I had heard of the "The Back Up Trust" while I was in hospital and now I felt ready to contact them. Back up is a brilliant charity/Trust that tries to get spinal chord injured people back doing fun and sporting activities again. My first trip with them was to Keswick in the Lake District on a multi activity week. I had to get there under my own steam and although I was back driving I hadn't ventured much further than my local area. This was going to be a 5 hour drive and I suppose I saw it as the start of the adventure. I had bought a bleeper device from Service Call which would mean that I didn't have to get out of the car when needing petrol. Well that didn't work as the station I arrived at decided to ignore the flashing blue light going off in there shop. Oh well it just meant I couldn't be lazy and I would have to get my chair out and do it myself. Petrol tank full, on we go. I really enjoyed the journey up to Keswick, driving through the hills and mountains on the way; it really gave me a feeling of freedom.

Finally arrived at the Calvert Trust Centre 5 ½ hours after setting off and was greeted by lots of smiling faces ready to help me haul all my luggage from the boot. Most people had already arrived so I introduced myself to a few people and we were allocated a rooms to share.

Day 1: The group leader points to a mountain in the distance and says "today we are gonna climb that". Everyone in the group is a bit shocked but 5 hours later we were all sitting on top of that mountain with huge grins on our faces. To do what we thought was impossible was the idea and it worked. Sitting on top of that mountain I realised that I could still achieve a lot in life, so that day really made a difference to me. For the rest of the week we spent our time abseiling down rock faces, canoeing, sailing, hand cycling and generally getting physical again. We also learnt new wheelchair skills such as being able to drop down 2 steps without falling out the chair and landing on my face. I met some great people that week and it really opened my eyes to what could still be out there for me.

I remember driving home from the Lake District with a big smile on my face and a real feeling of achievement.