and so the journey begins ...

I dropped Dad off at Hanley bus station in the small hours of this morning. I had thought there would been more people (when I say people I mean drunken idiots) about at that time on a Saturday morning but there were just two other people waiting for the bus. I hung around with Dad until the coach came, waved him off and then I hurried back home to get in bed.

The coach was due in Birmingham at 2.40 and then he'd got a couple of hours wait until his next bus at 5.00. However there was a bus to Heathrow at 3.00 am. Dad asked if he could hop on that - no problem. It was a brand new coach with just four people on it, so Dad had virtually the pick of the seats!  He arrived in Heathrow around 5.00 but this coach was dropping off at Central rather than terminal 4. Dad found the free shuttle bus and made his way to terminal 4. He'd still got a few hours to kill but at least he was at the airport.

Breakfast and the papers killed an a hour or so. Fully monty and coffee £15.00 !!!! Dad is used to paying a fiver at Audlem bikers cafe, so I bet them came as a shock when he had to dig out another £10. He did say next time he'd nip Audlem for breakfast before he left.

His bag has gone through and he'd got himself a coffee. Dad is not used to these "fancy" coffee places with a choice of coffee and ended up with an Expresso, so had to re-order to get a decent cup of coffee.

When I spoke to him at 9.00 am he was just waiting for the gate to open.  Flight is due to leave at 10.50, so hopefully I'll be able to track that later so I'll know he's arrived in Vietnam.


Edited at 11.30 am ... I checked the status of the flight and it says "airborne" so he's definitely on his way now.

It's hours not days now ...

Well it's just over 36 hours til Dad leaves home for Vietnam. He's got a bit of journey before he leaves the UK via Heathrow. First there is a taxi from home into town to catch the National Express at some small hour of the morning when most people (ie me!) will be tucked up snuggly in bed! Told Dad to go and find out today where he needs to catch the coach, seeing they are currently in the process of "moving" the bus station! Dad then has a few hours wait in Birmingham coach station before the onwards journey down to Heathrow. I just hope he doesn't nod off and miss the connecting coach !


He then has a few hours wait at Heathrow and time for breakfast before he flies out on Saturday morning to Kuala Lumpur. It's then onwards to Ho Chi Minh City where he arrives on Sunday morning (local time).

Hopefully he'll not lose his mobile phone on this trip ! I've had to go and get myself a new sim for an old mobile phone seeing Dad has somehow "blocked" my current mobile number and none of my texts are getting through! He can still text me, but as he's not got a message from me in his inbox to just "reply" to, he's struggling a bit even do that !So for the next month I'll be wandering around with TWO mobile phones (I'll be needing a bigger handbag !).

Will update the blog as and when I hear from him but I've got his itinerary so hopefully I'll be able to keep you up-to-date where he is and highlights for that day.

He's off again - this time Vietnam

Sorry for the lack of blogs ... I have had a rubbish few months and not had time to blog but hopefully we've turned a corner. I could write you epic blogs on hospitals, dementia, social services, care homes, funding (or more like "funding yourself") etc, etc but I won't bore you with all that!

Anyway Dad is off on his travels soon ... in fact towards the end of this month. This time he's off to Vietnam for a month on a biking holiday. He's not taking his own bike this time as the trip he is doing provides you with a bike. However he is taking his saddle and pedals. Apparently your saddle is like your most comfy pair shoes and moulded to fit !

As he's not got to maul his bike he's taking the National Express from the local bus station down to Heathrow and he flies out 23rd February and returns on 23rd March. The biking trip he's doing is only two weeks but he'll be "doing his own thing" for the other two weeks. Not sure how far he'll get with just a saddle and a set of pedals! So if you are free and fancy a biking holiday in Vietnam or in Vietnam during that time give us a shout.

He's currently reading up on Vietnam so any useful information on things to do, see or where to avoid would be greatly appreciated.

Hopefully I'll get back into the swing of blogging again and keep you posted on his travels.

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.