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) [...]