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I'm afraid the video doesn't quite tell the story of how we ended up in hospital, mostly because my friend would have disowned me had I continued to film. Watch the video first, then read on to find out what happened after the camera finished rolling.
As we descended from Latrigg, along the very gentle, wheelchair accessible path (oh yes, you couldn't write this... yet I am!
) we were in awe of the view of Skiddaw ahead of us, with its bright purple heather contrasting against the green grass on the lower valley slopes. (see the cover photo on the Youtube video and it happed a few hundred meters on)
My friend grabbed her camera and managed to step on the only uneven part of what was a very well maintained path. As she went down, her knee met the tip of not 1, but 2 sharp pieces of loose shale which resulted in a couple of very deep cuts. I still can't get the image of the shale protruding from her knee, out of my head. *shudders*
Being a bank holiday Monday and a popular trail, we were lucky as a small group of dog walkers passed by, one of whom was a nurse. She was amazing and cleaned the cut on the hillside, but insisted we take my friend to the hospital. The lady used a (clean) dog poo bag to bandage my friend up and the staff at the hospital were most impressed. They said over the years they'd seen all sorts (my favourite was sanitary towels) but the dog poo bag was a first for them!
About 6 hours and 13 stitches later, we finally left Penrith hospital, so exhausted we ended up grabbing fish and chips take away, because who wants to cook after that?!
Now, as a Londonder, there were 2 fascinating things that I took away from this hospital experience:
1. Most people who came back to the waiting room after seeing a health care professional went on to share with the rest of the A&E waiting room what the deal was. Don't get me wrong, it helped pass the time and it was fascinating. I especially applauded the guy who fell whilst trail running. He had to have his back glued back together amongst many other stitches on multiple parts of his body. I try and picture the same scenario here in London. People just don't talk!
But I loved everyone's friendliness and camaraderie.
2. A girl came back to the waiting room and announced to everyone that she'd need to go to Carlisle as she needed an X-Ray. My immediate thought was THIS HOSPITAL DOESN'T HAVE AN X-RAY FACILITY?!
I hope you enjoy the video/write up combo report.