Lisa Gimingham says to beware low-flying buzzards
It was May 2023, I had negotiated a career break and our senior gap year had started. Our first trip involved travelling from Belgium to Germany, then back via Luxembourg. We had visited Bruges and Ghent, and had arrived in Malmedy.
We stayed at the local aire, with the aim of having a cycle ride the next morning on the track that ran along the back of the aire passing by a town called Waimes.
After the bike ride we would move on to a campsite closer to the German border.
We set off in good time. The cycle track was incredibly quiet. It had a gentle incline all the way to Waimes. On our return, my partner, Martin, was cycling ahead of me when a buzzard took off from the track right in front of him.
This was a wonderful sight but, as he was watching the bird, his bike started to veer off towards the steep verge. To get back on track, he braked sharply and went into a skid. Both he and the bike started tumbling over, ending up on the ground.
I jumped off my bike and helped to remove his bike so he could try and stand up. Martin’s right elbow and knee were scraped, and his hip and rib area hurt; however, he was up and moving.
On return to the aire, Martin was pretty convinced he had either broken or badly bruised his ribs. Online NHS guidance stated there wasn’t any active medical treatment for ribs apart from things like symptomatic pain relief, ice packs and taking it easy.
We managed to get to the campsite, which was ( for us) unexpectedly full; it turned out the next day was a holiday. The only campsite we could find was back on the outskirts of Malmedy and it only had one night available.
We pitched up and all seemed well; Martin fell asleep briefly in the chair in the sun. But, after a shower, he said that his chest was making a loud noise when he bent over.
I listened and could hear a gurgling/squishy sound coming from his chest. It became clear we were going to have to go to A&E after all. I anticipated a very long wait at the hospital.
We checked out of the campsite and drove to town. Imagine our surprise when we were the only ones in the waiting room! Within three hours, there had been an
