Physio bot and family summer hols 2026

I was doing my usual routine at the gym on Wednesday when something went crunch and I suddenly could not hinge at my hips without agony. However, because I'm used to having pain in the sacroiliac when I do the workout I didn't think much of it. I finished the routine and then cycled home.

It continued to be painful however. Whenever I moved from sitting down and standing up I was in agony for about five minutes, and I could not bear weight on my right leg.

Obviously, by the time I decided it wasn't getting any better, it was the weekend. And we were going on holiday on Monday. So I self-referred myself to physiotherapy, and got an immediate appointment with an AI on the NHS.

This was/is a bit skin-crawling because it tries very hard to be a human, but it isn't a human, and it's infuriating because I can only explain what's happening via multiple choice statements that often have nothing to do with what I would actually like to say.

It guided me to talking about the ongoing back problem I have had for years, and made it impossible for me to talk about the painful hip. Then it gave me some exercises for the back.

Deciding that I would at least get physiotherapy for the ongoing back problem, I figured I would do the back exercises, and after a week of exercises to restore flexibility to my lower back I have had three days of much more walking than I've been able to manage for years.

It hasn't really helped the hip, but I'll take it.

Much more walking is happening because I am on holiday in the Lake District, where all there is to do is go walking (pretty much.)

We (me, DH, Son and Daughter) are renting out a historic National Trust farmhouse for the week. Or at least, some other people are renting out the big farmhouse, and we are renting the small workers' cottage attached. It's on the grounds of the Sizergh Estate and there's pretty much nothing but nature around us.

The distant speck of a white house is where we are staying, viewed from the front door of the Big House of Sizergh Manor.

And here's the view from the kitchen window:

So far we've gone into Kendal in search of Kendal Mint Cake, taken a steam train to Windermere aquarium, and taken a 19th century steam yacht gondola on a trip around Coniston Water.

Tomorrow we're going to a nature reserve so Son - who is a keen birder - can try to see an Osprey. It has poured down today, but I'm told it will go back to patchy showers and sunshine again tomorrow. I certainly hope so!