I recently visited the Lake District and whilst we were planning our trip my sister did a lot of searching to find accessible places to visit; accessible walks and wild swimming that was able to be accessed by my wheelchair and she did an excellent job! I give her such high praise for the effort she put into it and what a great trip away that we had as a result of her hard work. One (incredible) place we struggled to find any info on, however, was Galleny Force waterfall, also known as Fairy Glen – the Lake District’s own! And that’s why I wanted to write about my experience today:
The small amount of information we found on Fairy Glen, also known to be the Lake District’s most beautiful waterfall, with a rock pool in which you can swim in, claimed to be accessible, but gave no info on accessible routes – only walking routes suitable for non-wheelchair users.
In the village in which Fairy Glen is found, it is recommended, it is recommended you park by a telephone box, but if you do so, there is another mile of road before you even reach the mile of greenery, so please be aware of this if you are a manual wheelchair user who doesn’t have a lot of arm strength or a powerchair with little mileage. We drove until the end of the road where we found a pub and it’s car park. The car park explicitly says not to park if you are not a customer, but we pulled up to speak to the staff about if I would be able to make it to Fairy Glen as we were clueless about the accessibility, but after a chat with the landlady, she let us park there for the entire trip, saving us the batter power of the mile walk there and back to the telephone box. I want to clarify that this is not a precedent; just because she let us park in her car park does not mean that it is a given that the pub car park will accept all disabled customers but she was a very lovely lady so asking is always an option. When we spoke to her, she helped us out on how to access it the best way which was amazing!
She suggested that we go through the 2 or 3 farmers fields which had a hard mud track which my powerchair very easily went over. There was then a small stream which my Dad carried my chair over it (so I could not do this route independently) and I had to step over (which as an ambulatory wheelchair user I have the privilege of doing) before going through another (very long this time) camping site field. Following this we reached a gate with dual tracks; one muddy; one stony – and I found myself swerving between the two to maximise the best access route. It was actually muddy and the stones were high so my wheelchair wasn’t too happy. I did have to get out at parts to take off the weight and navigate it better whilst also trying to keep myself upright with my walking stick! That was where, if you have a fully functioning powerchair and you’ve made it this far, the issues start. My Dad somehow navigated it quite far along the track until we reached a climb and there was absolutely no chance, so I just sat and existed. The walk from the gate to the incline would be no more than 5 minutes, but for a disabled person, that can be a lot. I struggled with my walking stick; especially due to the muddy and bumpy terrain – there was, to the side, some grass, but only a small width if you struggle with balance.
There was never any info online that the waterfall would be beyond a gated incline, but we found it was…! I had to make the swift decision, having made it this far, if I should go and see it, if I had the spoons… and I went. Again, I’d like to say that is a privilege because not everyone can do that but I’m lucky I could with a mobility aid. The incline was relatively steep, but had convenient rocks sticking out at all angles, a bit like rock climbing. I was so worried about climbing it due to my frequent dislocations, fainting and imbalance, but I had family spotting my back and I made it to the top! (To clarify, it wasn’t that high – maybe the height of two or three people). When we got to the other side, it was slippier, so beware of that. When we made it down the incline, it was about a 4 minute walk to the beautiful waterfall and rock pool which my sister and I had a swim in and I felt so happy and content. It truly was the most beautiful thing I have visited and I recommend it to anyone visiting the Lake District or nearby!
I would say that this location can be reached, but is not easily accessible, and thus is not an accessible location inherently. If you are able to walk, for example if you are an ambulatory wheelchair user like myself, it is possible to be reached, but only if you are able to walk the 5 minutes after it stops being wheelchair friendly and upon the incline.
I really hope this clears up some clues on accessibility as we struggled to find anything when we had a look online!
Love always, Laur x
As an added bonus: Here’s the link to a little reel I made on instagram about the beauitful place: https://www.instagram.com/p/Chu-5V0jctv/
@holaurgraphic 
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