Sunday 31st July - FOLLOW THE RIVER

The first time the children spotted this path in passing one of them had commented that it looked like a railway line leading into a magic forest. In actual fact it accomodates the wheelchair's width almost exactly and today we followed it. There were a couple of hairy places where the bank has slipped away on the river side but with care it was manageable and the three fellow walkers we encountered kindly gave us way.

We spotted these colourful but deadly specimens alongside the track as we followed it through the woods, eventually we reached the bridge where the A10 crosses the river and the path broadened out into a wide cart track alongside the cornfields. Not too badly rutted and in the present dry conditions we managed quite well. The wildflowers nestling among the ripening ears of wheat give some amazing colour and great photo opportunities.

Just beyond this point though the track ends and we thought our walk had too - there is a railway foot crossing but in order to reach it walkers have to climb a stile which is not wheelchair friendly in any way shape or form.

As we had walked along robin had been saying how the location reminded him of his childhood holidays and some of that adventurous spirit had clearly returned - he argued that he didn't want to go home yet and cautious exploration revealed that there was a bridge where the railway crossed the river which had room for us to pass alongside. I would warn here that it is incredibly low, I managed to get the chair under in the river itself but the water is very low today. Robin can walk a short distance and managed to get under the bridge on the tow path but after climbing out the other side we agreed it was a butt stupid thing to do and we shan't be doing it again in a hurry.

Continuing along this path we came to Melwood. The paths here are well maintained and there's a nice comfy bench which this particular locomotivator was very happy to take a breather on and sip some cold water. We had set out just after 9am and I'm not sure I'd want to undertake this walk in mid-day heat. As we were resting we spotted this wee chap in the tree above, at first we weren't sure what he was but when he unfolded he was a quite magnificent Wood Pigeon, his condition & colour quite put his scavenging city cousins to shame!

After we had refreshed we continued following the path of the river, in some of the deeper spots small fish and bright water beetles scurried busily about and it was delightfully cool under the shady canopy of the trees. I found it surprisingly easy going but I suspect that a little rain would render it less user friendly.

 We passed an exit via a little footbridge but it wasn't really a practical route for us - If we had urgently needed to escape back into the tarmac jungle we probably could have but it would have been a steep climb up the bank which Robin would have had to make on foot and there's a very pretty wrought iron kissgate which I would have had to lift the chair over so after a brief discussion we opted to carry on exploring knowing that we had a couple of options for returning home. There were several of these small bridges leading into the gardens of private houses.
Robin wants a house with its own bridge! If we do ever have one it had better be over a river that's wide enough and deep enough for me to have my own boat!!!

Finally we reached a stout wooden kissgate, far more practical. Robin still had to walk through it but closed up the wheelchair pushed through easily enough. The meadow on the other side had clearly been grazed by cattle but fortunately they were not in residence; we were reminded of the old joke The farmer doesn't charge people when crossing this field - but the bull does! There was a little bit of cow pat slalom but on the whole it was good going, I was afraid we might encounter another stile at the far side but it was a kissgate that matched the one we come in through at the start and we passed without incident.

This gate led us into the grounds of a former water mill. The beam pictured below was massive and it's breathtaking to think of the mighty English oak it must once have been!

We carried on down the drive and came out outside the Village church at Meldreth. The service was just ending and there were quite a few people starting to make their way back down the path we'd just come up. We walked on home by the road, strolling down the shady side of the street until we ran out of pavement.

There was a rustling in the branches overhead - look carefully - see if you can spot the squirrel!

We paused a couple more times to rest on convenient roadside benches before we got home, just in time for lunch and a wee nap for Robin. Downloading the pictures for him it occured to me that it would be nice to make a diary of our rambles this summer and hopefully beyond and so I trust that this will be the first diary of many wheelchair rambles.

Diary notes copied from Wednesday 22nd June -Sunday 3rd July

Over the last month we have had to come to terms with the fact that Robin, my lovely partner's health is failing and whereas we had hoped that he might become more able we have to accept that the opposite is now true.

It was a cold shock. Whilst we were only too well aware that somewhere a clock had started to tick for the first few days time froze. The car was vandalised and immobilised leaving us with even less incentive to leave the house. We went into total lockdown, and then one morning I woke, probably about 4am and thought "What has changed?" In truth nothing has changed much, we simply have names for things and so far even those aren't terribly specific. At this point he could have ten years or ten days and at this point we are still capable of getting out and about.

It was Sunday morning, we needed milk and so when we went to the village shop I took us via the college football field. Robin enjoyed the outing, we knew it wasn't too hard a trek with the wheelchair in fair weather as we had taken the children walking there before. There are quite a few well maintained footpaths around the village some leading to other neighbouring villages and I made up my mind then that, weather & wheelchair access permitting we should try and explore as many as we could while we still can - after all none us ever really know what tomorrow will bring and it's making the days count rather than counting the days which matters most.