Wheelchair users are gaining new freedom as a fleet of all-terrain disability scooters makes it easier to access the outdoors. The trampers are available for hire at 39 beauty spots and attractions across south-west England, including one on Lundy, with 60 sites nationwide.
The hire scheme, run by charity Disability Together for a small charge, is intended to encourage independence and boost inclusivity.
Wheelchair user Kate Wass said: "The tramper is my legs. I don't want the countryside changing… but I want to be able to access it, and be like everybody else".
She added: "Just being able to get out, smell the air, the peace, often you hear the birds… it means a lot."
Yvonne Pope helped create the scheme after missing her daughter finish the Ten Tors challenge because her normal wheelchair could not make it. "I used to stay in the car a lot and my family would go off walking and come back and tell me all about it show me photos," she said. She now audits potential sites to see what would need doing to make them tramper-friendly.
Hiring a tramper requires induction training to ensure safety and meet insurance requirements. People can sign up for Countryside Mobility annual membership for £15, short-term membership for £5 or single use for £3, and must keep to designated routes. The visitor centre at Postbridge has two trampers available to hire.
Wass said: "It means you are doing things that most other people can do… I can get out into the countryside – I can be with my husband walking. Also, having access to one of these hire trampers – brilliant – because I can come here on my own. Because they've got two, I've got a friend so were going to have a day out. She's not been on Dartmoor before. I want bring her and just see her reaction. I know she'll absolutely love it. Quite often you know it's something so, so simple that's stopping me from doing it and it can be solved quite easily," she added. "When my legs stopped working – it was very hard, very hard, and then one day I found out I could have a tramper… It absolutely changed my life."
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Last year, there were nearly 12,000 hires across sites nationally by more than 8,000 users. Head gardener at the Garden House at Buckland Monachorum, Nick Haworth said: "Access is sometimes difficult to achieve with historic sites."
All-Terrain Scooters Give Dartmoor Users Newfound Freedom