What went wrong?

Walking in the Sud Tirol series links: Day 1 Day 2 Day 3 Day 4 Day 5

Thursday-Friday 22-23 Sept 2011 - Sud Tirol walking days 4 and 5
After returning to my room I laid down for a while to relax before having a nice hot shower to scrub off the toils of the day - particularly suncream, I hate the stuff on me.

I lay back down on the bed and fell asleep for 45 minutes. I awoke shivering violently so I put on my nightshirt, got under the sheets and shivered myself back to sleep for another 30 minutes before painfully dragging myself down to lunch, wearing a jumper.

I felt terrible, I was freezing, I wasn't hungry and I felt miserable. I had no idea what was wrong with me - what had gone wrong? I'd drunk plenty of water (3.5 litres in actual fact,) I'd eaten well, I'd had suncream on all day and also my baseball cap.

I gave up and went to bed about 8:30. I shivered until about 2am when the coin flipped over and I sweated profusely until I had to get up at 8am.

Friday
I felt like I had been beaten up during a hangover.

I showered and went downstairs to breakfast - I couldn't eat. I was gutted, I desperately wanted to walk but I didn't want to walk.

I resolved to pull my socks up, I forced myself to have another shower, I changed all my clothes, again, and got ready for the walk. I was kidding myself.

We all met up at the bus stop, everyone full of concern, and we went down a couple of villages and then picked up a cable-car. I could hardly walk.

Head down, one foot in front of the other, I struggled to keep up with the group and felt as though I was holding them back. One foot in front of the other, and the next, and the next... even my walking pole felt so heavy in my hand, seriously, I gave up with it and strapped it to my rucksack.

I took this, but never really saw it

After just over an hour we reached a half way point and a restaurant. I still couldn't face food, in fact I could hardly face water. I tried an energy gel to try to boost myself but that just made me feel incredibly sick. I knew I had to quit.

So I stopped there, feeling sad for myself on two very different levels, while everyone continued their ascent up the mountain to a lake.

After gathering myself in the sun for 20 minutes I descended the hill the way we'd arrived. I couldn't believe how far we'd walked (almost 2 miles) as it had all been a blur to me on the way up. It was such hard work I had to stop at every bend to gather my breath or sit down and rest my muscles.

I descended back to the cable-car station and after wondering for 10 minutes why it was locked (lunch hour) I sat down on a nearby bench and promptly fell asleep.

Awaking to the motors starting I got in a car, sped down the hill and walked up to the bus stop. I missed the bus by 30 seconds but simply couldn't run for it. No rush, I had no reason to rush, so I dozed at the stop for another 30 minutes before catching the next one and returning to the hotel.

Bed.

My route in blue - cable cars in yellow.

So what went wrong? General opinion tends towards sun-stroke but even that doesn't really make sense - like I said I'd drunk plenty of water, eaten well and had used suncream and a hat all day. I had no sunburn, in fact nothing remotely like sunburn.

Was it a bug? Something I'd eaten? All the natural Alp water? My stomach turned sour Friday evening but the night before, when the illness started, it had been fine.

Was it exhaustion? Highly unlikely as I'd felt fantastic Thursday afternoon.

It's all a big mystery but most importantly of all it was bloody annoying; it was a disappointing end to a fantastic week.

Anyway...

Yes a fantastic week. I'd met 7 new friends and we'd all had a great time. We'd walked about 40 miles up and down some of the most spectacular views on the planet. Mountains, streams, sun, snow, fun and laughter. What more could anyone ask for?

So as a final note I'd like to personally thank Ron, Jenny, Nancy, Kristina, John, Cindy and Aveline for their company, care and conversations over the week. It was a great holiday made greater by you.