Thanks for the help at Skelton!

[stevesavage]

Well I've joined the ranks of the walking wounded (hope you are on the mend Iain). Went to A&E but fortunately nothing broken so they sent me home with a stick and some painkillers. Can't put any weight on my leg so think I've probably just torn a muscle - Drs Dave and Trevor do you concur? Special thanks to Dave l'Anson and his mother for looking after my bike. I'll be in touch about recovering it later.
Hope everyone enjoyed the Christmas lunch and had a safe ride home.

[Arthur]

Glad to hear nothing broken. The rest of us made it to the pub with no further incidents

[PhilBixby]

...although most of the "fast" group fell off too (on an icy bridge near Alne) so you (and of course Willy, Dawn, and the rest) weren't the only one(s)! Glad it's nothing broken - maybe start a new thread along the lines of "I'm walking with a stick - should I ride my bike?"

[Dr Dave]

Sorry to hear that one of the many falls actually resulted in someone getting hurt. Sounds like soft tissue (muscle/ligament/tendon etc) trauma (bruising/sprain/strained fibres etc).

Ice and painkiller + gentle moderate activity should see you improving in no time!

[willyh]

Pity no one took any photos of all these cliftonites sprawling on the ice! If it was not so serious it would be funny.

Has some very unamusing hours Sat night at Accident & Emergency, now having exhausted all their avaiolable reading material am fully updatesd with the latest celeb tedium, carmag tedium, Saga tedium and know all about how to fashionably kill furry amimals in the countryside.

My X-rays showed no fracture, and the nearly 4 year old metalwork screwed to femur in perfect nick. Made a digi pic of it, so might put this in next Cliftonite to scare you all.

But as Steve will agree, all this hurts like hell, and driving back from the Club lunch yesterday alfernoon was interesting. Now I know why car drivers find it so hard to brake: this right foot just could not be lifted onto the brake pedal without superhuman determination!

Hospital gave me a nice BIG box of painkillers though! So the 5 1/2 hours was not entirely wasted. As for getting around: Dahon MU will be favoured for a few days: it looks sooo undignified to have to lay a normal bike on the ground in order to 'get a leg over!

[trevorj]

So pleased to hear that there were no broken bones Steve, and I entirely agree with Dr Dave's recovery plan. The problem with A&E departments is that they tend to send you away when no bone is broken with the suggestion that all is well and a few paracetamol will do the trick. Bruised ligaments still hurt and need to be cared for !
We missed you at the lunch but look forward to seeing you and Willy out on the roads [frost free ones] again soon.
Trevor

[Iain M]

Sorry to hear about these falls. I hope you get better soon!!