I don't think it's broken but it hurts like hell

Monday 7th September to Friday 11th September 2015

I stayed put for one more day before deciding to head on - the mooring was not great - mostly shaded during the day so that meant the solar panels weren't in the sun for as long as I would like; and there was nothing holding me here anyway.

So a fine day on Tuesday and I was off - not very far mind you, it would only be to Cassiobury Park which only took me a couple of hours - slower going on your own and really no need to hurry.

It is easy to tell that schools have all gone back - much fewer boats around and I didn't come across one boat moving during this short trip.

Found a very quiet spot above the lock in the park, with as fully open as you can get around here, so the sun has been working its magic - and mostly it has been lovely weather - generally quite fine and full sun in the morning and then partial cloud in the afternoon.

For my part it has been a bit full on with work - seems that everyone has been saving it all up and sending it through en masse as a reward/punishment of some description. Anyway it has meant that the mornings are spent deep in work and only a chance to get out in the afternoons just briefly.

I did wander outside early on Thursday morning to adjust the panels in readiness for another fine day when wallop I went over unceremoniously, slipping badly on the wet/dewey grass alongside the towpath. A bit lucky not to fall in as well, but unlucky that the big toe on my right foot was bent backwards in a position that was not at all in the owners manual.

Managing to right myself, I could tell that not all was right with it at all - it hurt like all hell and the slightest pressure on it - you know, like trying to walk, which was sheer agony.

I have broken this toe and the corresponding one on the other foot a few times over the years and none felt as painful as this, so my first thoughts were that it definitely was broken.

Coupled with this was a fair degree of back pain - obviously I have twisted that in the process.

So I limped/hopped/crawled back inside and elevated it to relieve some of the blood rushing to it - this helped and after some time you could see the bruising starting.

If I cannot walk on it for a while, then I may as well get some work done and leave the foot raised.

About lunchtime I thought about giving it a spin and seeing how I would go actually walking; surprisingly, I was able to walk on it - just up and down the boat.

The next step would be to fit the foot with a sock and shoe - just putting the shoe on was an exercise in self-torture, but upright I remained and managed to get up and out of the boat and took the foot for a bit of a walk around the park.

It wasn't a good look on the face with each step but I was moving - fortunately the back was a lot better - not great but a good improvement.

Now, with another day under my belt and more walking, the toe is still very sore, but there is some movement in it. I still won't be chancing my luck with a marathon or anything else athletic, but I am pretty well confident now that it isn't broken.

A lot more bruising has come out - but it will be at least a couple of weeks before it starts getting back to normal.

 

Not something that you want to look at whilst eating your breakfast - my horrible
foot which is whole lot more horrible

If there is one thing that is a problem when you are single-handing, it's anything that restricts your mobility.

The usual thing that happens when you walk around with some part of your leg in such a state it that there is a compensatory thing that happens to allow for the loss of normal movement - I have found that my right calf is terribly sore and very tight - well at least that is only muscular and better than getting a hip problem - especially for someone of my age.

I may have to get the walking stick out to use - just in the short term, mind you; but sometime over the weekend or early next week I will be wanting to move the boat, so where I said earlier on that being on your own makes it a bit slower, I suspect that being invalided will make it even more so.

Anyway, we will just get on with it and see how it all goes - it's doubtful that the absent crew will be returning over a sore toe.

One last thing is that I have been a bit slack this last week with the blog and have only just seen comments that people have sent in - I have added these just now and also added a photo of Rachel and Kelvin (nb Serafina) to the blog from last week - apologies.

2 Miles,  5 Locks

YTD: 790 Miles (1271 km) , 484 Locks, 14 Tunnels, 11 Lift Bridges, 16 Swing Bridges

Total: 3684 Miles (5929 km) , 2605 Locks, 112 Tunnels, 45 Lift Bridges, 167 Swing Bridges