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 ...

Back in communication ...

Well Dad is back in communication as he has a new mobile phone - a tenner from Tesco.  Thanks to Asda all the credit from the lost/stolen phone has been transferred to his new phone as well as his original phone number.  So if you've got Dad's mobile number drop him a text as he's lost all his contacts!

He had a bit of a learning curve and almost gave upon  texting for good as couldn't get it to work.  He said it had a mind of it's own and it was using the phonetic alphabet!  Since found out what he meant was I'd left predictive text on !

Dad's blog on Thailand

Well Dad has left me some notes on Thailand for the blog.

Weight: Neither lost nor gained any weight. Three decent Thai meals a day and not the usual high mileage on this trip so not surprised.

Accommodation:  25 hotels or bungalows. Average price was £10.00 for the room, ie £5.00 each.

Travel: Took three train journeys, one bus and four ferries.  Next time would leave my own bike at home, as nearly everywhere you can hire a bike for 200 baht (£4.00) a day.

Flight: Singapore airlines were very good and food was excellent. Heathrow - Singapore - Phuket. Cost £590 return. Would have worked out cheaper if flown to Bangkok.

Bagage Allowance: In the hold 20 kgs and the bike weighed in at 19.5. The rest of the luggage was just one pannier and that weighed in at 7 kgs. Definitely travelling light this trip !

Cost of Holiday: £720 for all the accommodation, internal travel, food, daily spends, a couple of beers a day and he trouble fighting off the offers of the odd Thai massage on those old legs :)

Mileage: 1200 kilometres (around 750 miles). Not a high mileage trip as quite a few days were spent travelling and sight seeing. Could have spent longer in all the place travelled through as there was so much to do and see.

The machine (bike): Very little trouble with the bike on this trip. Roads in Thailand are of a good standard with no frost to make pot-holes. Roads had a good hard shoulder for biking. The Thai drivers are a bit mad but majority of the time felt safe on the road.

Travel Guides:  Took the Rough Guide to Thailand and the Lonely Planet. For travelling independently probably the Rough Guide was the better choice.

A couple of mentions ..,. Dave King my cycling partner on the trip. His expertise on mobile phones, GPS and Skype couldn't have been better. Nathan Smallman who lived and worked in Thailand for a year in the Pottery industry for his help in picking a few places to visit

Lastly thanks to Kendal, my great daughter with out her there would be no blog and no base camp manager ! In the last month there have been over 2,000 hits on the blog (a RT from Mark Beaumont helped), so thanks to everyone for taking an interest and following me on my trip.

He's back !

Dad got back early into Heathrow this morning. They must have had a good journey back as he popped round mine for coffee about 12.00 ish.  He's had a great time but if he was to do the trip again, he'd leave the bikes at home and hire them out there. He said the country is not geared up for moving bikes around. Most of the time they took a journey on public transport it costs at least double (some times triple) the cost for the bike than it did for Dad - I wonder if he got pensioner rate and the bike didn't!

To fill in a few gaps ... no he didn't have an elephant ride, he said it was too expensive as he was not in a group and would have to "hire" the elephant to himself!  When he went swimming in the River Kwai what he hadn't told me was how fast the current was. Apparently he'd jumped in off the balcony of the floating bungalow but when he surfaced he'd float way down stream! Dad said he had a struggle swimming back up stream and then trying to get out of the water back onto balcony!

Apparently to get back to Phuket had turned into quite a journey. They'd first had to hang around most of the day for the train to Surat Thani. They got in to the station at 2.00 am and then had to hang around hoping the bikes would be on the next train. It had crossed their mind that they had lost the bikes and panniers completely but they eventually turned up on the 5.00 am train. They then had to get the local bus to Phuket. The first bus was at 7.30 but it was full, so they hung around and got the last two tickets for the next bus. They then had problems finding space on the bus for the bikes. Eventually they got them on and they headed off. Dad said more and more folk got on the bus as it headed back to Phuket.  They were standing in the gangway and sitting three to the seats.  The journey took 6 hours and it was not air-conditioned!  At one point the bus broke down on the top of a mountain but they topped it up with some water via various methods, cups, containers and hose pipe running into it, and eventually they were on there way again.

The first aid kit got used as well ... not by Dad falling off his bike but by him falling off a bench in the railway station. He'd decided to get his head down for an hour or so while waiting for the bikes to come on the next train. Found himself a station bench, lay down on it and it tipped over. Dad said he went a right clatter on the station floor and knocked his arm up a bit.

Paradise Mansion in Phuket didn't quite live up to it's name. Dad said they made sure when they returned back they still had the bike boxes in store before they booked in.  Dad said on the last couple of nights they were there there were arguments between the staff and the owners and eventually a fight broke out! Not really what you want in your hotel !

Dad's mobile hadn't been returned back to the hotel either so I'll sort out putting a stop on the SIM.  Will have a look at the Nokia he's found to see if we have a charger and whether it's SIM free, if not he'll have to have a new phone.

Dad will fill me in on some stats, like how many miles, etc which I'll post soon.

Currently in the air ...

Dad, Dave and hopefully two bikes are currently en-route from Singapore to Heathrow airport.  Been checking the flight status and it looks like it's running about 30 minutes late. By the time I get in up the morning they should have landed and yes I've got the right day this time!

Not had any updates today, Dad is probably out of credit again. Will fill in the missing blanks when I catch up with him tomorrow.

The final countdown ...

Dad's phone ran out of credit again ! Apparently he tried to send me a long a text but it wouldn't send. Who is ringing/texting to use up all this credit. Not me that's for sure.

They've had a day of packing up everything and I assume the bikes are boxed up ready for the return journey. Dad said he's been out and had his last swim in the warm sea.  They then went out for an evening meal - some sort of prawn dish and yellow chicken curry!

They'll be heading home soon ...  in fact they should be landing at Heathrow at 6.00 am Sunday morning!

Phuket

Got a text off Dad earlier. Think we've sorted the communication blip now! I don't know who he was texting but it wasn't me !

They are now back in Phuket. A bit of a recap over the last couple of days. They cycled 100 kms to get to Nakhon Phanom which is just north of Bangkok. From there they eventually got a train at 4.30 pm (the first train not having room for bikes, the second being full of passengers) and arrived Surat Thani 2.00 am (local time) but unfortunately their bikes didn't!  The bikes should have been in the Guards Van. Dave remembers seeing them on the platform before they left but they both thought they'd been put on the train. I can imagine the panic of them being separated from their bikes. They had to hang around at the station and their bikes arrived on the next train at 5.00 am !  So quite a bit of the last couple of days has been spent hanging around railway stations - I wonder if they had a thermos and a notebook with them!

They got themselves a bus from Surat Thani back onto Phuket.  Will get more of an update once they get back on Skype.

An update on his lost mobile. Since it was lost at the start of the trip it's been getting switched on just on a Tuesday. Why Tuesday !!   I know this as I've been texting it regularly and I send delivery reports to the mobile and I get an alert when they are delivered. I've rang it each time it gets switched on! Once they hung up on me the other times it's already been turned off again.  Well this week as well as Tuesday it's been turned on today and I rang it and they answered!  Slight language issue and they eventually hung up on me!  Not sure if it's kids who have it.  I've text and asked it to be returned to the Paradise Mansion Hotel as this is where Dad and Dave will finish their trip as their bike boxes are stored there. I doubt it will get returned but I have fun texting things like "I'm watching you", "I know what you did last summer!" :)