Aber Falls on a Mobility Scooter

When my brother and I were much younger, going out walking was our norm. Regardless of the weather, if we had a free day, it was time to be spent outdoors. Back before our mum (Emma), was in a wheelchair, it was easy to decide we were going out, because the only thing that needed to be done after that decision had been made was to simply go out and do it.

As the saying goes, “you don’t know how good something was until you lose it”. Deciding we’re going anywhere nowadays takes more planning, which is fine. Life adapts and changes, and you must change along with it, so we have. Something we have no control of whatsoever, though, is whether the place we want to go and explore is accessible, or not. The amount of places we now can’t go to as a family is vast, and honestly, it’s upsetting. Especially when I spent the majority of my childhood outdoors.

Aber Falls

The waterfall is a 1-2 hour walk over roughly 3 km (1.86 mi), with a beautiful 37 m (120 ft) high waterfall that rushes into a river, that then runs parallel to you throughout most of the trail.

We went once when I was a kid. I honestly don’t remember it all too well, but of the bits and pieces I do recall, it was fun. We went when it was raining, so there were very little people there, and I distinctly remember insisting I get my photo taken at a weather station that’s sat a little ways up the trail, solely because I thought it looked cool.

More recently then, on a morning when we didn’t have anything planned for the day, we decided, after a while researching, to go again. We didn’t remember it being too steep, and everywhere we looked at online, said that it was absolutely wheelchair/pushchair accessible.

Mum uses a manual wheelchair, and we knew ahead of time that she would not be in great shape at the end of the day if she pushed herself all the way there. I was also still healing from a pretty hefty abdominal operation, and therefore couldn’t do anything too strenuous. That made pushing her up the trail myself also out of the question. As much as she also appreciated Jacob’s offer, Mum was adamant that she wanted to be able to make her own way up (which I think is a reasonable request).

How we got up

Luckily for us, there’s a company in North Wales, called Anglesey Mobility. They sell a lot of accessible gear, including mobility scooters, and motorised wheelchairs. They also rent mobility scooters out to people. Usually, I’d imagine that people call them ahead of time.

I rang them on that morning, and the guy I spoke to was friendly, and very helpful. He assured us that even though it was a last minute request, they did have a mobility scooter available. It had a full battery when we picked it up. We were nervous because we were concerned about the possibility of it not making it up the trail. We decided that on the way to the waterfall, we would only run it down to the halfway mark. That way, regardless of when it died, it would have enough charge to bring Mum back down.

When we got there, it was heaving (busy). On such a hot and sunny day, it was naturally going to attract a lot of people. When we eventually found a place to park our truck, we got out and started the trek up to the waterfall.

I cannot possibly do the scenery justice in this post. Rolling hills, a bright blue sky, birds tweeting, greenery wherever you look, and depending on where you are on the trail, even a view of the sea. It is a truly stunning place. We were excited to see the falls, as it had been raining consistently for several days beforehand, and it was certain to be powerful due to the amount of water on the hills and mountains.

The mobility scooter did fairly well to begin with. It was nowhere near as quick as Mum would have preferred, but it was successfully getting her up the trail, so we called that a win. As the trail progressed, though, it got steeper in certain areas. When this happened, the mobility scooter wasn’t best equipped/prepared to pull itself (and Mum), up some steeper parts of the walk. So, during these parts of the trail, we would give Mum a helping push.

We marvelled at the hills, and the beauty of where we were. When we stopped to have lunch, we spent time laughing, joking, and messing around together. While that is our default state, it was really great to all be outside doing it. We were out as a family, enjoying each other’s company. Lovely.

As time went on, we noticed that the battery was dying quicker than we thought it would. It was definitely draining faster than we wanted it to. Mum tried to save as much battery power as she could, by coasting it whenever the path would let her. She grew anxious, worried that she wouldn’t even make it to see the Falls at all that day. I wanted to reassure her that she would, but I was honestly worried too.

We were absolutely not going to give up while it was above the halfway mark, so we kept going. Using our methods of helping Mum up the steeper areas, and Mum coasting when she could, we made decent progress. All the while, we were getting higher into the hills, and the views were somehow managing to become even more spectacular.

As we got closer, the needle on the battery power toyed with the centre of the gauge relentlessly. It was not a fun part of the trip, as we could hear the waterfall at this point. It sounded as heavy and powerful as we expected it to be, and we were an odd combination of excited, and worried.

Turning a corner, we saw Aber Falls for the first time in more than a decade (probably closer to 15 years), and it blew us away. It was striking, and it roared and crashed onto the rocks below it. We had made it, sort of.

The battery reached its halfway point as we reached a grassy area, just a small rock/hill away from the waterfall itself. It was incredibly loud, and absolutely beautiful. We were disappointed that the mobility scooter couldn’t be made to go any further, because having Mum be right underneath it would have been amazing. We did, however, manage to do what we had set out to do less than 12 hours before.

We sat and had the rest of our lunch, and once again, enjoyed the beautiful view. Mum threw the drone up to get some stunning footage of the Falls, and Jake and I eventually took cameras up to get some shots underneath/right next to it. We stayed for at least an hour. Soaking up the sunshine, enjoying the cool breeze that the small valley we were in had provided, and chatted for a while as we listened to the breathtaking roar of the waterfall.

The trek back down was slightly worse, as the mobility scooter seemed to really dislike being there. Its battery was creeping down steadily. Mum coasted it much more, and we helped as often as we could. It did really well, and it made it to the end of the trail, but it did die just as we entered the car park. It was down in the red on the gauge for most of the trip back down, which was not a simple downhill ride given the undulations of the track, and the gravel surface. Mum could not simply roll down. It was anxiety inducing.

Climbing back into the car, we all had mixed feelings. On the one hand, we were proud that our mini adventure paid off, and we were happy that we’d (for all intents and purposes), made it to see Aber Falls. On the other hand, we were disappointed that we couldn’t take the mobility scooter, and by extension, Mum, as far as we wanted to.

We didn’t leave feeling helpless, though, as now we have a better idea of what to expect the next time we go up there. We realised earlier on in the walk, that the mobility scooter didn’t have brilliant gearing, or at least gearing that wasn’t suited for outside/soft off-road use. Next time, if we decide to hire one again, we would need something that is better equipped for that purpose.

We also knew that regardless of what scooter we might hire next time (or if Mum has a better one herself—we don’t know what the future will bring), we would need a minimum of two batteries. One was simply not enough to get up there. With two batteries, Mum could power ahead without having to worry about conserving power. That’s if we use a mobility scooter/powered wheelchair next time. I would be more than happy to push her up manually, now that I’m healed from surgery.

It was a lovely day, and the views are astounding. We will find ways to get Mum to the places she wants and needs to be, because all of our mental healths do better when we’re outside. As a family, we’re just built like that. Mum, however, has spent literal years of her life outdoors, so I think it hits her harder than it does me and Jake, when she is unable to do so. It’s taken a long time to get her to admit how much her current limitations affect her, which is why we talk about it so much. It’s something we need to tackle.

There are ways to get her outside again, we just need to find them (the boat being one of them). We have considered making her a custom mobility scooter, but that takes more time and money. Buying an off the shelf one costs way more than making one, but it’d be instant relief. We will have to see.

For now, we’re building Firefly, but if you read this far, thank you.

Happy trails.

Cerys