Moor Care Needed

I’m getting close to completing my Dartmoor walking guide but had a little setback checking a walk last Friday.

The walk crosses a stream which can be quite difficult in winter so I thought I’d check it in summer. The water was fairly high but it was jumpable. Unfortunately, I failed to assess the ground on my otherwise carefully selected spot and as I pushed off one foot slipped on the boggy bank. The result was quite spectacular. A horizontal dive with my legs landing in the river and my face on a rock. I don’t know where my thumb landed but that came off worse. I’m not sure if it’s fortunate that no one witnessed the episode, or if I could have won £250 from You’ve Been Framed.

Fortunately I was only half a mile from the tiny village of Harford, so rather than carry on across the moor I headed back to the road, this time paddling across a shallower part of the stream.

With much blood still issuing from my nose and leg (not helped by the blood thinners I’m on following last years Dartmoor heart attack) I sat down on a log to consider options.

Then along came Katie and Ella, two very kind ladies who were about to set off for a walk. First aid supplies were sought and a very kind lady from the farmhouse came out with dressings and ice. Once applied, Katie and Emma gave me a lift to Ivybridge station, saving a two mile walk. What a difference they made. I’m so grateful.

Great Western Railway’s Train Manger let me travel without a ticket on her nice warm train to Plymouth and pick up the Newton Abbot train there, saving me sitting on a cold station platform for an hour. A cake on the train proved an excellent antidote for shock. There were no taxis at Newton Abbot so a walk to the hospital was required. How helpful they all were in Minor Injuries. Within an hour I was X-rayed, patched up and on my way, a broken thumb confirmed.

So once again, it could have been so much worse and kindness from strangers helped no end. But lessons must be learned. I must carry a first aid kit and I must be more careful – look before I leap. Perhaps I have to remember that I’m sixty and not quite as agile as I was.