First published in: The Times Click here to view a map for this walk in a new window
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On a morning of sun and cloud over Lancashire, I found Dave and Jan Lovelady and their golden Labrador Annie waiting outside the Dog & Partridge Inn at Tosside, on the borders of Gisburn Forest. We set off along Bailey Lane into the forest, Dave riding his Countryman mobility scooter with its special wide tyres for off-road terrain.
A fit-looking, cheerful man in T-shirt and shorts, Dave’s disability isn’t obvious. He suffers from multiple myeloma, an incurable cancer of the plasma. There’s not an ounce of self-pity in the man, even after two bone marrow transplants and intensive chemotherapy. ‘With the first chemo,’ he said as we moved along the orchid-studded track, ‘I couldn’t even walk across the room. But I’d force myself to get to the mirror, I’d grit my teeth, I’d look myself in the eye, and I’d go: “Come on, Dave!”’
The problem for Dave is bone pain, and acute fatigue. He can be pole-axed for a day by one session of emailing – let alone the effort required to go out on a scooter walk. ‘We laugh about it,’ says Jan, ‘- well, sometimes …’
It’s Gisburn Forest the couple make for whenever Dave is up to it – ‘Our favourite place in all the world.’ The forest is well known to mountain bikers and walkers for its rough routes and challenging slopes. But it’s also handily suited to mobility scooters, with dozens of miles of criss-crossing forest roads, wide and level.
Gisburn Forest is not all conifer battalions. We came to a high viewpoint on Tennel Hill where the ground sloped away to the gleam of Stocks Reservoir and a far prospect west towards the long hilltops of the Forest of Bowland. ‘Oh, there they are! So beautiful!’ murmured Dave, gazing at the sun-brushed fells as if he’d catch and hold them.
‘Disability affects the whole family,’ Jan noted as we turned back. ‘Just because Dave can’t walk himself any more, why should that stop the family from enjoying going out for a walk with him?’
‘There are more disabled access paths nowadays,’ said Dave, ‘and you can hire a scooter in some places for a few quid – Bolton Abbey, for example. But there should be more! If you’re a disabled walker, ask what’s available in your area – and if there’s nothing, don’t give up, but ask for it to happen!’
It was an eye-opening and humbling experience, this walk with such a positive and determined couple. ‘I’m still me!’ as Dave says, smiling. ‘It’s the same person who was running around before – just in a different cage, that’s all.’
Start & finish: Dog & Partridge PH, Tosside, Lancs BD23 4SQ (OS ref SD 769561)
Getting there:
Train (www.thetrainline.com; www.railcard.co.uk) to Long Preston (5 miles).
Little Red Bus (http://www.littleredbus.co.uk/) every 2 hrs approx to/from Settle
Road: A65 (Skipton-Settle) to Long Preston; B6478 (‘Slaidburn, Clitheroe’) to Tosside (5 miles). Please ask permission to park, and give pub/café your custom!
Walks: (various lengths, easy, Explorer OL41; downloadable maps at www.forestry.gov.uk/northwestengland
Mobility access: pick your own mobility-friendly trail from several in Gisburn Forest. Dave, Jan and I followed Bailey Lane to Geldard Laithe (753584) – 4 miles, there and back
Fully mobile walkers: Hundreds of possibilities – devise your own round walk.
Online maps, more walks: www.christophersomerville.co.uk.
Lunch/accommodation: Dog & Partridge, Tosside (01729-840668; www.dogandpartridgetosside.co.uk) – pub, café, bike shop, B&B.
More info: Contact Dave Lovelady ormskirkdave@aol.com; www.justgiving.com/davelovelady to exchange info on mobility access.
Mobility access, Tramper hire in Bowland:
http://www.forestofbowland.com/wrc_access_for_all
Clitheroe TIC: 14, Market Place (01200-425566; www.forestofbowland.com/visiting)