Morning
I woke this morning, to
find myself in a remake of Watership Down. Bunnies everywhere!!!
Liggy is clearly making
progress with the whole de-labradoring thing though, as she just looked
delighted and wagged her tail and then had her wee and came back in for
breakfast. No attempt to chase the bunnies at all!
We had a fairly leisurely morning before getting ready to go on a short hike.
High Force
This is a good example of enjoying what you can, in terms of access. High Force and Low Force are on the Pennine Way, popular walking routes and are set in some amazing scenery. However, in general, the paths are not wheelchair friendly. To be fair, at this time of year, there are so many nettles, they are most definitely not Nicki-friendly either... but there is a paid-for path down to High Force, which is maintained, and though still tricky, is at least doable. The only thing I wonder, is why they always use gravel for these paths. It is so slippy, even for walkers. On the way back, Neil helped push me a little, but with me also propelling, and he had to be really careful not to slip over on the gravel. Anyone pushing a transit wheelchair up there would have a really interesting time!
Anyway, having navigated the path down, which was stunning in places (and, for me, a little terrifying in places) we reached the viewing point. I took some photos while Neil took Liggy down some steps to get closer to the water. You can't go in, it's too dangerous, but you can get quite close.
The waterfall is beautiful and makes that gushing noise that is really lovely unless you need the toilet.
It would have been nice to stay there a while but the viewing point was only just big enough for my chair and we were conscious that others would be coming down soon and it would get busy. I wanted to have as much space as possible to slalom between the scariest points on the path and certainly didn't want to risk having to pull over into the nettles to let people pass.
Phobias
At this point, I think it's worth mentioning how disabling phobias can be. For many months now, I've been in a Facebook group about needle phobia... largely full of people just like me who realised they had to get a Covid vaccination but had successfully avoided injections their entire lives. Reading their posts and knowing I'm not alone in this and being strengthened by their stories of success, really helped me to go through with my vaccinations.
My other phobias are nettles and wasps. I can't remember the last time we had a holiday this far into summer, and to be honest, as I said at the beginning of these posts, it was never the plan. However, it is now early July and we haven't seen a single wasp all holiday. I don't know whether it is just a good year, divine protection to give me a week's break (or Neil), or just that they aren't out in force yet... but I have actually relaxed and enjoyed this holiday, which is good.
Nettles are actually my worst phobia. Obviously, they don't fly or chase you but they do sort of hide in unsuspecting places and they gather in large groups. Now, as a wheelchair user, they are often much taller than me and when it gets windy, they wave around and get all intimidating. Worst of all is when someone decided to either pick them or whack them. I think I would have maybe grown out of this phobia if it hadn't been for people picking them and using them to scare me as a child.
I have a theory that sometimes cravings and fears, and even intense dislikes can actually be nature's way of protecting us. When I have, in the past got too close to nettles, usually in a vain attempt to overcome the fear, I've had serious allergic reactions... much worse than normal nettle rash. Plus the seeds/pollen from them trigger my hayfever and asthma quite badly. Even this week, I've had a couple of days where I had coughing attacks, related to hayfever and asthma, coincidently after being closer than I'd like to my enemies. And we all know how socially unacceptable coughing is right now!
Anyway, if you have a phobia... something that sits there in the back of your mind, influencing every decision you make, every plan, every outing... just know you are not alone. It's rubbish! It might seem ridiculous to others but to you it is very real. Be kind to yourself and just do what you can and don't feel under pressure from others to overcome it instantly. My experience is that failure makes it worse and success certainly helps, so go at your pace and celebrate little successes. That's what I did today. I enjoyed the walk and the waterfall and, with a bit of help from Neil, I did something I thought I would never do.
NE39/21
Our journey south towards Ripon was lovely. We stopped off at another BritStop - a farm shop - just off the A66, to buy some bits and pieces for dinner, but thought how good that one would be for an overnight on the way to Scotland via Carlisle.
Tonight's BritStop is an ice cream parlour, which was great for a mid-afternoon arrival in hot sun! I had a 2 scoop salted caramel, and rhubarb and custard ice cream tub. It was soooooo refreshing and tasty! Later, Neil went back and spent a small fortune stocking up on ice cream tubs to take home. Glad Zerubbabel has a decent sized freezer!
The place itself is on a busy road and there's nowhere to walk Liggy, but to be honest, she's had tonnes of exercise this week and there are chickens everywhere, so just practising ignoring the chickens is probably the best exercise for now.
Abrupt ending
The plan was to visit Fountain's Abbey tomorrow, however, the weather forecast is pretty wet and miserable... possibly even thunder storms, and then something happened to change our plans.
About eight in the evening, well after the ice cream place had closed, cars started arriving. At first, it looked like people were just pulling in for a rest and then leaving, but soon we realised, they were all dropping off young people, in strange dress (including fur coats... yes, all of them) and many carrying cans of beer. They were all going to the house over the road, which was gradually becoming noisy with chatter and music.
Neil went to ask one of the new arrivals what was happening and whether we should expect a noisy night. He explained that it was an end of year party for sixth formers and he hoped it would be finished by midnight, as he was driving people home afterwards (and therefore couldn't even have a drink). We had a quick chat about the situation and decided that sleep was too important, and as tomorrow really only offered the opportunity to get soaked, and we have been to Fountain's Abbey many times before... we would call it a day, pack up and go home a night early.
Conscious that quick getaways are often the cause of mistakes... we were particularly careful to follow our leaving site checklist, to make sure we didn't forget anything. The journey home, though now quite late, was actually very pleasant and it was nice to be back in our own beds.
Liggy was extremely excited to be back home. She loves being on holiday but she is a definite home-bird and did zoomies round the garden and the living room to show how pleased she was to be back.
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