I wish... I finished planning my road trip (part 3)

It all happened so quickly.

I saw a tweet on 21st September by Danny Wallace, one of my favourite writers. He wrote Yes Man and Join Me and half of Are You Dave Gorman? (he was the half who wasn't Dave Gorman). His tweet said he'd be at the Bath Children's Literature Festival on Saturday 26th with his children's book illustrator, Jamie Littler.

Immediately I told my friend Morwhenna, who wanted to have a pint with Danny as part of her 40/40 Project; a year-long project to celebrate her 40th birthday by completing 40 challenges on her wish list.

In a matter of minutes Morwhenna had bought two tickets, I had agreed to go with her (a mere three-hour drive each way), and she had agreed to visit Cheddar Gorge with me for my road trip project.

Boom. Done. Organised.

A few days later I met Danny Wallace and Jamie Littler!

Me with Danny Wallace and his first book for children, Hamish and the Worldstoppers

Danny was superb. Friendly and funny and happy to meet us, even after an hour on stage and with his family there waiting. Top bloke. Danny was interested in Morwhenna's project and gave her some wise words of advice as well as taking home her painting of a pint of beer (a real pint might not have gone down well with the family audience).

Jamie was a star too. Despite admitting to feeling nervous beforehand, he drew some excellent cartoon characters based on ideas from younger members of the audience, which were projected onto a screen above the stage. On the spot. No preparation. Impressive! I'm only gutted that Morwhenna and I were moved on before we could get a photo with Jamie too.

And so onwards to Cheddar Gorge. My wish of the month for September was to finish planning my road trip, not embark on it. But when the opportunity arose, I took it.

Without an ounce of cheese or irony.

In Cheddar I bought a 1kg wedge of vintage cheddar cheese from the Cheddar Gorge Cheese Company. It was the least I could do after pestering the staff to go in the museum whilst they were cleaning it, posing for silly photographs with exhibits, and making a hash of the queue for the tills. 

Then Morwhenna and I drove up into Cheddar Gorge to marvel at the rocks, the rock climbers, the hyperventilating cyclists and the rear ends of mountain goats (they simply would not turn around).

I loved Cheddar Gorge; the cheesiness of it, in every meaning of the word. And the fact that Morwhenna came with me. She was great; fun, confident and eager to direct me into poses for silly photographs. A superb addition to the road trip crew.

Morwhenna and her car, Henry, guarding my cheese

Cheddar Gorge. Tick!

What's next?

Sandwich with Andy and Stephen in November. I wrote about organising that trip in my last blog post.

Then? Three places in and around Derbyshire with Paul, Nick and Laura. Prompted by Cillabella to pull my finger out this month, I contacted Paul yesterday about my idea for the trip. He and Nick agreed to help. Paul had heard of two of the place names, but not the third. "I will have to look up Bottoms," he replied, punctuated with a smiley face.

Paul and Nick at the Wellcome Collection

Laura at the Ashmolean Museum

Fantastic! Three new places and three new roadtrippers. Which means...

Only seven more trips to organise. Hmm. Can I, at least, and by the end of October, pencil in dates for them and invite some friends to join me?

What do you wish you could do for the sheer ridiculous fun of it? Let me know.