For more than five years I have been dependent on a carer for mobility. I travel with my able-bodied carer, Karl, and have a Motability car. We have done quite a few road trips. When I’m on holiday I love to be outdoors in nature, so camping suits me very well. We love cooking our evening meal on the barbecue while soaking up the sunset and birdsong.
In the summer I explore in the UK. I always look online for places that have easy-access walks in beautiful scenery, and Accessiblecountryside.org.uk is a very helpful resource. A recent Devon trip that worked well included riding the Tarka Trail on a wheelchair tandem (bidefordbicyclehire.co.uk), wheelchair walks on the South West Coast Path at Westward Ho!, a day trip to RHS Rosemoor Gardens in Torrington (rhs.org.uk/rosemoor), camping on a farm and more wheelchair tandem fun at Haldon Forest Park (forestry.gov.uk/haldonforestpark).
Around Chichester, I recently enjoyed harbourside wheelchair walks and a balloon-wheel beach buggy ride on West Wittering beach. Next time I’d like to take a cruise on Solar Heritage, a wheelchair-accessible solar-powered boat (conservancy.co.uk).
For trips to the continent I use camping specialist Acsi (acsi.eu) to find campsites with accessible facilities. This year we visited the Ardèche, the Camargue and Lake Annecy in France. Voiesvertes.com is one resource that I’ve used to find countryside easy-access walks there.
I have found it a lot more challenging and time consuming to do research for accessibility in Europe, mainly because of the language barrier. So when I do find beautiful places with good access, it makes sense to share my research and experience on my blog. I would love to hear from anyone who knows of good online accessible travel resources for western European countries, especially sites with accessible countryside walks.
Marina Beaumont. Follow her on Twitter @wheeltravelblog and read her accessible travel tips at wheelchairaccesstravel.com
Source: The Guardian
