At the end of our Holidays we felt ready for another walk, our first hill walk of 2019 garenteed to blow a few cobwebs away before returning to work. I was in moderate pain, but felt positive. I planned the route and chose to walk to the top of Waun Rynn (769m) It was very clearly a walk of 3 parts. Up the hill( 121m – 769m) down the hill, finishing with a lovely flat canal walk. I felt that this would be perfect for me to manage my energy and stamina. The walk was amazing! A beautiful crisp winter day with sun shining onto the dusting of snow on the hill top. It offered constant delightful views over the Breacon Beacons and the black mountains. A perfect distraction from the pain that was starting to build.
The views at the top were worth the struggle on the ascent and invited us to stop and soak in the peace and tranquility of the hills. We could see a few people walking in the distance, but had yet to meet with anyone making it perfectly peaceful. Because of the icy wind we only stopped briefly at the top, ate our turkey sandwich, before making our descent and warming our hands enough to peel our satsumas.
At the bottom we stopped by Talybont Reservoir we savoured the view across the beautiful waters to the majestic hills in the distance. Here we stopped for a longer period of time, time enough to warm our soup and enjoy a rather large amount of some delicious homemade fudge giving us the much needed energy and drive to complete the walk along ? Canal. It was at this point that I started to feel the full impact of my pain. It is often when I stop that I feel my pain get expedentually worse. It feels like someone has placed my body into a vice and they are continuing to tighten it beyond breaking point. My spine seems to feel like it is trying to expand and gives me intense pain in my back, neck and head. These sensations were building rapidly so I was rather glad to get back to the car and take my boots off and rest.
Into the evening my pain continued to increase. Despite the rest I struggled to stand or sit for a long period of time. There was no state in which my body could feel relief. I hadn’t felt pain as severe as this for a very long time. Still as I sit here 1 week later I am struggling with moderate to severe pain. The pressure in my spine and neck is immense, coupled with moderate joint/tendon pain and increased sensitivity to sound and touch. This leaves me Feeling very perplexed and utterly lost by the extreme changes there has been within as little as 2 weeks.
Right now after feeling the way I have over these 2 weeks walking the 117miles of the two moors way in 6 consecutive days seems a little bit daunting and somewhat out of reach.
To give to pain relief foundation follow this link. https://www.justgiving.com/fundraising/ann-marie-ison
Walking to health; the challenge 