Walks with wheelchairs
I would like to build a list of walks that wheelchair users could simply use on their own or with others. Not just here in the Lothians and Peeblesshire, nationally. Do you know of somewhere accessable? I will start it off with
1. Flotterstone approx. 3 miles south of Edinburgh on the Biggar road. A private road into the heart of the Pentland Hills and tarred most of the way. Slightly steep incline for a short way after 1 mile. 2 reservoirs for fishing, good bird watching lots of wild flowers. Toilets at start in car park.
2. Tweedside in Peebles. Around 4 miles of tarred paths in Hay Lodge park and the surrounding areas. Easy parking, well signed, toilets close by.
I hope this helps to start off places we can all visit. JON
Replies to This Discussion
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Permalink Reply by bespoken Team on
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Fantastic idea Jon. I hope you get plenty of sugestions. I will flag this up in one of the weekly messages.
Cheers
David
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Permalink Reply by Linda Jane McLean on
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Hi, Jon,
I can recommend Drumpellier Lochs outside Bargeddie, about two miles West of Coatbridge. North Lanarkshire. This can be accessed either from the Blairhill area of Coatbridge, where there is a canal walk which leads to the loch or from the Gartcosh Road. There are a lot of wheelchairs about, and it is an even surface for about a mile around the loch. There are woodland trails too, which are cinder pathways which I have walked successfully with a wheelchair user. There is a cafe and toilets, birdwatching and fishing. In summer there is an ice cream van. The only drawback is that it can be very busy on nice days.
Chatelherault in Hamilton has hard paths below the Chateau which, although not flat, offers a large area to explore. It has a cafe, shop, toilets and local history . There will be something for everyone - and the more audacious may want to attempt the woodland trails.
Strathclyde Park has a loch, cafe and boats. There are shops and a hotel as well as an amusement park, The walk around it is about 4 miles, paved and mainly level. Wheelchairs are frequently seen here, and there are numerous trails into the woods. It has the added attraction of offering double trikes( free of charge for disabled people) that can be pedalled by an able bodied companion. It makes you smile to see so many people with disabilities having excellent fun at considerable speed! There are also paths along the river, recently finished, which offer great possibilities, as it connects with Chatelherault three miles away.
On your Flotterstone piece: we negotiated to park our car at the top of the hill. We were very kindly allowed to do this - so it is worth while remembering to ask!
I'll think some more, and get back with my experiences.
Kind regards,
Linda
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Further to yesterday's post, I thought that I would add
You may be interested in Googling "Walking on Wheels Trust" by Eva McCracken.
And it is important to remember - not everyone has transport. How do they get to these places? Callander and Peebles were unreachable for us before we accessed the Grant to allow severely disabled people a vehicle. Not everywhere with a train station offers an exit if you are in a wheelchair. For example, I mention Drumpellier as a great place for a wheelchair, but the station at Blairhill is not wheelchair accessible.
Chatelherault has its own station now, and is ramped (I'd be interested in comments on this!) but it is quite a way to Strathclyde Park in Hamilton from a station.
The rule of thumb that we used was to look for a canal, e.g.Water of Leith, there are usually very level tow paths: beaches have excellent promenades Musselburgh, Joppa, Portobello, North Berwick: and, interestingly, caravan parks can have nice walks attached to them.
The other possibility, which we used frequently, was to walk beside the wheelchair on a nice day to the nearest station which had access ( 4 Miles) and then take a train to Perth, Stirling, Ayr, Dunblane, North Berwick (rail transport was free within Lothian)and find out where the walks are, where the transport is, etcetera.
If you make it a fact finding mission it can be tremendous fun, and you can raise awareness by doing it.
Linda
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Permalink Reply by Jon Redpath on
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Yes transport is VERY relevant. Some buses now have lowered steps but not all. That was the idea of a national collection. People may not be aware of what is on there own door step. Last weekend in Glencoe and Oban I discovered a few other places that would be quite appropriate for wheelchair users.
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Thank you very nmuch for recommending our website. I wrote the book, Walking on Wheels, 50 wheel-friendly walks in Scotland, which was published in 2006 and the WOW Trust ordered 2,000 but unfortunately we have noo copies left although I think there are still copies available at some outlets eg Amazon. I was amazed and delighted at the response to this book. It came from all around the world!
The WoW Trust has distributed nearly all the profits accrued from sales - see website for further details.
I agree with you, Linda that public transport information is vital but that was too much for me and my book at that time. Now I'm no longer fit to travel or ramble more than locally. The Trust continues to try to raise awarenreness and provide accurate information. We welcome this kind of input to the WoW website.
Eva
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