Friday 24th July 2009Day 6

ODO 553 - 642: 89km

Danger mouse. Picturesque, tranquil grounds of Newstead Abby. Uphill in the rain. BANG!

All the previous nights fuss and worry about staying in the forest is shattered once the sun rises. The forest is tranquil and calm. As the sun breaks the horizon it lifts the light mist that fills the trees. No one is awake. I am woken by a small field mouse scurrying in the leaves. I hear it first very close to my head and as I roll to see what the noise is it scurries away in a flash to a safe distance. The process is repeated several times, on each occasion the mouse taking a little longer before it moves. Standing on its hind legs and taking a good look at me before retreating for the final time behind a tree and off into the woodland.

My morning is peaceful and the ride through and out of the forest is beautiful. Once I exited the forest I found myself amidst an abbey. The grounds of Newstead Abby were absolutely beautiful.A real calming affect. A peaceful place where people are relaxed. It's a shame I couldn't set up camp on their manicured lawn by the lake. The beautiful grounds and traffic free roads are smooth cycling but high speed downhills over speed humps are challenging. The long continuous up hills are tiresome.

Once into civilisation and on cycle paths that follow the main roads into Rotherham the journey becomes uneventful. The rain sets in as forecast and the constant uphill tests my will power. In town I locate a large Tesco, lock up my bike and stock up on food supplies. For lunch my resting place is under a bridge beside a narrow canal. I eat concerned about the small business across the water who seem to use the canal as a drain. I know not what they keep pouring into the water but I'm sure they shouldn't be. I finish my lunch and mount my saddle cycling up towards the main road. Do I turn left or right?

The next thing I know I wake in a hospital to the tune of a doctor asking me if I knew where I was or who I was. It turns out to be Saturday afternoon and all told I've been unconscious for near enough 24hrs. I then manage to catch only snapshots of the next three days. A few minutes here and there. My friend John at the end of my bed. Signing some paperwork to authorise surgery. My bed being pushed through the corridors of the hospital.

I am not properly conscious and able to sequence time until Tuesday afternoon when I am visited by a police officer who informs me of my eventful but near fatal Friday afternoon. He tells me of an accident albeit in minimal detail for no one really seems to know much. The details which are fact state that at about half past six on Friday evening I was cycling along a cycle path that weaved through some fields then crossed a reasonably major country lane. It was on this crossing of Cold Hiendley Common Lane a few miles south of Wakefield that I was involved in a near fatal collision when a car travelling at somewhere between 50 and 60 miles an hour hit me head on - straight into my right side as I rode across the road. The rest of the details are sketchy at best and it is many weeks before I am able to piece together bits of information from different sources to make sense of what seems unlikely.

I feel for and am thankful towards my friend John who I had intended to meet the following day at a scout camp in Leeds. Before the ambulance and police arrived it was he who received the call to say you best get in touch with some family because we doubt he will make it. It was the partner of a nurse who happened to be the next car passing the scene and stopped to help. Locating my phone my recent calls and texts were all aimed at John in preparation for our meeting. Clearly to all those on the scene a lifeless bloody covered body splattered on the road behind the damaged car appears more dead than alive and the seriousness of the damage to my helmet suggested head injuries not to be taken lightly.

Sensibly however he thought twice before phoning my parents and waited until the paramedics arrived and then waited again for confirmation that I was alive and had sustained no brain damage. Brain scans and x-rays confirmed that apart from some loss of skin my worst injury was a completely snapped fibula and tibia. My lower right leg was to be pinned and cast and I, aside from having a splitting headache for the following three weeks would be alright. Imagine eating too much candy floss going on a rollercoaster only to get off and be hit across the back of the head with a cricket bat and you'll get an idea of how I was feeling. I then proceeded to sleep a lot for the next few weeks. One week in the hospital and one at Johns house before I returned to my own place for some more sleeping.

For me the most interesting thing about the unconsciousness is the time before the accident. I completely understand having no recall of the incident and the next three days that follow. Its understandable but for over five hours prior to the collision I have absolutely no recall of anything I was doing.

The doctors were very clear on the fact that if I had not been wearing my helmet, which now only exists as three quarters of a helmet, I would not be here to finish this tale. As it goes it truly was an unfortunate accident. Upon revisiting the scene it is very clear that neither of us stood a chance. By the time I saw the car and the car saw me we both had less than two seconds before the moment of impact. With a loaded touring bike I would have been unable to move out of the way and the narrow tree lined road created a funnel for the car directly at me. The bumper of the car hit my leg and bike frame and broke both of them clean. The main impact was my body into the windshield of the car but it was the back of my head which hit the top of the roof as I was projected over the car which was cause for most concern. Perhaps it was the helmet, maybe luck, maybe I was being watched over or perhaps it just wasn't my time.

One thing is for certain: My search for universal experience has led me here - wear your helmet.