RampItUp: the journey

The first challenge I faced on my AbleChildAfrica RampItUp journey was getting out the front door! Not only is the house full of stairs but there’s a step at the front door which is negotiable with a buggy but not with a wheelchair. So … assuming I had installed some sort of ramp, I left the house at 7.40. On a normal day I would get to work around 8.55. What time would I get there today I wondered.

inaccessible front door

Next little challenge on my route is the fact that Crystal Palace is famous for its alpine climate i.e. it’s built on the side of a mountain! A 13% slope might be fun to go down in a wheelchair but not much fun coming back up again on the way home.

steep road ahead!

After negotiating the big hill it was a 10 minute walk to the station, with dropped kerbs all the way so no particular problems there. The station itself is well equipped with lifts to the platforms, complete with Braille signs and induction loops.

Crystal Palace lift

Getting on the train itself was not that straightforward as there was a sizeable gap between the platform and the train but I am assuming that it would be possible to get a member of staff to bring a ramp to help a wheelchair user get on the train. Getting to Canada Water was easy enough, although the train was fairly packed by the time it got there. At Canada Water it was a lift up and then another one back down again to change to the Jubilee line.

sign in Canada water tube station

As it happened there was a man in a wheelchair in my carriage at Canada Water so this is definitely an accessible route. At Waterloo there was a very easy interchange to the lift which took me straight to the street exit.

the lift at Waterloo

Outside Waterloo there were some impressive queues for the buses but I managed to get on one that didn’t seem to be so popular. Again I would have needed to ask the driver to extend the ramp for me to get on.

Waterloo bus queue

On the bus I took advantage of the designated seating for disabled, pregnant, less able to stand and elderly passengers.

sign on the bus

Across Waterloo Bridge, along the Strand and up Charing Cross Road we went, without too many traffic jams or delays. And after a short walk I was at the office, which has a lovely gently sloping ramp at the front door.

ramp outside the office

Once inside the office though, things were a different matter, with a succession of heavy security doors that are difficult enough to open normally, never mind sitting in a wheelchair.

heavy security door

In the end I made it to the office at 9.20, so about 25 minutes longer than my normal journey. So, all in all, not too difficult, although not a journey I would have been able to make unaided. And that’s in the capital city of a highly developed country. Imagine trying to make an equivalent journey in a developing country in Africa.

So now I need to think about who I am going to nominate to also take on the RampItUp challenge.