‘I love the sense of freedom’: an accessible adventure in North Yorkshire

Travelling with disabilities

‘I love the sense of freedom’: an accessible adventure in North Yorkshire

The author’s sister, Lisa, on her battery-assisted handcycle in Dalby Forest. Photograph: Jane Dunford

The author’s sister, Lisa, on her battery-assisted handcycle in Dalby Forest. Photograph: Jane Dunford

We road-test a new project aiming to make the North York Moors national park easier to explore for people with a range of mobility and sensory needs

Jane Dunford

Mon 16 Jan 2023 02.00 ESTLast modified on Tue 17 Jan 2023 05.14 EST

It’s a bright autumn morning in Dalby Forest and the light is casting dappled patterns on the leaf-covered ground as my sister Lisa whizzes past on her bike. I catch her up and we stop to take in the view and debate which way to head next.

Nothing particularly unusual in this, perhaps, except Lisa has been a wheelchair user for almost 10 years after a spinal cord injury left her paralysed from the waist down, and this is the first time we’ve properly been out and about in nature since.

Thanks to an adapted e-bike from Dalby Forest Cycle Hub we’re able to spend a morning cycling on trails that wind through the 3,200-hectare (8,000-acre) [...]

Read article at theguardian.com

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