I’ve just spent 5 days in Portugal, at our little appartment there.

Pia came with me, to stop me either starving, or  possibly drowning.

I’m so pleased to say that my friend Issy, a fellow patient from Stoke Mandeville, came too, with her best Friend, Holly.  It’s the first holiday she’s had, since her car crash last July, that ‘ended the life she knew and loved’.

We had the best time, it has to be said. Two wheelchairs, 8 legs in total, but only 4 that worked. Despite that, we laughed, went out, drank a fair bit, and made new friends, lots of new friends.

The kindness of strangers continues to amaze me. Fraser, Chris, Ed literally carrying me out of the pool – all guys I’d not met before.

John, Rupert, Helen, Katie, that I knew before my accident, all helping us have poolside showers, get on and off sunbeds, onto the grass etc etc, so patiently and thoughtfully.

Trudy, Hannah, Jamie, Wendy, and lots of others having a laugh with us in the evenings, and generally being considerate and attentive. My faith in humanity is re confirmed daily.

On day one I struggled physically and mentally with swimming half a width of the pool – 5 metres.

By day 5, I swam 220metres without touching the side. Ok, it took bloody ages, but who said it was a race?

I swam or Triked every day. Not easy, the Trike, just arm power through sand, but on day 6 I managed 8km in about 90 minutes, going along paths that I used to mountain bike, and thought would only exist in my memory. Not so, it would seem. We went to the beach, and guys carried us in our chairs, smiling, to the sea’s edge.

It further served to prove that so much more is possible, than I considered a short while  ago.

My horizons are once more retreating in the direction from whence they came rushing towards me, so very recently.

( in the picture with Issy, Hannah, Trudy and Chris  ).