The Way we Were

Someone gave Dad a copy of The Way we Were and said "do you recognise anyone in the photo". Straight away Dad said that's me on the front row!

Anyone recognise Dad ....

He's the little indian in the centre on the front row. The photo was taken in 1943 at the St Paul's Institute in Mount Pleasant, Fenton.  Dad would have been around 9.  He's not changed that much ... you can still see his ribs now!

The full article from the Way we Were is below.

Happy Birthday Dad

It's Dad's birthday today ... he's 78 but don't tell anyone!  In fact he didn't want anyone to know it's his birthday!  He's gone off walking today to celebrate.

Well Dad .....

Happy Birthday !

Dad in his birthday suit !

How time flies ...

Ok, so I did it again .... I posted that Dad had gone off to Bavaria and forgot to post when he'd come back. Well since then he's been off again, come back, been off again and back .... and yes he's off again next week !  I'm sure he's on the "run" or something !

So to recap. He jetted off to Bavaria in July and managed to get back just in time for my birthday!  In fact he took me to the zoo for my birthday (you are never too old to go to the zoo with your Dad) ... and yes I did sing Daddy's taking me to the zoo tomorrow. It was a great day. We walked miles around Chester zoo and saw loads and loads of animals! I took about 400 photos but I won't bore you with all of those!

He then managed to cram in a couple of weeks camping at St David's.

He then jetted off to Austria for a couple of weeks with the Hanliensian Ramblers. Had a week in Lech and a week in Mayrhofen. Mixed weather. Managed quite a bit of walking and a day out on the bikes. Dad hired a sit-up and beg bike. I bet he looked like something from the Sound of Music free-wheeling down those mountains!

Talking of bikes he did Pete Hambley's birthday ride earlier in September. 75 miles. It should have been 77 so I don't how they managed to drop a couple of miles!

We also managed to catch a couple of stages of the Tour of Britain. We did stage 2 and watched the KOM climb at Morridge.




Dad not doing very well blowing up his "clapper"



Bradley Wiggins and Team Sky

We were also lucky on stage 5 as we watched them leave Trentham, caught them again in Oakamoor and the finish in Hanley.

Mark Cavendish at the start in Trentham

out at Oakamoor



Marc de Marr wins the stage



So that's about it ... all caught up !

Someone else cycling the coast of Britain

I stumbled on a re-tweet yesterday from Kirsty Medlock. She tweeted to say she was setting off with her Dad to cycle the coast of Britain. I replied to her tweet saying that my Dad had done that and if she needed any help to get in touch. I sent her a link to Dad's blog. She replied to say she'd read Dad's blog many times and he was an inspiration ! It makes blogging so worth while when you find out people actually do read what you write.

If you would like to follow Kirsty's trip around the coast she sets off tomorrow from north shore of the Transporter Bridge in North East. She has a blog and a twitter feed at http://cyclingcoastofgreatbritain.wordpress.com/

Just so my Dad gets no ideas .... I have NO plans to be cycling the coast of Britain! My bike hasn't moved out of the shed in the last 10 years. I think it's quite happy where it is.

Dad texting!

Got a text from Dad earlier and this is what it said ...

Hi.gd weth walk gt cabel car up mt. Then did via ferarta ludadx

My Dad has his own texting language which only a few can understand !  The texts roughly translates to ...

Hi,  Good weather. Been walking. Got a cable car up the mountain. Then did Via ferrata. Love Dad x

Sometimes I have to read them a few times and then read them out loud. At first I thought he was talking about cable TV as I'd asked him if there was anywhere to watch the football!


Oh and for those that don't know what a Via ferrata is take a look here.  Not what I would call an enjoyable walk !

 

A Walking Holiday ...

Dad has left the bike at home (well the bike repair shop) and headed off on walking holiday. He kept telling me he was going to Bolivia but as I'd booked him a flight to Munich I knew something was a miss!  Turns out he was heading for Barvaria . Just had a text from him to say he was staying at a place called Oberammergau. I thought it was going to take me some time to find as my Dad's spelling isn't the best, plus he has his own "text speak". Turns out it there is a place called Oberammergau !

I think even managed to find out where they are staying -  here.The plan is to do day walks from the hotel so no heavy back packs to carry on this trip!

I've text Dad and asked if he's found somewhere yet to watch the footie but I wouldn't really want to be an England supporter watching the footie in Germany!

Will update as and when I hear from him.

Dougie Mac Cycle ride 2012

Dad has done the Dougie Mac cycle ride today. Must remember to ask how many times he's done it now. He did the 50 mile route out to Nantwich and back. Just found the route and it says it's 45 mile ! Set off at 9.00 and were back by 2.00, so five hour in total. Had a couple of stops en route and stopped for a chat with me at Wrinehill. Not much of a "challenge" for Dad as he usually does around 45 miles with the Wednesday Wheelers.

It didn't seem as busy this year on the road. I sat and waited for Dad for about half an hour and there were a steady flow of cyclist coming past but it didn't seem as busy as last year. Perhaps they were all either really fast and come through earlier, or were much slower!  There were no entries on the day this year and everyone had to enter online (not everyone has a computer!) so I don't know whether that affected the number of entrants.

At least this year he saw me (last year he went riding past!). He did know I would be there though.

Dad and Cath

Dad with John Dunn - A combined age of 160 and they still have the energy to laugh

Dad and John Dunn

A quick photo with the flag

and then they were off ...