Thanks for the advice, I know that sometimes I am my own worst enemy, sitting around twiddling my thumbs is very difficult for me to achieve, but I'm confident that whoever I visit it will suggest rest and ice, or rest and heat, plus a few extras. This is my third bout of leg issues in the past 3-4 years, both the same, left knee to hip aches, both took time to heal but have not caused any problems since now it's my right leg!
When I was in La Palma I wore my Salomon X Ultra boots, absolutely perfect, not a twinge, not a red spot, not a blister, only the feeling of being super comfortable and no problems with my feet even knowing that I was carrying extra weight (water) in my rucksack. I had my Sorbothane inserts in at all times and at one point when the ground under me was just a mass of steep shifting sand, gravel and moving rocks I inserted the original Salomon inserts on top of them which ensured my feet were really gripped tightly as I struggled upwards and onwards. Once on the top of the volcano, I took them out again to resume normal comfort.
I also found that my £2.99 Decathlon wrap around clear glasses were really useful, on the top of the volcano, the wind was whipping up a lot of sand into the air and they really stopped the grains getting into my eyes.
I nearly didn't take my Pacerpoles but I'm glad I did, really great for helping to heave my body and rucksack weight up over bigger steps and boulders. The beauty of them is that they are designed to help you use your arms to PUSH down on, rather than the other models which rely on PULLING one's self up. Going down is even a more natural position, my body and rucksack weight is distributed through my arms onto the full spread of my hands. If I had to use my other poles in a similar way I would have had to rely on a circular area about the size of an old penny pushing into my palms to take the weight which can becomes very sore after a while.