Today would have been one of the most glorious walks of my life, except that i was in pain. My knee. My damn knee.

I kept asking myself, what kind of twisted logic was I employing in thinking that my crook knee would only get better with a brisk walk over the Pyrenees?

Pyre-knees.

Today was about working through pain. I did 22kms limping like I was a suffering pilgrim. When I finally got to Pamplona, after 6 hrs of walking, my knee had swollen out to the size of a small grapefruit. I couldn't put my full weight on it. But you know what, I'm going to finish this Camino even if it means wearing a titanium leg for the rest of my life. As long as I can out one foot in front of the other, I'm keeping going.

There are obvious lessons for me to learn with this – and perhaps one of them is that I should have listened to my body 6 weeks ago when this pain first presented on a 32 km training hike.

So, anyway, the bloke who runs the Albergue here in Pamplona immediately put ice on it, and I then hobbled to the Farmacia and got some Nurofen and some pain killing gel, and this evening now I'm feeling a bit better.

The other thing I did was get a set of walking poles. The experienced walkers here advised it – said that it took about 25-30% weight load off the knees. I've resisted this up to now – I don't think they look very elegant, I've seen these hard core walkers with their dual sticks and thought they looked like insects. Clack clack clack.

I like the romance and style of a pilgrim's staff.

But right now, this is not about style, this is about getting to the end without the need for hospitalisation. That's not very stylish.

Apart from all that – today was magical. Clear blue skies, paths through magnificent woodland forests, streams that ran beside the track, with the occasional little waterfall. And Pamplona looks like a gorgeous little town.

I'll probably stay in Pamplona tomorrow and rest up. And let the Nurofen work its drug induced magic. And get some ice on it. And give some thought as to why I've brought this on myself. Why, after all this time and anticipation, am I making this so damn difficult?

I can only believe that it will right itself, and in a few weeks the remembrance of this pain will be merely a post on a blog.