Accidents do happen...

I have been silent on the blog side, even though I had planned on using my holidays to finish reporting on the trip to Egypt, but my holidays did not quite work out as planned...

I had a little accident during a great week of hiking in Finnish Lapland (I'll have to report on it after finishing with Egypt...). The accident in itself was not worth reporting about, but its result surely is...

I injured my knee quite badly, and simply could not walk. We were on a marked path (ironically described as "easy walking"!), but still somewhat in the middle of nowhere... Once the rescue team managed to reach my husband and I, it proved impossible to get me out with the all-terrain vehicle that the team had brought in the hope it would be able to get me back to the fire engine located 800m away.

End result: a call to find a helicopter to airlift me to the closest hospital brought the Finnish border guards to the rescue. And since the helicopter could not land (too big...), there was no other option but to winch me up... Here are a few pictures of this interesting experience, taken by my husband...

Rescue team on the horizon...

Janne coming down to fetch me

My knee gets put into an inflatable splint, to avoid further injury during the winching

Ready for an unusual experience

And up we go...

Almost there!

My heartfelt thanks to the rescue team from Inari fire station, to Janne, the winch man and paramedic who came down to fetch me, to his colleagues who were ensuring the helicopter got there and back, and to the team at Ivalo hospital, who took care of me once the helicopter had safely landed in the yard of the hospital...

It was an interesting experience, which I could have done without. And let me tell you, the day after was worse than a bad hang over... Somehow, the day after is always worse than the accident itself. I hurt all over, and learning to walk on crutches proved to be a skill difficult to learn (still haven't quite mastered it).

The last two weeks of our holidays went to waste. Our holiday in Estonia had to be cancelled... I am still at home, my knee still hurts, and I can't wait to get away from crutches. The doctors still don't know what exactly is wrong with the knee, so waiting is the keyword to recovery. Patience not being one of my (many) qualities, I will need to cultivate it...

At least, the dragon shawl benefited from this unfortunate turn of events... It only needs blocking now, which will have to wait until I am fit again...

The result of many hours of frustration...