Afternoon up Binsey!

We recently had a week in a lovely lodge at Keswick Reach Lodge Retreat in The Lake District, just along the A591 near Bewaldeth.  The location has many walks from the door and one of these is a small fell called Binsey.  Binsey is a detached fell in the northern lakes near Bassenthwaite.

We set off walking up a farm track from the main road (A591) which cut across some boggy sections of the track, throw in some sheep shite and it makes for some cracking smelling boot polish!

The track ends at a gate and then its up the moorland all the way to the summit, which you can’t see from the bottom the way we went up.  There’s a cairn and a trig point at the top, even though it is one of the smaller fells, the views are amazing.  If you have a walk about the top, Bassenthwaite is in full view and if you look the other way, Scotland and the Solway Firth, you can also see over to Overwater.

Sometimes the smaller fells offer better views than the larger mountains, and they’re easily accessible in an afternoon walk.

Retired!

The other day I retired from the Police Force which means my 30^th year of serving Queen and Country.

I spent my whole police career pounding the streets of the small pit villages on the coast of County Durham.  A lot of people would think it would be boring staying in the same area for so long but I can guarantee that was not the case.  Throughout the years I’ve been stabbed, bitten by dogs, bitten by humans, fell through rooves, knocked over, threatened with guns, knives, needles, weights, spat at by Hep carriers in the mouth, punched, slapped, scratched and God knows what else.  I’ve seen my share of violent deaths and a lot of hangings.

I must say it has been eventful.  I have enjoyed 99% of my time and the only low moments were few and far between.

I must admit I did go slightly early on the advice of various medical professionals and after nearly 30 years of running towards danger whilst others ran the other way, I thought I’d have a break from being constantly on edge and fearing for my life.

I will state that my time in both the Army and the Police are the cause of my of PTSD which was diagnosed in October 2014, however after finding out what PTSD actually was (I’m a bit thick, ha!) I can pin point the cause to be an incident I witnessed whilst I was about 11 years old, and any incident involving extreme violence to a human head since has not processed properly causing nightmares and very annoying flash backs.

Anyway, onward and upwards and start of a new chapter in my life!