Stage 1: Champex to Le Châble, Tuesday July 24
Champex to Le Châble is a very easy stage, mostly flat and only 13 km, with a couple of potential outs on train lines, making it perfect for a convalescent.
The arm, though - the redness was spreading.
The Internet said the redness could get worse before it got better. Chris felt strong. (Sort of.) He was on antibiotics. He could soak his arm in the town water troughs. He could eat. (Sort of.) Surely – he was fine?
But I ended up taking some of the weight from his pack, and he was grumpy as we passed a rock quarry. Grumpiness is never a good sign.
We got to Le Châble early enough for a nice nap. I bought some lotion from the pharmacy, but the skin on his arm was getting tight and the whole thing was hot and red, and lotion didn’t look likely to help. The French antibiotics didn’t seem to be doing much, either.
We tried not to worry.
