Category: Garry’s Blog

April-2024 Garry McGivern’s regular monthly update. Well, what can I say? Once again, the weather has been pretty awful with plenty of rain, which at the beginning of the month was so bad it put me off from going away. And if it’s not the weather that’s stopped me, it’s been my health, but eventually, I managed to get a few days away camping, although that got curtailed.

After last month’s trip to the New Forest, I decided I needed to buy a tarp for my Hilleberg tent, which arrived at the beginning of this month. Unfortunately, with all the rain we’ve had, my garden was too wet to try it out, and I had to wait until the middle of the month before I could get away and try it. I had planned to go to the New Forest for a couple of days. Try my tarp out, then head over to France. However, after receiving a phone call from the hospital, I had to change my plans.

Health, And The Ongoing Saga

You may remember last month that, I had an MRI scan that showed there had been some changes in my neck. After the scan, my local hospital decided that they needed to have a meeting with the neurosurgeons in Southampton to discuss my case. Haha, well, I learnt this month that the meeting was scheduled for the end of March, but for some reason, Southampton couldn’t or didn’t receive my scans so there was no discussion. But not to worry they would try again this month. I really can’t believe that one hospital can’t view or receive another hospital’s scans. Unbelievable.

On the second day of my trip to the New Forest, I received a call from my local hospital. They had managed to have a meeting with Southampton, and they are now going to operate on my neck. (I’m not too sure how I feel about that. But it is what it is) But they now need to do a series of X-rays on my neck. And could I get to the hospital tomorrow? I could, but not until late in the day. I was down the New Forest, so an appointment was booked for the following Monday. That scuppered my plans for going to France, and I stayed down the New Forest for the next few days.

Back Home

I returned home on Sunday, ready for my X-rays on Monday morning. Guess what? My local hospital couldn’t do them! Once again, I’m now stuck in limbo, waiting for an appointment to come through from another hospital, unable to go away. Except I have and I’m currently down the New Forest again.

Subscribe to my blog and follow me as I travel around on my bike. Plus, as a subscriber, you’ll be among the first to receive news and updates on future tours. And, of course, you can always follow me on social media: Facebook, X, Instagram, YouTube and Pinterest. I’m also on Flickr, where you’ll find pictures from all my tours, along with a monthly photo update that I publish each month.

If you want to find out if I’m away touring at the moment and check my location, visit the Where’s Garry web page.

Garry McGivern Travelsonabike2 is bicycle touring England on Tuesday, 30th-April-2024. Bognor Regis to Brockenhurst. 53 miles. Haha, look where I’ve ended up again. I was going to come here tomorrow but got confused with some dates. So I’ve come down today instead.

As I said, I was going to come here tomorrow. I thought I had a meeting today. But as I said, I got the dates mixed up. I’m helping or, rather, being interviewed by a researcher who’s studying DCM. It’s only over the phone, so I thought I’d do it from my tent.

It was a late decision to come away today after I realised I’d mixed my dates up. But I soon loaded my bike and hit the road. Luckily, there was a nice tailwind, and I flew down here. I also took the top road rather than follow the cycle route. It’s a lot shorter (12 miles shorter), but it’s not as pretty. And there’s a lot of traffic. But with a nice tailwind, I was all set up in camp by 3.30.

Subscribe to my blog and follow me as I travel around on my bike. Plus, as a subscriber, you’ll be among the first to receive news and updates on future tours. And, of course, you can always follow me on social media: Facebook, X, Instagram, YouTube and Pinterest. I’m also on Flickr, where I’ll publish the photos from this tour once I’m home. Pictures from all my tours and monthly photos can also be found on Flickr.

You can also follow my progress and see where I stop each night by visiting the Where’s Garry web page; there, you’ll find a map of the route I’ve taken so far.

This week’s Travelsonabike2 on this day post comes from England on the 26th-April-2018. I’m in the UK and struggling to ride. I’d needed a hip replacement a couple of years ago but was still waiting. And now my hip was incredibly painful. So much so that I was struggling to cycle twenty miles each day. Today may have been one of my longer days.

Thursday 26th April 2018. Lingfield to Washington. 33 miles.

Well, I’m certainly dragging this ride out; I’m still not home! It’s just all a bit too painful. On any other ride, I would have been home yesterday. But it doesn’t matter, if I was home, I’d only spend all day down the pub.

As difficult as I’m finding this cycle camping malarky. I’m really enjoying it, not the pain, obviously, but everything else. I think it’s also helping my health more than usual. Usually, when I’m away touring, I tend to have quite a few beers in the evening. But not on this one. I’ve only been having one or two. It’s too painful having to get up in the night.

I think I’ll definitely be home tomorrow, but you never know!!

Subscribe to my blog and follow me as I travel around on my bike. Plus, as a subscriber, you’ll be among the first to receive news and updates on future tours. And, of course, you can always follow me on social media: Facebook, X, Instagram, YouTube and Pinterest. I’m also on Flickr, where photographs from all my tours are.

If you want to find out if Garry’s away touring at the moment and check his location, visit the Where’s Garry web page.

Garry McGivern Travelsonabike2 is bicycle touring England on Sunday, 21st-April-2024. Brockenhurst to Bognor Regis. 73 miles. That was a tough ride. There was a strong north-easterly wind blowing against me. And I did contemplate jumping on a train. But I thought that would be giving up. And let’s face it, I’ve not done that much cycling in the past few days.

There’s nothing to report about the ride home apart from it being hardgoing. Hopefully, my x-rays tomorrow will go okay, and I won’t be whisked away to the operating theatre. And I can get away again before they operate.

Knowing the NHS, and I’m certainly not knocking them. After all, I owe my life to them. But I think/hope it’ll be a few months before anything on the operating table happens. But then again, my neck is not the same as my hip. The consequences of not operating are a lot more serious.

Subscribe to my blog and follow me as I travel around on my bike. Plus, as a subscriber, you’ll be among the first to receive news and updates on future tours. And, of course, you can always follow me on social media: Facebook, X, Instagram, YouTube and Pinterest. I’m also on Flickr, where I’ll publish the photos from this tour once I’m home. Pictures from all my tours and monthly photos can also be found on Flickr.

You can also follow my progress and see where I stop each night by visiting the Where’s Garry web page; there, you’ll find a map of the route I’ve taken so far.