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.

I wish... I finished planning my road trip (part 2)

Crikey, nine road trips. Where do I start?

I looked at the hand-scribbled list of forty-five place names. There was definitely a trip to Wales in there, and a huge tour of the North of England. I couldn't believe I needed to go back to Scotland again; I could have sworn I'd ticked off everything north of the border.

Choose a small trip to start with, I told myself. A small trip won't need as much notice as a big one, not if I want other people to come with me anyway.

My road trip crew consists of ten amazing friends (well, nine since the ex skedaddled): Steven, Vicky, Lucy H, Anthony, Lucy M, Andy, Stephen, Bronwyn and Livia. If I could convince one of them to come with me on the next road trip, that would be great. Because they know what's involved; mainly telling me which country lane to drive along and then standing in the rain, knee-deep in stinging nettles, to photograph me hugging a signpost. 

What's not appealing about that?

Andy and Stephen enjoying an evening's entertainment in Cardigan.

I sent a Facebook message to Andy and Stephen. They live in the Philippines at the moment, but I knew they'd be visiting the UK in November. If I was quick, they might sign up for another road trip.

A few days later, Andy replied: 'Sadly... we don't have time for a road trip. However if you wanted to tick Ham and Sandwich off your list we can try to arrange a date for you to come to Deal if you don't mind an overnight at my parents' house?'

Ham? Sandwich? Parents' house? Deal!

Do you have a wish of the month? Who could help you? Send them a message today.

I wish... I finished planning my road trip (part 1)

If your heart is set on doing something, do it just so. Don't compromise.

Some time in early 2004 I was sitting on a sofa with a road atlas on my lap. Perhaps I was planning a route to visit my family. I can't remember.

What I do remember is looking at the index, a vast list of place names printed in a tiny font. Have you ever done this? Hidden amongst the multitude of normal, sensible place names are weird and wonderful little gems: Pratt's Bottom, Stiffkey, Mousehole...

It reminded me of how I used to sit in the back of my Mum and Dad's car on long trips, finding us on a map and marvelling at unfamiliar names and coastlines.

I dreamed of a road trip; a journey across the UK to visit these silly place names. To see what's there. To have an adventure. 

Excited by my finds, I fetched a highlighter pen and began marking them. 

A few years later, the adventure began. Returning from a day trip to a chocolate factory, I made a detour to Bell End with my friends Lucy and Vicky.

We couldn't find Bell End. It was late, it was dark, and our blood sugar levels were dangerously high. But we found traces of another silly place name nearby...

Over the past 6 years I have visited 56 places with unusual names. I have travelled from the farthest nook on the Cornish coast to the lush green spaces of Ireland to the northernmost isles of Scotland.

It has been the most fun and difficult project of my life so far. Because I have done it with friends and I have done it without Sat Nav.

And it's not over yet...

My aim is to visit a total of 101 places with unusual names. Some well-meaning friends suggested that I stop at 50. No way! I can't move the goalposts now. My heart is set. Less than 101 places and some favourites get cut. More than 101 and the journey might never end!

So, this month I will plan the road trips I need to do to complete the journey. By my rough calculations that's 9 trips to visit the 45 remaining places.

What do you wish you could do? Have a go this month. I dare you.