Sunday, July 31, 2016

My First Walk After My Diagnosis

Hooton Roberts, Firsby, Clifton, Old Edlington, and Balby


Today felt good, very good: I had a lot more energy, no cramp or aching muscles, no shortness of breath, and a lot less sweating. The megadose of vitamin D and the daily, much smaller, maintenance dose is certainly working...and I've got a lot more improvement in my health to look forward to for the next two years.

Today was a local walk, just a thirty minute trip on the bus out towards Rotherham. There's some decent countryside in the area though, and a few hills to test me; and I passed with flying colours. I'm very pleased with my progress so far, still less than a week after my formal diagnosis of rickets and insulin resistance.

I got off the bus at Hooton Roberts, a pretty limestone hill village and found the footpath I needed, visiting one of the areas away from the main road.



Some nice views opened up as I walked down the lane, and then across a field, to Firsby down in the bottom of the valley.



I hoped to be able to walk all the way round Firsby Reservoir but it was too overgrown, like a couple of other stretches later in the walk. There are some nice houses at Firsby though; it's only a hamlet.





I continued to Ravenfield Common where I ate my sandwiches; it's a lovely spot, about 400ft above sea level with extensive views to the north.



I needed to walk along the road for a few minutes and then took the path which would eventually take me to Clifton. At Birk Lodge I ran into a spot of bother. The sign indicating the bridleway was very clear and prominently positioned but the gate which I needed to go through was padlocked. Thinking that the farmer had temporarily diverted the path I took the most obvious alternative route...right through the farmyard. There was no other alternative. I had just climbed over a gate and was setting off across a field when I heard him yell out. I stopped, turned around,  and approached him, ready to give him a piece of my mind if he was rude or aggressive. Actually he was very pleasant and said that there were bulls in the bottom of the field, out of sight. I explained that the gate where the path was, was padlocked, but I could easily climb over...nothing more was said...peace prevailed. The section where the padlocked gate is is actually a bridleway and there's no way that a person on horseback could get by - I'll leave that problem for someone else to sort out though.

The next landmark was Clifton Hill.



I sat down for a few minutes and enjoyed the views from the summit before continuing into Clifton. Just beyond the village, at the top of the lane across the fields that leads to Old Edlington I got talking to a middle-aged couple who had just finished tended to their horses. I mainly talked to the husband and it wasn't long until the subject of  our mutual very low vitamin D levels came up...we were quite competitive when we were talking about our respective megadoses - he couldn't quite remember what his most recent dosage was but he whipped out his current prescription medication; chewable high dose calcium and vitamin D pastilles.

When I reached Old Edlington I discovered that there's a plumbed in portaloo in the churchyard; that information has been filed away for future reference.

For the final section of the walk I had planned to finish at Warmsworth but I got completely lost and came out at the car park at Edlington Pit Woods. I then walked towards Balby, hoping to soon catch a bus back into town. At every bus stop I passed there was only an hourly service on Sundays; I had to walk all the way up to the main A630 road, where there are plenty of buses.


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