrims also had the exact same injury. Mykey and I iced our shins and Emily iced her (substantially worse) knee. 

By morning the shin felt OK so the walk from Larrosoana started well. The strong dull pain returned by the end of that day though. More ice and massaging helped a little. 

I assumed that I would be fine again this morning as Rachel and I walked out together. But within 500 metres I knew that I wouldn't be able to make the distance and turned back. The pain had developed from dull to sharp and would likely only get worse. 

A timely taxi (7am on a Sunday morning) arrived out of nowhere to take me to the hospital (no physios etc would be open). An X ray showed no stress fracture (which wouldn't likely show up early anyway) so I was prescribed lots of ibuprofen and rest, ice, compression and elevation (RICE) which I already knew would be the treatment, but a medical exam might be necessary if I need to claim later treatment or flight changes on insurance. 

Having gamed this out in my mind in the wee small hours of a sleep deprived morning I knew that I could hole up in a hotel room in Pamplona on my own for an indeterminate number of day with no guarantee that I'd be able to walk Camino distances again, or, just cut my losses and book return flights home asap. 

So, once in a comfy hotel room  and 90 min on a Flight Centre call I moved my flights to tomorrow. 

I messaged my sister Rosemary who immediately called me and shared in my disappointment, and questioned whether there weren't any other options. 

I then had a nap, which, as it often does refreshed me. I went to get lunch and providentially  bumped into Emily who told me that Mykey had also stopped in town for the day to tend to his injury, so we met up later. 

Mykey urged me to reconsider, and helped me to see that, despite me so often counselling other people not to (and St Ignatius warns against), I had made a significant change in a time of pain and sleep deprivation which went against all the much more well considered decisions I had made to come on Camino. For part of what I also am loving about Camino is spontaneity, to not have plans, and to be able to just walk and see where the road may take me. In my desire to avoid ambiguity (which many people do) I had jumped to a drastic response too soon. 

So right now I am re-changing my flights, and planning to walk out with Mykey in the morning. We'll both need to see if a day of RICE has made enough difference. Maybe, maybe not, but at least I will have given it a better shot. I have come so far to do the Camino so it's worth trying again.