Author: Garry

Had a good day out at the annual Chilli Fiesta at the beginning of the month which is held in the gardens of West Dean house, a large 19^th century flint faced manor house situated in West Dean near Chichester.

As it was such a lovely sunny day we decided to cycle the 16 miles from home to West Dean using the centurion way from Chichester, which is an old disused railway line that has now been made into a cycle path.

It is as the title suggest all about chillies! Chilli candy floss, chilli beer, chilli wine, chilli cheese, chilli jam, chilli peanut butter (I liked this), and chilli chocolate in fact almost any food you’d care to think of somebody added chillies to it!

Apart from all the chilli related stuff the fiesta also had a traditional fun fare, Punch and Judy, children’s play area, cookery demonstrations, a stage with live bands, food stalls selling different foods from around the world and the gardens of West Dean house which are immaculately kept and feature 16 restored Victorian glasshouses, a walled garden, a kitchen garden, orchards, ornamental gardens, spring, wild and woodland gardens and sunken gardens.

After being at the chilli fiesta all day sampling all the different chilli sauces  you’d have thought that I would have had enough of hot spicy food, but no not me on the way home we decided to stop off in Chichester and have something to eat. I ordered a jerk chicken curry and unfortunately ate a whole scotch bonnet thinking it was a tomato!! That one did bring tears to my eyes!

Realising that I had an appointment to see my back consultant this month I thought that I should really try and see what stage my back was at! So I started to cut down on my medication and Began to do odd jobs at home treating them as if I was working (as in starting at 8 and only stopping at lunchtime for a sandwich rather than going out for a pint!)Another good reason for cutting my tablets down was I’d started to do some really bizarre things! Like I’d put my shoes on in the house then when I went to go outside take them off! Or I’d buy something keep the receipt and throw away the change! It’s either the medication or I’m going senile!

My plan of doing odd jobs at home was going really well and I wasn’t finding it too bad at all, although standing in one place for any length of time really hurts and by about 4 o’clock I was really uncomfortable and couldn’t wait to take some pain relief! But it was all going in the right direction, I was working, sort of, albeit at home but it was things that needed doing and it felt good to be able to do these things! Seeing as a few months ago I wasn’t able to manage half of what I’ve done this past month! Let’s hope that it continues to improve even though it does seem such a long slow process!

The day came when I was to see my consultant and I was feeling pretty good, I’d been doing those odd jobs at home, my leg and back were feeling a lot stronger and I’d halved my medication!

After talking with Mr McCutcheon we both agreed that another operation wouldn’t be a good thing as in his words “it would be a final throw of the dice” and certainly wouldn’t improve any strength that I’d gained and would probably put me back! The numbness that I have in my leg will probably be there for good and I’ll just have to do things to suit the way that I am!

After speaking with Mr McCutcheon I felt pretty good and was confident that things were moving in the right direction! However either the following day or certainly very shortly afterwards I was in a lot of pain and once again had to increase my medication! And I’m now back up to taking 12 tablets a day! Maybe I’ll just have to spend the rest of my life on tablets!

Julie had a week’s holiday this month so we decided to go away for a few days and drove down to Torquay in Devon with the camping gear and bikes on top of the car. We were booked into a hotel in Torbay for the first two nights, then after that we intended to move on somewhere and camp for the rest of the week.

On the day we arrived it was a lovely summer’s day with clear blue skies and we rode the short distance from the hotel into Torquay town (I still struggle to walk very far) where we had a look around seeing what there was to do the next day. Unfortunately the next day the weather turned and it rained all day, it was your typical British summer! So we decided to leave the bikes on the car and get a train to Plymouth about 30 miles away, in the hope that there may be something there to do on a wet summer’s day! There wasn’t it seems that most things involve being outside! The only thing that was inside and was of any interest to us was the Plymouth Gin Distillery, but as you would expect on a wet day the tours were all fully booked and we couldn’t get in! There was an indoor shopping mall but it wasn’t that big and only took a short time to look around. After having a short walk around the quayside we’d had enough of the rain and decided to get the train back to Torquay.

The following day was still very wet and the forecast for the rest of the week was pretty bad, so we decided to cut our break in Devon short and came home early! (Devon photos)

After a normal Saturday night spent down the pub I came home feeling rather peckish, but there was nothing indoors I fancied to eat so I ordered a curry online. Knowing that as soon as I sat down I would probably fall asleep I set the alarm on my phone to wake me up in half an hour at 11.30 when the curry was due to be delivered. Unfortunately I didn’t hear the alarm and didn’t wake up until 12.30am! Balls I thought I’ve definitely missed my curry, but I’m sure that I would have heard the door or they would have put something through the door to say that they called or if not they would have phoned me! But there was nothing in the porch and no missed calls on my phone! O’well I thought I’ll just have to go without and went to bed.

The next morning when I woke up it was annoying me that I hadn’t received my curry, but then again it could have been my fault! On the order form there’s an option to tick, delivery or collection and I know that in the past I’ve thought that I was getting a delivery when I’d ticked the wrong box and put down for collection. I checked the email confirmation that I’d received and no it definitely said delivery! So I waited until midday when they opened up again and got straight on the phone.

“Hello Mr Garry we’re just about to send out you’re order!”

“Sorry” I said

“Your order we’ve just received it and getting it ready”

“I sent that through last night” I said

“We know but it’s only just come through this morning so we’re getting it out now” said the voice on the other end!

“I don’t want it now at 12 o’clock on a Sunday morning, I wanted it last night!”

O sorry Mr Garry perhaps you could have it tonight or we can give you a refund!”

I opted for the refund.

Garry McGivern’s July 2015 update. The very start of the month began with me returning from my little ride down to the West Country. It was really good, and it managed to ease my back a bit, which was the main purpose of going in the first place.

The next day, I had the opportunity of helping out a young German couple, Jacob and Vera who were making their way to Brighton by bike but didn’t have a map. I first passed them along the seafront in Bognor and said hello to them then. As I always do if I see somebody else on a cycle tour. I was now at the end of my village, which was no more than a mile away from where I first saw them. I could see that they were struggling a bit to see which way to go. So I asked them where they were heading. They were heading to Brighton for a jazz festival but didn’t have a map and were trying to use their phone, which is always hard work!

Glad To Help

Seeing as I only lived across the road, I invited them to my house so I could find them a map, to which they agreed. Whilst I was sorting out a map they were telling me that they were from Germany but were actually living in Copenhagen at the moment. And that they weren’t really on a cycle tour. They had only flown into the country the day before and had hired the bikes from a house near the airport. Just so they could cycle to the jazz festival in Brighton.

After sorting out a map for them and marking out the route for them on it. I then decided to ride them out of the village. Avoiding the busy roads and set them on the right road. Once I’d got them out of the village and onto the road they needed, we parted company. With them thanking me for my help, which I was more than happy to do. As like so many other people have done to me in the past. It was just nice to be able to help somebody out for a change rather than it being me receiving the help! A few days later, I received an email from them telling me that they made it to Brighton that day and that they’d had a good time at the festival.

I’ve been out for a couple of smallish rides with Julie at the weekends. One of them was part of the national cycle network, route 2, which I’d already ridden the week before. On my ride down to Dorset, and thought it was such a lovely route as a lot of it was off-road or on very quiet country roads. The ride also involved a couple of ferries.

We First caught a train to Southampton from Barnham, where we picked up route 2. I always find it’s best to cycle west to east. You then generally have the prevailing wind behind you, which we did. It was a lovely leisurely ride, stopping off in a park to have our picnic and then stopping off later at a pub for a drink. Everything was fine, and we’d had such a nice day until we got to Portsmouth our journey’s end. We then had to go shopping at Gunwharfe Quays. A big retail outlet centre so Julie could buy some clothes. Julie eventually bought some clothes after looking in nearly every single shop!

After our spot of retail therapy! And a pint to appease me. It was time to go to the railway station and get the train home, which was just around the corner. When we got to the railway station, the train to Barnham had been cancelled! We asked a guard when the next train would be, and he said at seven, which was another two hours away! Fearing that maybe that one would also be cancelled and that maybe Julie might want to go back to the shops, I suggested that we cycled a little further to Havant. And try and get a train from there. Havant was on the main line, and there would be more trains going our way.

Again, the cycle ride from Portsmouth to Havant is fairly good, as most of it is on cycle paths. Upon arrival at Havant, it was chaos. Whatever had caused our train to be cancelled had also affected the trains from here! There were people everywhere not knowing how they were going to get home and nobody from the railways to ask! Eventually, a train did arrive that we could get on, and we managed to get home at about 10 o’clock at night! Despite the retail therapy and train cancellations, it was still a good day! Ps; the clothes that Julie brought were later taken back because she didn’t like them! Typical woman!

Website Update

After getting a few requests to list the equipment I use. I finally got around to doing it. But I couldn’t make my mind up about where to put them on my website. After a bit of trial and error, they’ve now got their own category, Gear and Equipment, on the sidebar. Sorry about the random emails people kept receiving while I was doing this. They were never meant to go out!

It’s been a busy month of socialising, and I’ve had something on every weekend. The first weekend was a fiftieth birthday party at my good friends Dave and Helen’s. It was Helen’s birthday. I arrived at 2 in the afternoon thinking that was the time that the party started (that always used to be the time), only to find out that it wasn’t until about 4ish! Oops! Oh well, nothing else to do. So I just started earlier than everybody else! It was an excellent party with a good crowd of people. Many of whom I hadn’t seen for a while, so it was good to catch up with them; I also met some interesting new people that I could bore with my cycling stories!

The drink was flowing freely, and I think I left at about 4 am the following morning. I’m not really that sure. I just remember cycling home, and it was light! Good to know that the old boys still got it in him. And can party for 14 hours! The following weekend it was round to another friend’s house for a barbeque that didn’t go on for quite as long. But it still involved plenty of drink. And again I met some interesting new people which I always enjoy. The next couple of weekends, due to the weather being so bad, I had both Julies and my family round for dinner, which again is something that I always enjoy. Hopefully, they do too!

Now for a long time, some of the locals that go down my pub have been saying that they would gladly pay for me to go away just to get rid of me! Well, now they can. I’ve added a link on the website so that they, or anybody else for that matter, can donate

to my PayPal account! It’s all done tongue-in-cheek, but you never know. I may get a big donation from some nice rich old widow and then be able to cycle around the world again! I’ve got to do something to get some money coming in. I’ve not been working for nearly two years!

On the back front, it definitely is getting better. It’s just so slow. I’m still taking loads of tablets, a mixture of pain and anti-inflammatory pills. And every time I try to cut down, I end up in a lot of pain. But at least things seem to be moving in the right direction. I think that by the time it does feel really better I’ll be ready for the old folks home! Next month I go back to the consultant and have to decide whether I should have another operation or not!

Finished the month off by going on a boy’s day out, sailing with Tim and Dave on Dave’s boat, which is a Cornish Shrimper. Dave billed it as a sail for people with disabilities, as Tim can’t move all that well either after being involved in a very serious car crash. It was an ideal day for a sail. Lovely sunshine and just a slight wind, about force 3, maybe 4. Both Tim and Dave are both sailors. But Tim hadn’t done any sailing since his accident back in May. It was good to see him at the helm enjoying himself. We only sailed down the Chichester channel from Dell Quay to East Head and back again. A distance of about 15 miles but it was really good watching Tim sail between the other boats moored along the channel while Dave and I sat back and drank beer!