As I started the four to five hour journey the name Anso was burning into my head, somehow I felt an affiliation for it. I didn´t know why but it just rang bells for the first three hours or so. Eventually the face of a friend came into my head. She had told me she came from Aragon but I couldnt remember where. I decided to text her as I knew he was summer holidaying and she might just be close to Anso or at least in the region.
As I walked what turned out to be only a four hour journey I had lot of angry thoughts running through my mind. It was obvious that the overweight backpack and insistance on doing two days in one had been my downfall, indeed here I was injured, walking an extra 16km only worsening my predicament.
As I arrived in Anso I was greeted by a village that had a lot of ameenaties even for a Sunday. The bars were thriving and the centre square was as busy as any Saturday. Suddenly my phone sounded, it was a message from my friend indeed had a summer house in Anso but was currently holidaying in the Costa Brava. She said her brother was there and if I needed help she would contact him. I said all i needed was a decent hotel for the night, she recommended one and before I knew it I was hobbling along to look for it. Just as I turned a corner I thought I saw a glimpse of a student, "impossible!" I thought. Sometimes as a teacher you see a little bit of a student in another child but as soon as they turn around it´s not them. As I turned the corner again I see the boy who even from the front looks like a student. I was a little afraid too call out as I still wasn´t sure but he was a spitting image. As I passed him I look at the adults he was with and I recognised the father as my students dad. I was taken back, not only is my friend from here but also I´m now seeing a student..... This was just a little village some 700km from my town.
To cut a long story short it turns out the father was the brother of my friend. They helped me along to the hotel and translated for me in order to get a room. Although I was till angry with everything about leaving the trail I was mentally any physically tired. I fell onto the bed around 3pm and didn´t awake until 9pm. After I woke up I checked for buses to Barcelona, it was going to be a pain in the arse and the bus left very early, but It could be achieved in 9 hours.
After finishing us I slipped back into a slumber until 6am when I got up showered and took the bus.
Since then I have been resting my foot here in Barcelona to this very day. For the first 5 days it was difficult to asses any damage as both my feet ballooned in swelling and both my calves we cramping, I suppose once you stop waking after 8 days hardcore this is normal. In the last two days I have felt much better and have been doing a little walking along the seafront.
Now I think I´m ready to get back on the trail. Unfortunately it is going to be impossible to go back and complete the whole thing as I have a lack of time and now money, but I do endeavour to at least cover the majority of the Catalan Pyrenees. Fingers crossed tomorrow I will book a ticket and the next day I will be on my way. I'm sure if I stay fit I will over 3/5ths of my original route with the other 2 to be completed at a later time. My biggest fear is injury which is why I wasn't to stay inside Catalunya, if anything happens I feel much better about seeking help and treatment here. My other fear about injury is that it becomes chronic. I don't even like to write that word as it might be a jinx, but I am very wary. I love these mountains and have aspiration of going on to do the GR20, John Muir trail and even section hiking the PCT and Appalachian trails, so keeping myself healthy is an important part of the plan.
We will see and only time will tell, but keep posted for when I'm back on the trail bitches!
In the meantime here are a few photos of the long walk to Anso.
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