Let's talk wheelchairs and mobility scooters

The Tring lake glitters in the bed of what must have once been a quarry, surrounded by steep banks of wildflowers attended by bees. The walking (and scootering) track circles the quarry’s rim. Plenty of waterfowl were on display: the large ones were recognisably swans, the moderately-sized ones were presumably geese and the smaller ones may well have been ducks. All of them looked serene and eminently suitable for transforming into cassoulet. There were also some ungulates penned at the lake’s fringes. Hides are set up at regular intervals for the benefit of furtive wildlife voyeurs. Dogs are banned. Overall, a lovely location for scooterists pretending to have a walk.

The Tramper is solid and seriously powerful, coping extraordinarily well with gradients (my folding three-wheel Atto scooter seemed like a toy in comparison). It was smooth over gravelly surfaces and much of the impact of travelling over uneven ground was absorbed, although when a jolt hits, it hits.

The twist grip needs to be held in position to maintain one’s preferred speed. This is significantly more demanding on the arms and wrist than the standard thumb control of a mobility scooter. Although the comfy chair’s position is adjustable, the armrests and handlebars are not.

Anyway, it was a fantastic experience for 40 minutes of peaceful trundling, at which point, three-quarters round the two mile circuit, I suddenly crashed, with my vision failing at the same time as my arms gave out and I lost the ability to maintain a riding position. After a restorative lie down in the grass, we struggled back, Mrs Loom guiding the handlebar and throttle. I reckon that the payback is going to be a pretty grim couple of bedroom-bound days.

So, the Tramper offers incredible access to country parks and nature reserves for pwME who have very limited mobility, and who don’t have the rare combination of a beefy powerchair or scooter with a converted vehicle. That experience is dangerously seductive.

It’s probably sensible to experiment with very short rides first, but that will hardly seem worth the drive to get to one of the places that offer Trampers, and even the wimpiest of marked trail circuits is going to be far longer than is safe for some pwME. I’m 50/50 on whether I will ever try again.

 

We go to Wisley gardens as often as we can ( which is not often at present) and they have two or maybe three Trampers. I first heard of them when Melanie Reid who writes in the Times and needs a wheelchair full time following a riding accident, wrote of the freedom she felt when using her Tramper over their adjoining fields.

I haven't tried one for the reason you describe @Shadrach Loom - the need to keep arms extended which I learnt I couldn't do on buying my first scooter, a luggie. It was a very expensive mistake but I couldn't hold up my arms while extended. It was exhausting. I only used it 3 or 4 times but have kept it- resale value is very low, and it might be useful for a holiday because it folds into suitcase size. I hope you recover quickly from your crash. I can imagine how exhausting that was.

I love my replacement which I have had for two years. It's a power chair with a thumb control and it's just ideal for me. I am so comfortable resting my arms on the armrest and it has a reasonably comfortable seat. I think it cost about £2800. I feel very mobile including grass, up grassy hills: not so good on gravel but will manage short distances.

It folds and if you have the right size car boot, a power lift can be fitted to swing it into the boot. Ideal. We were lucky that our existing old small estate would just fit it. That car isn't ULEZ compliant. We did try to replace it last autumn but couldn't find a suitable model so- this information might be helpful for others who will be affected by ULEz and are disabled- applied for a ULEZ extension ( until summer 2027) by completing their very fiddly procedure for the disabled who have a fitted mechanism to lift a wheelchair into a car boot. It took a couple of months so we have a reprieve and can take time in looking for a suitable replacement car. I am not eligible for mobility allowance - too old now.

edit: I forgot to mention that the chair has carrying space under the seat for odds and ends like macs, umbrellas, sunglasses etc, all of which is covered by a waterproof cover which secures with velcro. It is a trekker foldalite power chair costing about £2200, a bit less than I remembered. The last time I was out, a woman approached me asking about it and where it could be bought.

 

I'm glad you got to try it, @Shadrach Loom, and I hope it hasn't floored you for too long.

Scooters aren't great for pwME, are they. There's nothing to support your arms and you torso, or stop your legs from flopping about, so you burn through a lot of energy really quickly. I've used Trampers, and they're an especially knackering scooter type for the reasons you say.

Hope you don't mind me contradicting you on the beefy powerchair, though, because it's a misconception that can mean people don't try trips to places they could access. I've crossed ploughed fields, mud, wet sand, and steep grassed hillsides on a hired Shopmobility Pride Go-go boot scooter. There was nothing remotely beefy about it, but like anything with a decent battery, it'll do a lot more than roll along an asphalt path. I honestly wouldn't recommend any of the above activities, but only because they're sodding uncomfortable as well as tiring—the scooter will do it if you're bloody-minded enough a birdwatcher.

The powerchair I most often use for wildlife surveys is a beat-up secondhand Quickie Sedeo, which is a bog standard model. It has zero "all-terrain" features to help me plough through thigh-high grass to count butterflies or check reptile refugia, or squelch round muddy pond edges to survey amphibians, but it does it all the same. Deep dry sand, mud, or loose gravel will tend to make any multi-purpose chair or scooter lose traction, but they'll go through shallow water, long grass, and heather quite happily.

I'll shut up now about my one-woman crusade to convince people that the countryside can be much more accessible than you might think, and wish you a speedy recovery!