As Autumn has come upon us, woodland visits bring a burst of colour in the tree canopy and woodland floor. I am so grateful to have suitable mobility aids to access and explore many woods, but most are situated further than my TGA Supersport can take me locally, and I currently don’t have a suitable vehicle to transport it. So taking my TGA Zest Plus boot scooter still offers easy access to woodland.
Although Autumn is one of the best times of the year to visit the woods, it also brings some natural obstacles for scooters. At Ham Woods in Kent, the accessible path is wide and flat but the wet weather had turned it to deep wet puddles and muddy clay sludge which was very tough to navigate through or around. Fortunately I just about had enough clearance on the Zest Plus to change our route and venture deeper into the wood on a narrower path. Although I had to stop occasionally to clear the leaves and twigs scooped up in the rear wheels. It all adds to the exprerience though and brings a sense of adventure.
Another ancient woodland we visited near Southampton had a few fallen trees to navigate, The thinner trunk was easier for my husband to manouevre the scooter over by lifting the front end up onto the trunk, pushing and steering the scooter along and then lifting up the rear end. Being a lighter scooter, this was possible but the larger and heavier all terrain scooters wouldn’t have made it without a ramp.
I decided to navigate around the larger fallen tree, but found myself stuck in a ditch. So with some expert manouvering I managed to escape the ditch (involving dismounting and some steering back and forwards). When I was safely out of the ditch I worked my way around the fallen tree and back onto the path.
There was a manmade fence too, which had just enough clearance for the Zest Plus to make it underneath, whilst I dismounted and walked around through the narrow gap. Again a larger all terrain scooter with a captains chair and high handlebar would not have managed this obstacle.
Further on we took another small path which led to the best den, rope swing and climbing tree combination we have ever seen. My son had much fun climbing and swinging whilst I watched the autumn leaves fall like snowflakes and relaxed (as the battery recharged for the journey back). The Zest Plus enables me to find these beautiful spots in our natural surroundings, which wouldn’t be at all possible if we just had to stick to the manmade ‘accessible paths’.
