I get knocked down...

Or, more accurately, "I free fall 10 feet down a river bank"  Yes, I've been in the wars again - this really isn't being a good year for me.  First of all, back in May, I knocked myself senseless and spent 2 nights in Furness General with a severe concussion then this weekend I very nearly did the same thing again.

It all started off so well too.  We're deep into researching book 3 (out next summer) and headed up to Hadrian's Wall country for the day.  We spent the morning and early afternoon exploring Lanercost Priory and Birdoswald Roman Fort, as well as a stretch of the wall - take a look at the pics, it was glorious!

This display really made me laugh - I can just hear him muttering "I could be in Rome right now, in glorious sunshine drinking wine but, no, I'm here in sodding Cumbria building this stupid wall!"

Having had a thoroughly lovely time we decided to round the day off with a stroll along the Eden Valley on our way home.  We particularly like the stretch near Armathwaite - and you can see why - the autumn colours were beautiful..

Anyway, not long after the picture above was taken, I ventured up one of the paths running away from the river to get a closer look at the sandstone cliffs (my background is in geology & I love a good sandstone cliff). On a particularly narrow stretch the clump of grass under my right foot gave way causing me to twist and free-fall backwards for about 10 feet.  Luckily - and I mean REALLY luckily - I landed on a big pile of dead wood - if I'd hit rocks I'm well aware I wouldn't be sitting here typing this...

I shouted for Steve but was thankfully with it enough to realise I'd hurt my hand, so removed my watch and rings, I also spotted my head was bleeding and applied pressure to the wound - thank goodness for first aid training!

By the time Steve got to me I was shakily making my way back to the main path.  With few rests I made it the mile or so back to the car where we had the following conversation:

Waiting for Xrays

Steve: Which hospital should we go to? Carlisle is probably closest.
Me: How about Kendal?  It's closer to home plus it's next door to Asda and I need to nip in there anyway.
Steve:...
Me: What?  I'll be fine once they patch me up - hopefully before the chippy shuts.

I really look forward to my chippy tea night and didn't plan on this getting in my way.

The team at Westmorland General were superb, though both doctors were somewhat surprised by my bouncy demeanour after such a big fall.  I put that down to 2 things - the happy realisation that I was relatively unscathed after a fall that could easily have finished me off and adrenaline, the wonder drug produced by the body after an incident like this which bestows superhuman powers for a short period of time.

They took away my head bandage after they stapled my head back together. Shame really, I was quite enjoying the John McEnroe look.

Once I was patched up we headed to Asda and we made quite a sight.  Steve is currently on crutches thanks to an, as yet, undiagnosed knee problem so there was I, blood spattered with my arm in a sling, trying to steer a trolly one handed with Steve prodding it and guiding it with one of his crutches whenever it went astray.  I think we made a mark on a few people's Saturday evening.

The upshot is I have a badly sprained hand, a broken ring finger and 3 staples in my head - the next day it also became apparent that I have a huge number of bruises all the way down my back.  Curse you for deserting me adrenaline - I couldn't feel those at all when you were coursing through my veins!

Of course the REALLY good news is that I made it home in time for my chippy tea.

Oh - and the thing that made us laugh the most was that when we got in the car at Armathwaite to drive to A&E we put the radio on and, no word of a lie, this was the tune that was playing: Take the Easy Road by First Aid Kit. Really, you have to laugh.