Doors Open Days is coordinated by the Scottish Civic Trust and is part of European Herritage Days along side the Scottish Archaeology Month which is organised by Archaeology Scotland. Doors Open days is the largest free annual architechtural annual event in Scotland and runs throughout September.
On the Doors Open Days website you can search for free access to hundreds of fascinating buildings throughout Scotland. Every weekend throughout the month many buildings that are normally closed to the public open up for a glimpse into their private interiors.
You can search either through the site’s interactive map, area or date. Within the interactive map page you can also search by area, date and theme.
Unfortunately, you currently cannot search by facilities for people with disabilities this year, but maybe it’s something that they will add for 2010. However, once you have found a building that you would like to visit they do include symbols to indicate accessible WCs and if there is access to the building.
After the Equal Adventue Festival 09 I had to get to London for the following day, there were really only two options; fly or a train. The problem with flying was that I would have to leave the festival early and then also pay for an overnight hotel in the capital, neither time nor budgets allowed for this so I looked into the Caledonian Sleeper Train provided by Scott Rail which would not only get me to London in time for my meeting but also give me a place to sleep on the Sunday night.
After looking through the access information on their website and decided to take the plunge…
I have to admit that I was very pleasently surprised by the Sleeper Train, the berth was farily spacious, the adapted WC and buffet car were right next door and the staff were friendly and helpful.
The wheelchair accessible berth
The adapted WC
The trip was much more comfortable than I expected, I slept really well, the conductor brought me breakfast in bed at 8.00am and I was in London Euston by 9.15am. It was the perfect way to travel from rural Scotland to the hussle and bussle on the big smoke and so very easy.
Just for fun, below is a short video clip of the Scottish countryside flying by the window of my berth on the Caledonian Sleeper, enjoy…
Please note that the OpenBritain launch date is the 1st September 2009, please come and visit us again to see the full completed site. In the meantime, here’s some OpenBritain News!
Equal Adventue’s mission is to “To provide a wide range of support to providers – from consultation and research to strategy, implementation, mentoring and technical coaching – to enhance the opportunities to pursue adventure sport and active lifestyles available to people with diverse needs.”
The Equal Adventure website continues to state “For many, gaining meaningful access to sport and adventure opportunities is a greater challenge than the activity itself. Despite a commitment to equality, mainstream providers of outdoor activity, expeditions and sport are often forced into standard patterns of operation – often leading to exclusion. Gaining meaningful access requires taking measures that challenge technical, logistical and human barriers, building on simple good practice.
“For this reason and to help raise money for Motivation and 500 Miles, 2 charities that support the needs of people with disabilities in the developing world they decided to hold the Equal Adventure Festival 09. The event was held at Gelnmore Lodge just outside Aviemore, Scotland and spanned two days of outdoor activties to suit all tastes and abilities.
On the first night Jamie Andrew, a world renouned mountaineer, quadrouple amputee and a founding memeber of the 500 Miles charity gave an inspiring talk about his accident and recovery from it. His speach and experiences took us through a barrage of emotions and certainly set us up for a weekend of challanges with his main focus being about setting yourself goals in life, acheiving them and then moving onwards and upwards to the next. These goals do not have to be breaking world records but instead pushing your own personal limits from learning to undertake basic day to day tasks and then onto desirable personal aims.
10 teams of up to 4 people which were mixed of disabled and non-disabled people competed against each other undertaking tasks such as an endurance loop through the Cairngorns National Park, problem solving activities, orienteering and water based fun on Loch Morlich in adapted Canoes. My personal favourites were “Off the Beaten Track” a challenge to work as a team to navigate land, water and mud including crossing the river in two places. Sometimes the river crossings went well and at other times it was slightly more dubious!
Below a video of the Whacky Races on the Off The Beaten Track Challenge.
Another of the activities that I really enjoyed was the problem solving where as a team we had to create a rope square while blind folded and also try to build the tallest free standing lego tower. This wasn’t as easy as it sounds with a fairly strong breeze coming down through the valley, but of course our team managed to erect a tower of 5 foot 7 inches creating the record.
Another activity was to create eco-friendly head dresses from local plants and vegetation…
A great weekend was had by all and I for one cannot wait for the Equal Adventure Festival next year, which have been provisionally set for the 27th – 29th August 2010 (To be confirmed).
For more photos from the Festival please see Equal Adventure’s Picasso photo album.
Please note that the OpenBritain launch date is the 1st September 2009, please come and visit us again to see the full completed site. In the meantime, here’s some OpenBritain News!
When my departure date came around I arrived at Leeds about 15 minutes before the train was due to leave and boarded without a hitch.The space for wheelchair users on the train is clearly marked and comfirtable including a small table, plug socket and an emergency intercom to be able to speak directly with the driver.
The next part of the adventure was when I arrived at Edinburgh Train Station to find that of the lifts wasn’t in operation due to refurbishment work. I was quickly and effectively loaded and onto a platform vehicle with tank-like tracks for decending the staircase.
The whole experience was great fun and the staff at ScotRail were appropriately trained, helpful and respectful of my dignity. Shortly afterwards I continued my journey to Aviemore without incident where I was met by one of the team from Equal Adventure.
Below: A video of the Edinburgh Station stair descent.
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