If you like what we are doing and want to support the Dementia Adventure Support Fund please donate

Dementia Adventure has been at the forefront of providing fully supported, small group short breaks for people living with dementia and their carers for 15 years. Our supported breaks offer more than just respite; they provide meaningful, purpose-driven experiences that significantly enhance the quality of life for both people living with dementia and their caregivers. 

As Harriet heads towards Yorkshire on her 900 mile walk from Land's End to John O'Groats she's reflecting on World Alzheimer's Day on 21st September.

Currently, there are around 982,000 people living with a dementia diagnosis in the UK, a number expected to rise to 1.4 million by 2040. Of these, 70,800 are under the age of 65, known as Young Onset Dementia.

This week she's exploring the importance of inclusion and how creating welcoming spaces for people living with dementia and their careers is vital.

You can listen to Harriet's playlist on Spotify. Each week she's adding songs to match her mood on her epic walk!

The D Tour podcast is proudly sponsored by Macs Adventure

Macs Adventure specialise in self guided walking and cycling holidays for independent, active people who don't want to be part of the crowd or restricted by set dates and schedules.

It's just wherever you go, you see these fairytale buildings, which is why it just seems like such a fairytale land with these mos and edges and cliffs and I don't know. It really does seem like I've stepped back in time and yeah, I just expect to see Mediaeval Nights at any moment now, galloping on their horses. Where are they? Welcome to The D-Tour, a special podcast series where I share my incredible journey, walking 900 miles from Land's End to John O'Groats to raise funds for Dementia Adventure. I'm Harriet Thomas, and you can follow my adventures by visiting Dtour.uk That's D-T-O-U-R uk. You can support me and Dementia Adventure by donating five pounds by texting DA five to 7 0 7 1 1. So just text DA five to 7 0 7 1 1 to donate five pounds. The D Tour Podcast is proudly sponsored by Macs Adventure. That's M-A-C-S for Macs. Macs Adventure specialise in self-guided walking and cycling holidays for independent active people who don't want to be part of the crowd or restricted by set dates and schedules. They encourage you to go at your own pace whilst they support you with all of the roots and logistics for a worry-free adventure.

Hi, with the Proclaimers, best wishes to Harriet Thomas on her dementia adventure. Good luck

As we move through September. It's a time for reflection and action on dementia awareness with World's Alzheimer's Day coming up on Saturday, September the 21st, this global event aims to raise awareness and challenge stigma surrounding Alzheimer's disease, which while the most well-known form of dementia is just one of over 200 types of dementia. Currently there are around 982,000 people living with a dementia diagnosis in the uk, a number expected to rise to 1.4 million by 2040. Of these 70,000 are under the age of 65, known as young onset dementia. It's important to note that dementia is not an inevitable part of ageing. Rather, one in 14 people over the age of 65 are living with it. Alzheimer's disease accounts for 50 to 75% of all dementia diagnoses highlighting its prominence, while also underscoring the variety within the condition. In today's episode, we're exploring the theme of inclusion.

We'll look at how creating welcoming spaces for people living with dementia and their carers can foster a sense of community and belonging. I also get to meet the fabulous Carl Case in real life. You may remember his culturally appropriate toolkit from episode five, and I share a meal with him at the Sheffield Memory Hub. Before we dive into this week's episode, we're also celebrating National Playlist Day this Friday, September the 20th. Let's choose this week's tracks for our D Tour playlist. Each week I pick some music that connects me with my journey. This week I've chosen, "We Have All The Time In The World" by Louis Armstrong. I've chosen this song because quite often when I'm walking I find myself hurrying, anxious to get to my destination by a certain time, and when I do that, I tell myself to just slow down. I tell myself I've got all the time in the world and I tell myself to just take the time to notice all the beautiful things that I'm seeing on my walk.

The second song I've chosen is Carole King's, "You've Got a Friend", and the reason I've chosen this is that I was walking on a very, very misty moor one day and I wanted to sing something, and this is the song that came to my mind and I remembered learning all the words from the back of the LP cover, and I just had a great time singing it out there on the moor and remembering sitting on my sofa back at home when I was a kid. And yeah, this song just has great memories for me and it was so brilliant just to be able to sing it out at the top of my voice on the middle of a moor. You can find my playlist on the D Tour website, dtour.uk, that's D- T-O-U-R dot uk. You can also find the playlist on Music For Dementia Radio at www.m4dradio.com.

I'm just walking through Lin Dale with a great triangular shaped hill called Thorpe Cloud on my left and lots of people walking up to the top having a, well, actually, unfortunately for them, probably not a great view because of the misty weather, but I'm kind of glad to be staying in this pretty valley because with well less 20 miles ahead of me now, but with a 20 mile day, I'd rather not have too many ups and downs. When I saw Thorpe Cloud appear in front of me and I thought my route was going to go up and down it, I was like, oh gosh, here we go. It's the South West Coast Path all over again. I know I can do it, but I'm going to have to dig deep.

What's even more exciting is that I'm walking through this indescribably uplifting landscape along a path that is gravelled and downhill slightly and so easy to walk on, and I can actually see where it's going. And there are no nettles or brambles here. I'm just walking through, as I say, it looks like park land, I'm guessing because it's had sheep on it and they're just kind of keeping it nice and trim. But I'm going to savour this part of the walk because I'm pretty sure I know there are some local paths that I have to travel on a little bit later in the day. So I'll use this beautiful bit of pathway, to strengthen me up, and to build my resilience to know, give me to resilience. But when I get to those paths where my heart sinks because I can't see the path and it's covered with overgrowth and I know I'm just going to have to either battle my way through or find another, find another way.

I've been thinking a lot about how access to nature should be inclusive. So many people might be put off by rough terrain or challenging climbs, but out here it feels like anyone could take in this beautiful scenery. It makes me appreciate the work of people like Debbie North who are ensuring that more places are accessible for everyone, whether you are living with dementia or facing mobility challenges. Debbie North is a true ambassador for accessible countryside experiences. She's been breaking barriers to make sure that everyone, regardless of ability, can enjoy the beauty of the outdoors. Through her own journey of becoming a wheelchair user, Debbie has become a real champion for inclusive adventures, advocating for roots that open up spaces to people who might otherwise feel they can't take part. It's so inspiring to think that whether you are walking wheeling or simply enjoying nature in your own way, these landscapes should be available for all of us.

I'm excited to share more of Debbie's story with you. Her love for nature began at a young age exploring the peak district with her family and being encouraged by her teachers. That passion stayed with her and she spent her life encouraging others to experience the outdoors, including her own students. Debbie and her husband, Andy made so many memories together in nature, including walking the iconic Coast To Coast Trail where as Debbie tells it, they fell in love along the rugged landscapes. But life took a turn when Debbie was diagnosed with a degenerative spinal condition, which at first halted her ability to walk. However, as you'll hear in her own words, that didn't stop her from finding new ways to explore the outdoors and opening up those opportunities for others, her story of resilience and advocacy has made her a leading voice for accessible adventures. Let's listen to Debbie now and hear about her incredible journey.

So I grew up with a love of the outdoors. I can honestly say it started in my school days when I was outside with my parents and they would go walking in the Peak District. We did caravanning holidays, not particularly big challenges, certainly on a budget. But then when I got to secondary school, I was led by a teacher, an inspirational teacher, who took us out camping and touring Europe, introduced me to orienteering and again, that love of the outdoors. We had a school farm up in the Peak District at Hayfield. So just again, outdoors, outdoors, outdoors. Then I qualified as a teacher and again took my own children outdoors and getting them into places where they wouldn't normally go to. And again had some lovely memories of school trips with kids in the bleak mid winter in Castleton, where these children were not equipped for the outdoors, but it was their first experience of getting outdoors.

Then my love continued through my own time. I met my husband Andy when we were out walking. We worked together at a school and we would go out walking. We actually walked the Coast to Coast together as companions. I started to fall in love with him by the time we got to Keld, by the time we got to Grosmont. Wow, fireworks. I knew that this was going to be the love of my life. We watched it again four years later where he proposed to me in the North Sea, which is a right love story, hence my love affair with the Coast to Coast walk.

So to understand that there were different types of wheelchairs that could tackle quite challenging terrain, it was like mind blowing. And in fact, we raised the money to buy the first one for the Yorkshire Dales National park, which was given to the National Trust and is up at Malham Tarn. At the same time of doing that, we come across a company called Terrain Hopper that has an all terrain wheelchair that really is the four Seasons hiking boots of walking. It can go where any hiking boot can go, except over stiles, but I'll come to that again. And I had this urge to do the coast to coast once more, but in this all terrain wheelchair. And I spoke to the company and they said, well, yeah, it's never been pushed in that direction, but we'll give it a go. So Andy and I naively set off across country from the west coast at St. Bees to the east coast to Robin Hoods Bay.

And I say naively because we did very little preparation apart from look at maps and link up bridleways. And really, that's when we learned about the challenges of access to the countryside, where we came across locked gates, we came across kissing gates that we couldn't pass through. We came across bridleways that were too narrow for an all terrain wheelchair, that had steps that I've learned since are called horse stiles, where a horse could step over it, but for an all terrain wheelchair, it was quite a big step to get over. And we came across, you know, that the infrastructure just wasn't there for accommodation for wheelchair users or for people with disabilities. So that was really the start of my new career, as in becoming an expert in how do we access the countryside with disabilities? And, of course, wheelchair access was my big one because that affects me personally. But as I've been going along the journey, I am more and more interested about how people with autism access the countryside, how people with visual impairment, neurodiversity, mental health, all these people.

How do we get these people into the countryside and for them to feel confident that when they go somewhere, they know that there is something for them to do and how to access the facilities. So what I'm trying to do is to raise that awareness of some of the barriers that are put in the way of people getting out to the countryside. And a lot of it is knowledge. I'm a very impatient person, and I like to know what I want from the internet within four clicks. If I haven't found the answer, then I scrap it and I go on to something else. But for somebody to find out where it's possible to go for a walk, whether it be in a national park, an ANOB, an authority, is very, very difficult. And it's like peeling an onion, you keep having to take layer off on, layer off, layer off, until you find information.

And I always quote this. It's easier for me to find out where I can take the dog than it is for me to go for a walk. You walk around a town and I'll say, dog friendly pub. The shop is, we welcome paws. You know, muddy paws are welcome here. But there's no sign saying, we welcome the disabled. We welcome people with neurodiversity into this place. It's really, really hard to find that out.

Another thing that I campaign for is about access statements that if you are providing a service, any service whatsoever, whether it be a walk, whether it be accommodation, that you have a very clear access statement that is prominent on the homepage that says what you are offering. And it may be that that that facility is not accessible for a wheelchair user, but it is accessible for someone with a hearing impairment or visual impairment or, you know, it welcomes people with autism, that it might be that there is a quiet space, you know, a campsite might be classed as a quiet campsite. It's about, again, that information, so people can make an informed decision, and if everything had a statement on, then people would be able to access that information more readily. I'm certainly not about sterilising the countryside to make tarmac paths everywhere. That is not, in my eyes, what accessibility means. It is about providing facilities for people to borrow all terrain wheelchairs. They are very expensive and often a second wheelchair for most people, which is out of the pocket of a lot, a lot of people, it is about just helping people.

Helping people to access what everybody should be accessing. You know, we talk about access for all, but really, is it access for all, or is it access for those that can afford it? Those that have got the knowledge to be able to access it? Those who've overcome their own barriers to be able to get outside to use the facilities.

Hearing from Debbie about making the outdoors more accessible really got me thinking about how inclusivity is needed in all aspects of life. Nature, like everything else, should be open to everyone, regardless of their abilities or challenges. And this theme of making things accessible doesn't just apply to physical spaces, but to the emotional and cultural aspects of living with dementia, too.

Day 34. Yes, and yesterday I've been passing the signs that say Sheffield. So I am properly almost in Yorkshire. So I think today's walk is all in Derbyshire. I think towards the end, I sneak into Yorkshire. So, wow, I really feel like I'm making progress now. It's a sort of typical late summer, early autumn day. It's quite cool, but not cold.

I'm just wearing my t-shirt and my Dementia Adventure vest going past the building. So obviously someone's already at work and hoping that today I'm going to have the lovely experience of yesterday, of having such easy paths to follow. Everything was so beautifully waymarked and all the paths were so easy. So asking the universe, make it a beautiful, beautiful walking day today. As I near Sheffield, I couldn't pass through without stopping by the Sheffield Memory Hub, where Carl Case invited me along to see the fantastic work that they're doing. You might remember Carl from episode five, where we talked about his mother in law's dementia journey and the creation of the african and caribbean dementia toolkit. Today I had the privilege to sit down with Carl and David Bussue from SACMHA Health and social Care. Their partnership and the work they're doing at the memory hub are making such a difference in their community. David, in particular, opened up about the personal challenges his family faced when his mother was diagnosed with dementia and how their work is helping others navigate similar experiences. Let's hear more about their incredible journey.

I think from our point of view as an organisation, Carl leads cultural appropriate resources and SACMHA - Sheffield African Caribbean Mental Health Association is an organisation in its own right, but we work very closely together. This is a joint partnership and I think it really speaks volumes to our community in terms of what we're able to do. The memory hub has just taken on leaps and bounds, but we've got lots of services that we're a part of. And I say to people, if I've got a passion project, I have this is it, because I can see the real difference that it makes. I remember when my mum was diagnosed with dementia, she didn't want anybody to know. And it took a long time for my sisters to accept that this was nothing to be ashamed of. It's just part of the cycle of life.

And I remember having an argument with one of my sisters because I was openly talking about my mum's dementia and they were saying, well, she doesn't want people to know. Well, we need a context for some of her reactions and it's nothing to be ashamed of. And if we carry on behaving as if it's something to be ashamed of, how do we move the dial and get people to understand better? So there was that side of it, but also with the memory test, we've been really trying to work hard to get access to the memory test because I remember taking my mum for her memory test and the questions that she was asked, she was asked. So it's like, I don't know how they do it where you are, but there's like 30 questions. And then you scored on how well you can answer the questions and most of the questions were totally irrelevant.

Right.

And so, yes, I think there were issues with memory, but I don't know really whether it was as severe or as much of an issue as people were saying, because had they framed questions that were more relevant to her experience, I think she'd have been more able to answer some of the questions. I'm not denying that there were issues with memory, but I think a lot of the stuff that the mechanisms that are used to assess people's level of memory loss, they're not relevant. They just don't make sense.

There's so much there, isn't there? I mean, when you think of the diversity, especially in the cities in the UK, where people are coming from, there's so much to be thought about there, isn't it?

We're trying to get. We're making some progress on getting the standard test that. I can't remember the name of it, but actually reviewing that test and testing it out, like with people in the memory hub and how relevant this is and how could we get the same test, the same area, but with a different question? A more relevant question.

Yeah.

Just to follow on from what David's been sharing, David's been sharing things from the african caribbean perspective, the african caribbean perspective in the sense of the part of the Caribbean where English is our language. Now, you asked about what are some of the cultural differences, what are some of the cultural challenges. If you're from certain parts of South Asia, China and many parts of Africa, within many main languages, there isn't a word for dementia. And if there isn't a word for dementia or Alzheimer's, then what happens is that there's a lack of understanding that it's a medical condition because we don't only understand that it's a medical condition because of the research, et cetera, in dementia. So David's been highlighting about the stigma which exists within our community. You've got many communities whereby there is no medical, no general medical understanding of dementia. So then there are different interpretations as to certain of those behavioral patterns. So within some muslim communities, it might be assumed to be a jinn, which is causing somebody to be accusing people of thieving or some of those certain characteristics.

So a jinn is like an evil spirit?

That's right, yeah.

A jinn or some communities, voodoo in other communities witchcraft, and in other communities, madness is just seen. It's interpreted as madness. Because in those communities where there's no medical understanding of the condition, there's got to be a logical reason why that person.

I could think of people, particularly from a faith point of view, where there's one lady in particular that I remember, she had dementia. She'd be, she served the Lord all her life. She loved the church all her life, a really active worshiper. And she became quite ill and a lot of the filters disappeared and people, you know, she still wanted to go to church, so her family took her to church. But sometimes she was more explicit than was acceptable. And you see people circling here and praying over her and, you know, it was, oh, we can pray this away. It's not.

She's not behaving badly. There's a medical condition here. And I think there's so much for, particularly for faith settings to learn about. My church, we're trying to be go through the process to be a dementia friendly church so that nobody has that experience ever again.

I also had the chance to meet Carlton and his wife Joan. And that was a really special part of my visit to the Sheffield Memory Hub.

Regarding the memory of my wife Joan. She. She had a bit of dementia and I brought her along and I was a little bit scared to stop, join in myself, but because I thought, well, there weren't many men, a few women. And I thought, well, I look a bit daft sticking around with all these women. But after a while, probably three months, I decided to stop with her and more men were coming in. And so I'm settled now.

And you come every Monday, don't you?

And I come and I come every Monday. I bring along every Monday. And I just fit in well with the staff. They treat me nice, they fed me. Good food and patties and drinks and the, you know, just as we.

As we enter the building. Oh, do you want a drink? You know? Are you okay? Yeah. So we got a good rapport here, it's great.

When Carlton decided that he was wanting to come here and see what was happening, I thought, well, I'll go along, but it's quite nice because I'll just be sitting at home and it's not what I really wanted to do, but it's nice because there are other people to see, there are other others to talk to. And it makes a difference when it's not just the same people that you're with. So I quite like situation that there is others, there are others around and you can always find somebody else to talk to. And I feel comfortable here, actually. I really do.

And I think it's a very good thing. It's good for us to be like this. And I appreciate the fact that we have a company, rather than just anybody coming in and thinking and feeling. I feel comfortable.

Would you say you've made new friends?

Yes. Oh, yes, absolutely.

Joan and Carlton's story really makes me realise how important it is to create inclusive spaces where people living with dementia and those in a caring role can come together, share experiences and feel part of a community. It's a great example of how activities like those at the memory hub can engage people in ways that make them feel seen, included and valued. And speaking of inclusion, it's not just about creating accessible paths or physical spaces, though that's crucial, as Debbie north said earlier, it's also about providing opportunities for people to keep doing the things they love. Just because someone has a diagnosis, it shouldn't mean they stop enjoying life. I love this initiative that dementia Adventure and Middlesex County Cricket Club have been working on together. They hold dementia inclusive days over the summer months where people living with dementia and a companion can go along and enjoy a special day at Lord's cricket ground together. It's a brilliant way to bring people together across the generations and cultures and is particularly appealing to men.

Doctor Raja had been telling me about these days when we were walking to Monmouth a few weeks back. We chatted about how cricket's slower pace allows people to participate at their own rhythm, dipping in and out of the game as they feel comfortable. It offers companions a chance to simply be with the person they care for without the constant day to day demands of life. As Doctor Raja said, family carers can just be family, friends can just be friends. I remember on that day in Wales, Sue, Raja and I were also talking about plums… And Raja has produced out of his rucksack some really nice plums. So we're all walking along, eating these lovely plums. They really remind me. Plums always remind me of childhood. I don't know why. Something about them. As soon as I bite into that sort of bitter skin and the sweet flesh, but I don't know why they do remind me childhood.

But I think that's the thing, Harriet. When Raja mentioned he had plums, now they came, he just saw them. And like you, it took me straight back to childhood. We used to have lots of plum trees around us. I used to go with my mum to sell plums on the side of the road.

Did you?

Yeah. And it just evokes so many memories, doesn't it? And. And such conversation. I mean, all of us, we were walking along, we were quite happy. And then he mentioned the plums and we went, oh, but then he produced the plums and we went ohh [FADES].

Sensory experiences, like the taste and smell or something simple like plums, can bring back a flood of memories. For someone living with dementia, those moments of reminiscence are so important in helping to connect and feel part of something. Sport really offers up those beautiful moments. They had the last dementia inclusive cricket event at Lords on Monday, and Doctor Raja was there, he tells us why these days are so important.

I think sports makes people think about some of those very beautiful memories that they've had, whether it's about victory of the team that they support or that they've played in, or even the kind of loss that they kind of talk about until the cows come home. So I think giving people that ability to reminisce about some of those very important life events that they have come across just makes it very pleasurable for us to hear, but also, more importantly, for them to feel that they are here in the present. But being that kind of transitory point where they pass on the baton to us to continue having those very memorable conversations, I genuinely remember, so I have to say at this point that my grandfather died of Parkinson's disease, dementia, and my grandmother has got Alzheimer's disease. But to them, it was cricket that they watched that brought them together and brought their entire families together. I used to be woken up by my grandfather at 5 o'clock in India, because that was the time that cricket started in Australia. And he would want to sit down and entire family to sit down and watch. There's no other way out of it.

And my grandmother wouldn't let us come to breakfast until we'd gone out from 7 o'clock and played cricket until 9 o'clock in the morning. And she still, to this day, despite her dementia, if you put on cricket on tv, she will watch and she will shout and she'll know when to say the batsman is being stupid. And that is very important because we need to bring out the person behind the dementia. And sports offers that. And cricket, because it's got this especially test match at a county level, it gives you the opportunity to dip and depart, because people with dementia do struggle to keep their concentration going. It just offers them the idea that, oh, well, I'll be here for five minutes and then drift off and then come back again into it. And I think that is the most enjoyable aspect that cricket brings, that we can actually utilise to make people with dementia much more stronger, much more resilient, because they can have those conversations which are very meaningful for the next generation. I think cricket could be that sport that actually gets to be more inclusive and support people with dementia and all other conditions where there's a physical health need or a mental health need, and then become a kind of pioneer in terms of saying to the entire sporting body that, yes, we can make all the people, whatever their disability is whatever the challenges to come and enjoy a day out with their family members? To me, that's more important, not just about the person with dementia, because we know that dementia affects the person as much as the family. And if we could try and create those beautiful memories despite the dementia, for the person with dementia and their family, then I think we're doing something great.

Afreen Pellen is the equity, diversity and inclusion lead for Middlesex County Cricket Club, and she has been instrumental in expanding inclusivity within the sport. Here's Afreen explaining why she's passionate about involving people in these inclusive events.

I think the impact of it is immense and I think it's such a positive thing because it gives those families that are affected by dementia almost like a memory capsule, so they can, you know, like today, I've been and met some of the families that have been there and they are just are so grateful for everything that the charity is doing and the fact that they can make memories with their family members and their kids. So I think it's brilliant. I think it's really, really good. The impact is immense. When I look at inclusion and I look at dementia and I look at Dementia Adventure and what they do, for me, it's more about the accessibility it allows those families and those carers, most importantly, to have that accessibility to an independent life. So you've got a big collection of groups, you've got people who understand that are inclusive, and it's all about including those people that essentially, in some circumstances, are not included and secluded in the society that they're in at the moment. What we're doing, we're looking to put together a strategy, we're working on our existing action plan, which is on our website, on the Middlesex website.

We're ensuring that we look at dementia as a big part of this, because we're really for what Dementia Adventure do. So, yeah, we are definitely sort of trying to branch out and to ensure that that's kind of within our inclusion plans and our EDI plans.

So it really sounds like focusing on inclusivity in sports like cricket isn't just about making events accessible. It's about creating a community that genuinely cares whether you're a sports fan or not. It's clear that sports have this incredible ability to bring people together, regardless of their background or challenges. Just think of the Olympics. It's like a big, supportive family where everyone can create wonderful memories and feel truly valued. By prioritising inclusivity sports venues aren't merely ticking boxes, they're making a real difference. It's about turning the spirit of inclusion into something tangible and heartfelt.

So I've climbed up to Stanage Edge, again the simplest path, so well maintained. Easy, easy, easy peasy. So grateful for all these paths that are so well maintained. And now I'm up here. Wow, this is really a place I could come to again and again and just sit up here. This is the kind of place that makes me want to be an artist. I wish I could draw or express on paper what I'm seeing.

It's such a wide view of these rolling hills which are now, now all the hills are kind of turning yellow. You know, when I was in Somerset and Devon, it was this intense green everywhere, tapestry of greens, and now it's sort of a tapestry of yellows and yellowy greens as we turn to autumn. And there's some heather on a hill there as well. So it's these very muted tones under a grey, flat sky. And weirdly, kind of in the next valley along, I can see. I couldn't work out what it was. And then I looked at my OS map and it's Ladybower reservoir. So I can see what must be the kind of centre of operations, a big building there. And it's in white, so it kind of looks like a church or mosque or something, but it's not. It's the. It's the reservoir. But it looks kind of, kind of cool, actually. This kind of white, this white building. Yeah, it's quite cool. It doesn't spoil the, doesn't spoil the view at all. And something that's very noticeable about this area or something that's a real feature of this area is I'm standing on Stanage edge and it's this big rocky outcrop, kind of a little bit like cornwall. These kind of slabs of rock everywhere. You know, it would be an amazing place to have picnic because there's so many flat slabs of rock where you could sit and just look out over this incredible view. And, yeah, the cliffs kind of look like sculptures.

You know, it's. It's really beautiful. Birds everywhere. Birds. I guess they're nesting in these grasses on my right. On my left hand side, I have the cliff and a very sort of steep cliff and then it goes down into these more gentle rolling hills covered in bracken and woodland and the fields that are now going yellow. And then on my right, I have this tufty grass, which is yellow, hay coloured, straw coloured and kind of dancing in the wind. It's very, very pretty. It looks a bit like a lion's mane or something like that. No, it doesn't look like a lion's mane. It looks a little bit like a lion's fur. You can imagine that this is a whole sleeping lion and that's its fur. It kind of looks quite strokable, actually. But I think that's where the birds must be nesting because they're sort of flying out of the grasses as I, as I pass.

Oh, gosh.

They're literally flying all, all around me as I walk. I feel a bit like I'm in Shrek, you know, when is it Snow White? I've only seen that film once and she sings at the bird and the bird explodes. Yeah. I'm not going to sing at the birds. They're not going to explode. But you know what I mean. It's just birds. They're just flying everywhere just in front of my path.

This is not a walk to hurry, this is a walk to savour. So glad I'm here. It's just stunning. Stunning.

Ok, I just had a little chat with a man who was walking his dog up here. Just love the fact that this incredible landscape is his daily dog walk and he told me that what I thought was Ladybower reservoir. Isn't Ladybower Reservoir actually, that white building is a cement works. I still think it looks pretty cool. Hopefully I will see Ladybower reservoir soon. I'm going to put my phone down now because I need to do a little bit of clambering.

Next week, we're diving into the theme of adventure. I'll be doing some more clambering over rocks and paddle boarding in the stunning Lake District, visiting a Dementia Adventure supported break and taking a ride in some accessible tri shores. Plus, I'll chat with James Cox, the talented head gardener at another place in Ullswater and hear from Beth Britain about her father's love of the outdoors and its impact on their lives. It's going to be a jam packed episode filled with new experiences and inspiring stories and I can't wait to share it with you. Thank you for joining me today, Joan and Carlton's story, along with the discussions on cricket and inclusion, remind us of the importance of creating spaces where everyone feels seen and valued. Whether it's through sports, sensory experiences, or well maintained paths. It's about making sure people continue to enjoy life to the fullest.

Until next week, keep embracing those moments of adventure and connection. See you then.

The D Tour podcast is proudly sponsored by Macs Adventure. Macs Adventure specialises in self guided walking and cycling holidays for independent, active people who don't want to be part of the crowd or restricted by set dates and schedules. They encourage you to go at your own pace whilst they support you with all of the routes and logistics for a worry free adventure.