Inspiration If you are looking for inspiration to go walking in the Scottish Borders, a visit to the healthy spring of St Ronan’s is well worth a visit. The healing waters of St Ronan are thought to have to have evolved over 400 million years ago! Nestled in the Borders town of Innerleithen a small…
‘Venturing Out’ Based in East Lothian, ‘Venturing Out’ are a not for profit social enterprise whose aim is to encourage young people and adults into the outdoors. Offering a broad range of activities to key target groups, they provide the facilities and expertise required to deliver the service. This enables people to experience outdoor activities…
Knoydart is a very special place. A peninsula on the west coast of Scotland accessed only by boat, it has all the feelings of a remote Scottish island. Staying in the village of Inverie, I went there recently to explore Scotland’s last true wilderness. Standing on the pier at Mallaig, I…
Beyond Boundaries East Lothian, or BBEL, is an organisation that helps to provide access to the outdoors and outdoor sport to disabled people. Founded in East Lothian about six years ago, BBEL has over 50 members but in the last year alone has reached over 350 disabled people and given them access to outdoor activities….
I have been lucky enough to get another guest blog post published, this time on the Edinburgh Bicycle Co-op website. I have written a summary of my trip to the Hebridies and a little background about how I got into cycling in the first place. Hope you enjoy. https://www.edinburghbicycle.com/info/david-c-reilly-disability-cyclist/
I was all packed and ready to go the night before when I received a text message from CalMac to say that the ferry was going to be delayed due to bad weather and that they would message again in the morning with an estimated time of departure. There had been a terrible storm over…
Set in fifty five acres of Fife countryside, the Scottish Deer Centre (SDC) near Cupar, is committed to the preservation of deer species and a number of other animals. Providing a natural home to deer, raptors, brown bears, wolves and wild cats, the SDC provides an educational facility as well as conducting research….
Give disabled people support to live, not right to die ‘Thousands of disabled people live valuable and productive lives given the right support’ by DAVID REILLY 2014 WITH the House of Lords to consider today the Assisted Suicide Bill tabled by Lord Falconer, how informed are our lords and bishops who are about…
I have been lucky enough to visit Orkney lately and I had a really interesting time. My trip was to carry out detailed research. Funded by the John Muir Trust Des Rubens and Bill Wallace Grant, I went to Orkney to investigate disability access across the archaeological sites. The idea for this investigation came after…
Health and Fitness I thought I would review a sports facility I use in Edinburgh to look at Disability Awareness. For many years people have thought about Disability Awareness as fitting ramps and accessible toilets. However, Disability Awareness is much more complicated than that. People’s attitudes and perceptions of disabled people is just as vital…
I have been lucky enough so far to have visited a few ski resorts in the Alps, some in France and now a couple in Austria. I enjoy skiing very much and it is a pleasure to visit different places. My recent trip to ‘St Anton’, supported by Inghams Ski was particularly good and I…
Nestled on the East Lothian coast, Aberlady Bay is a wonderful nature reserve with a staggering amount of bird life on it, and somewhere that plays host every year to tens of thousands of geese every Autumn. Aberlady Nature Reserve is a gem on the East Lothian coast providing miles of beach, bog land and a…
On a weekend away in Scotland, more often then not, one usually ends up traipsing round the nearest town or village to where you are staying in the rain. Last Saturday was no exception and waking up to a stormy day in Pittenweem we made for St Andrews for a mosey round the shops and…
Seadrift Bed and Breakfast I have recently returned from a delightful short break on the beautiful shores of Lochalsh. My adventures took me onto Skye where I was walking amongst magnificent mountains. I went there to stay in a Bed and Breakfast just outside the Kyle of Lochalsh to sample its delights. I discovered a…
Just the other week, a care worker was sentenced to four months in prison, and another two given suspended sentences, for their roles in a catalogue of mistreatment and abuse of people with Alzheimer’s disease at a care home in North Somerset. Despite the introduction of some of the tightest regulations and monitoring in the…
Recently there has been a wave of anti-terror laws introduced and new ASBO criteria included in order to clamp down of the spread of racial hatred on the Internet. Just yesterday David Cameron announced that ‘hate preachers’ should be silenced with the introduction of new anti-terror ASBOS to stop there from spreading their bile on…
This week the Shadow Education Secretary Tristram Hunt told the Independent Newspaper that the Labour Party must get over its fear of the ‘F’ word and start promoting family values. He said the party needs to ‘shed its leftist qualms’ about appearing to patronise when talking about family values. In the past the Labour Party…
Background Those who follow my blog will have an idea of the sort of struggles I have had recently with joint pain. Being a member of Nuffield Heath has been of tremendous benefit to me because I have been able to receive advice. Thanks to the instructors at the gym I have been able to…
Disabled people have come under attack again in the latest of George Osborne’s budgets where unemployed disabled people are now set to lose a further £30 per week. In this, the latest blow to disabled people, those on Employment Support Allowance are set to have benefits cut, this comes on top a round of cuts dished…