Recovery

I suppose my first walk, following my knee reconstruction surgery, was from the hospital to the car. A few hundred yards, with crutches I was unaccustomed to, and a left knee which was at best uncooperative. For a couple of weeks, the focus was on mastering the crutches so that I could get around the house, avoiding the cat who seemed determined to trip me up and conscientiously completing my physio exercises as directed by the hospital. After three weeks I was ‘doing well’ and managing to walk, very slowly around the local park using my crutches.

It was on one of these walks that I decided to document my recovery. My husband and I were approaching our thirtieth wedding anniversary, and also contemplating a possible early retirement, or at least a change of direction. We had been married for thirty years and together for thirty seven. We had worked hard and raised three children together, and now we were restless and wanting to do something different. Our first holiday together when we were just seventeen was a wet walking holiday in Yorkshire, and thirty three years later we bought the ‘Palheiro’ with the magnificent view over the Sao Vicente valley on the beautiful island of Madeira. Part of the attraction of Madeira was the hundreds of miles of ‘levada walks’ criss-crossed across the island as well as the high peaks of Arieiro and Ruivo which are reported to afford the most amazing views from above the clouds. We imagined that between them they could give us the walking and outdoor life we craved all the way into old age. Walking has been an important part of our life together, and hopefully it always will be, so it was time to start planning.