As it's Sunday and I have no other appointments this afternoon I decided to go for a walk. The session with the physio this morning gave me the opportunity to check if it was normal to have a click or two in the new knee. I just wanted reassuring. He checked and said it was ok and was likely to be a tendon reasserting it's position! He didn't consider it to be a problem.
So after a very trying session using this interesting piece of kit which Penrhos Stanley Hospital in Holyhead could definitely do with...
Karolis, the Physio made me suspend my ankle in a strap hanging from the red rope, the lower part of which is bungeecord. Then he asked me to replicate leg movements as if I were cycling. You have to push down with the leg to avoid the rope going slack, well that wasn't too bad but then he asked me to reverse the movement so in effect cycling backwards! This was more difficult in terms of brain activity than leg problems!
So I was so exhausted by this and the other exercises against the wall frame that I forgot to go to the Cryotherpahy! Arghh! After resting and a bite to eat I set off on my walking challenge for day 5.
Turning right out of the entry road to the centre I walked past the point where I took photographs yesterday, a sluice where the river runs under the roadway maintaining the level of the lake. From here the road climbs to another new rehab centre Eglės sanatorija, Druskininkai. I followed the path round the lake edge and then climbed up an unsurfaced vehicle track into the woods.
Armed with my phone and google maps I had established that there was a footbridge of some kind a mile or so up the path. Soon I had returned to the banks of the river as the vehicle track disappeared. The views across the river valley were very peaceful with waterlilies and the rustle of leaves in the wind. As I left the lake further behind the valley narrowed and the forest was sufficiently dense as to not allow any view of the buildings beyond the horizon.
Still no sign of the bridge or anyway to cross the river and checking my phone I could see it was yet some way off. So I rested for a while before continuing the challenge. The path was undulating with lots of hazards in the way, undergrowth, fallen pine trunks and general plastic litter; should have brought my litter picker not the crutches!
At last I could see the river crossing as a couple of cyclists passed on a metalled track. I sat in the shelter by the river crossing, a culvert rather than a bridge, while I watched the dragonflies flit around in their bright blue livery.
After a short stop I checked the way from the other side of the river and noted that the track continued roughly perpendicular to the river and I needed to follow the river back to UPA. The path on the southern side of the river was less visible, passable and even more undulating so it took quite a lot of careful navigation of crutches to ascend and descend the slopes where the tree roots ran into the water's edge. The further along this rough path the more wood ants I saw along with a few newts here and there. I was a little concerned about getting wood ants lodged in my compression stockings! And then yes there was a wood ants' hill. 
Because of the swelling of the left foot I had no choice but to wear my crocs as I couldn't get my new boat-shoes to fit over my left foot. So with the ants and the forest debris my feet were taking a bit of a hit... But having checked my GPS position I could see that I was now pretty close to UPA and the buildings finally came into view.
The end of my firth day walking challenge was in sight and I made directly to the bar to taste some Lithuanian beer! Į sveikatą!
A great afternoon here is Druskiniskai
No comments:
Post a Comment