Jeff! You silly old sod!
Glad you survived this one, but these incidents have been known to be embarrassingly fatal.
I too have long walk in the dark, up to my outer workshop and have had a few "incidents".
I have put some of these along the way now..
https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/NEW-22-LE...nOAL:rk:3:pf:0 They help a lot and work straight out of the box... Just hang 'em up.
We have a large pond in the middle of the garden. I made a short metal railing fence round it, to keep my toddler daughter out many years ago.. It's about shin height. (You're ahead of me aren't you?)
So on a cold, black night, with cat ice on the pond, I'm carrying two glass washing machine windows up to the shed, when I realise that I can't see a thing and I could be getting near the pond.
So I take out my primitive phone and fumble for the "light" facility (read glow).. Eventually I find it, but dazzle myself in the process.
I thrust the glow out at arms length and stride out, but I immediately kick the fence... Next thing is a crunch and crash, I'm head first in the pond up to my armpits, with my feet hooked on the fence. I somehow managed to reverse out of the ice and broken glass.
My only injury apart from skinned shins, was a small cut on my nose from ice or glass?
Just to prove how easily it can turn fatal.. My wife and girls all laughed when I presented, dripping and very cross! (They all lived!)
Anyway I managed to find my phone and workshop keys, and most of the broken glass too. Happily I also acquired a couple more washing machine windows. (They make great novelty shed windows, with iris shutters.
)