I didnt sleep much as my ankle throbbed with pain. I dosed up on ibuprofen and hoped for the best. As we left the hotel, the owner mentioned it looked like tendonitis and that I should sleep with it elevated. Unfortunately I had been doing that every night with little benefit. I could barely walk and relied heavily on my poles to hold me up. Every few steps a zap of pain shot from my heel up into my calf. There was no way I was going to make it the 13 miles that we needed to. It was our last full day of hiking and my body was finally giving up. Tears welled up in my eyes as I thought about the alternatives. We had come this far, I couldn't just give up now. Hundreds of people passed us, some clapping as they watched me limp on. I got angry thinking the others saw me as weak. I focused on the trail and kept moving, one slow step at a time.

Around lunchtime we looked for a place to stop. Unfortunately it was Sunday and almost everything was closed. We walked on in silence and suddenly all the other pilgrims fell away and we were alone. It felt like forever that we traversed through huge eucalyptus forests. Finally we reached a road with a small cafe and jumped (not literally) at the chance to sit down. We sat for too long not wanting to walk anymore. Finally we stirred up the motivation to move on and dragged ourselves the last five miles. I had never been in more pain while hiking in my life and I was getting worried about permanent damage when we turned a corner and saw our hotel. There we had the best meal we'd had on the entire trail. It boosted our spirits and made for a good night's sleep for our final day into Santiago.

Stats

Salceda - Vilamaor

Miles: 13.8

Steps: 30,301

Times I wanted to quit: Nearly every step