Summer Camp Road Trip - Epilogue

As I sit here editing this story, I realise that one of the most obvious things that is missing are the conversations that took place between Sifu, Michael and myself whilst we travelled. The truth is that I am unable to remember most of them. I know we had some great conversations and covered a range of topics from Shaolin Kung Fu to the art of eating ice cream, and everything in between. But what I remember most is how quickly “making conversation” didn’t seem to matter. I have noticed that with true friends and great people silence is never uncomfortable. I am happy to say that this feeling was ever present inside my humble Peugeot 306.

I also wish I'd taken a picture of Sifu, Michael and me during the road trip, but then I guess there's always next year!

Summer Camp Road Trip pt11

I have mentioned how inspired I was with Sifu’s: “Ah, another beautiful day” exclamation upon waking in the car. He said it would be a while before I took my bed for granted again. I had to agree that my favourite place in the whole wide world was my own bed. This made us both laugh. When the time came to pay the bill, Sifu asked if I was going to leave a tip. I replied that I was not as I felt unable to reward the poor service we had received. We hadn’t even been given a smile. Sifu looked at me and explained that we can choose to repay poor service with kindness. This simple statement had quite a profound impact upon me as I realised that I indeed had that choice, and remembered something I had heard (attributed to Martin Luther King and Mahatma Ghandi) that “An eye for an eye leaves everybody blind”. I saw clearly how the waves of trouble and strife are so easily stirred up upon the lake of tranquillity, by repaying bad feeling with bad feeling.

I was still chewing this over (I still am to be honest) as we continued our drive deeper into London. We carried on through into the congestion charging zone and at about 3pm Sifu asked me to turn around and we headed back to Heathrow.

We arrived at Heathrow around 17:00 hours. Terminal 3 was under heavy construction and it took us an age to reach the departure lounge. Sifu’s flight was not scheduled to leave until 21:30 and was not on the departure information screen. We went to the Information Desk in an attempt to find out where check in would take place so Sifu could take advantage of being so early. But it was clear from the attendant’s attitude that the only answer we were going to get was to wait until 3 hours before boarding. Keeping in mind the discussion over lunch I repaid her with my best smile.

Sifu very kindly suggested that there was no need for me to hang around waiting with him and that I should get off home to see Clare and Ollie. I felt a little ashamed at how much I was looking forward to getting back on the road. But Sifu put me at my ease. In Romeo and Juliet Shakespeare writes that: “Parting is such sweet sorrow”. I’ve never really understood that myself. I hate good byes, I find them so inadequate and usually think of a stream of things I wish I’d said after the fact.
So I had planned what I wanted to say as I bid farewell to Sifu, but what I had to say is too personal and private to share here.

On the journey home my mind was a little numb, I turned some music on (loud), put my peddle to the metal and blasted down the motorway chewing up the miles as I headed for home. As I neared Dawlish I looked at the mile counter, since leaving Canterbury on Saturday I had driven nearly 1100 miles and reflecting on the last 3 days I knew I would treasure them for the rest of my life.

Summer Camp Road Trip pt10

As we checked into the hotel, I could see Sifu was disappointed that his enquiry about internet access had met with the reply that there was none. How on earth Sifu could be prepared to put in a few hours of work on the internet before bed was outside of my comprehension. I then remembered how Sifu had commented that he enjoyed working on his website and Q&A series so much that he didn’t consider it to be work at all. Fortunately Sifu took pity on me in my wretched state and we didn’t end up looking for alternative “internet ready” lodgings.

I had spoken to my father earlier that evening and asked for his advice about how long to allow for getting to Heathrow from Manchester. Driving forms a large part of his work and he regularly racks up at least 20 000 miles a year on UK roads. He had said that 5 hours would be enough but to allow 2 more to be extra certain. Allowing for an arrival time at Heathrow of 17:30, I estimated that we should be able to leave the Travelodge at 10:00 and make Heathrow in plenty of time. As we walked to our rooms, Sifu said he would like to be on the road by 08:00 and that we would meet for breakfast at 07:00. As previously stated at the start of this narrative, I was keen to avoid having any extra time for driving around London, but at this point in the proceedings I was too tired to care and agreed to call for Sifu at 07:00 hours.

I felt so much better the next morning and plotted a course for Heathrow, taking us around the outskirts of the Peak District National Park, over to Derby where we could pick up the M1, then South to Heathrow. Stopping for fuel and ice cream at a garage along the way, it soon became obvious to me that we were making brilliant time and would reach the M4 with hours to spare. As it turned out I think it was around 12:30 when we reached junction 4 on the M4 (the Heathrow Airport Junction). With 5 hours to spare, a journey into London was unavoidable. At least this year I was fully aware of the congestion charge and would avoid paying a £50 penalty charge!

The journey into London was much easier than I could have imagined, maybe it was the experience I had accumulated since last year, maybe I was too tired to be worried. But I actually found myself enjoying the trip along the A4020. We passed through Southall which Sifu commented looked like “little India”, it was so busy and we made slow progress, not that I was worried, for once I wasn’t bothered about running out of time. We stopped in Ealing Broadway for a bite to eat. Walking along the pavement Sifu told me to slow down and suggested that we walk at a more leisurely pace and be like two Welshmen, how could I resist?
I meant to call my student Claire Bond to ask for the location of a decent restaurant, but I had left my mobile in the car so we had to rely on my own judgement. Yes you guessed it, I managed to take Sifu to a second rate noodle bar, where we had to share a table and the staff were the most miserable looking people I had seen on our journey.

Unexpectedly this situation set the scene for one of the most poignant conversations I had had with Sifu. It started off as we explored gratitude.

Summer Camp Road Trip pt9

Having lived in the area for all of his life Michael knows the roads around Manchester like the back of his hand and we made double quick time tearing down the motorway. By 20:00 we were parked up in a car park next to the arch that denote Manchester’s China Town district and heading towards a good Thai restaurant that Michael recommended.

I have to say the food was the best I had tasted for a long time. Unfortunately I wasn’t able to enjoy it as much as I would have liked. I was too busy trying to secure accommodation for the night. The thought of another night in the car followed by a drive to London Heathrow and then Devon the following day was too much for me to contemplate. I think I might have disappointed Sifu slightly with my frantic phone calling and map waving during our meal. Not having any luck it was agreed that I would search the internet once we arrived at Michael’s house.

After our meal Sifu asked for a tour of Manchester. Michael was an excellent host and finally one of us was in a position to answer all of Sifu’s questions about dates, population, major events etc. The tour Michael took us on was very comprehensive and it was quite a while before we headed off to his house. I had to laugh when once again we came to a main road that was completely shut down and we were left having to travel “around the houses” to get where we wanted.

Arriving at Michael’s house south of Manchester was a little sad as it meant we were losing one of our travelling companions. Michael set me and Sifu up on computers and provided the tea. I searched for a hotel whilst Michael emptied his bags out of the car. To my complete and utter amazement there was a travel lodge a few miles down the road from Michael’s. I knew that Sifu hoped to put a few more miles between us and Manchester but with it being almost 23:00 hours I’d been driving for nearly 18 hours! My eyes were hurting and all I could think about was sleep. Sifu could clearly see that I was done for the day and saying our goodbyes to Michael and his sister we set off for the Travelodge.

Summer Camp Road Trip pt8

After an hour of travelling along twisty country lanes I asked Michael how far we had travelled. Receiving no reply I looked in the rear view mirror to see he was doubled up, head touching the map, fast asleep. I kept going and eventually he woke up. I asked him again how far we had travelled. He explained that if where we had set off from was the 9 on a clock and where we were heading to was the 3 on a clock. Then we were currently at about 10. Doing a quick calculation I realised that at this rate we would be on this road for many more hours. Drastic action was required if we were ever going to get Michael back to Manchester before Monday!
I’ve always had a bit of a problem with re-tracing my steps, I dislike going back the way I’ve already travelled. So I made an executive decision to take the next road on the right and hopefully we’d join up with the A55 in double quick time.

Big mistake! If you look at any road atlas, you’ll notice that the roads are colour coded depending on their size. I had turned us onto a road without a colour and before I knew it the wing mirrors on the car were clipping the hedges on both sides of the road and grass was growing in the middle of it in places. We did pass a rather spectacular wind farm in the field next to us, but the fascination I would usually have felt was dampened by the rapidly growing feeling of being lost. Fortunately Sifu kicked in with his supernatural sense of direction and after about another half an hour we popped out onto a wider road. I was very much relieved as my nerves were beginning to fray a little and travelling at 15mph, never knowing what was going to jump out from around the next bend was beginning to get to me. Somehow we ended up on the number 2 of our clock and managed to get back to the Britannia bridge in quick time.

By now the black rain clouds were thickening up and it was getting dark. I joined the A55 and kept going. By the time we neared Chester I had to stop again as none of my staying focused tricks were working, not even watching Michael in the rear view mirror as he did battle with sleep, his head bobbing up and down like a nodding dog, could do the trick. We ended up at a McDonalds and I just couldn’t comprehend how busy it was. My father had warned me that we were taking our road trip during one of the busiest weekends of the year. The one where the schools break up for the 6 week holidays and most of the UK goes on the move. But I was not prepared for this. Sifu and Michal drank their tea whilst I sipped my coke and we all ate the remains of Sifu’s birthday cake. Chocolate cake never tasted so good!

Back on the road again it was decided that we would blast on through to Manchester where Michael could recommend us somewhere good to eat.

Summer Camp Road Trip - Pt7

After exploring Caernarfon castle and discussing the pro’s and con’s of being inside a castle under siege we set off to find somewhere to eat. I managed to keep up my unbroken record of finding terrible places to take Sifu to eat and we enjoyed a very poor pub lunch. Sifu exclaimed that the reason English food tasted so poor was that we don’t use enough salt. I had to agree with his logic, though I also felt that over usage of the microwave oven might also be a contributing factor.

Michael examined the road map and announced that we were going to Anglesey next. He plotted a suitable course and we set off. We had been very lucky with the rain up till now, it had always managed to stop whenever we got out of the car and had never really been that bad. As we reached the Britannia bridge and crossed onto Anglesey the heavens opened up and let rip a serious down pour. Sifu asked Michael for the map and said it would be nice to go to Holyhead and see where the ferries travelled over to Dublin. He joked that he would like to stand on the sea front and wave at Joan (Sifu Joan Brown of Shaolin Wahnam Ireland). I found myself praying that Sifu wouldn’t want to actually get on the ferry and travel to Ireland! That’s one of the many great things of travelling with Sifu, you never really know what will happen.

We made Holyhead in good time and the rain kindly held off whilst we went for a wander around. We stocked up on ice cream and looked out to sea. Returning to the car our trusty navigator decided that instead of zooming back along the A55 to mainland Wales, it would be more fun to take the A5025 that formed a nice semi circle from one side of Anglesey to the other. Once again, we were off. And I was blissfully unaware of the headache to come!

Summer Camp Road Trip - pt6

Just outside of Caernarfon I had to stop, pinching the inside of my leg, just wasn’t working. We pulled up at a tea shop that also had a slate orientated craft centre attached to it. The staff of the tea shop didn’t know what was about to hit them!

I decided it was time to show Sifu my new magic trick. One where I make a stack of silver coins appear, disappear (several times) and then transform them into a stack of copper coins. It’s a great trick and Sifu loved it. Even attempting to perform it his self. I must say Sifu’s art of distraction is something to behold.

Michael decided to share his 4 men in hats logic riddle with Sifu. I had first heard this riddle told by Michael in 2004. I was staying in a shared house with some of the other Wahnam instructors and Michael barely made it out of the house in one piece. You see nobody could get the answer and Michael wouldn’t tell! Threats of violence and being sat on did nothing to extract the answer from him.
Three years on and I still hadn’t worked out the answer! As Michael finished the riddle the owner of the tea shop and her daughter had joined in the fun. They had enjoyed my magic trick and as business was quiet they were now enjoying Michael’s logic puzzle. Michael took pity on us and shared an easier one about a man on a burning island. Sifu quickly worked this out.

As we said our goodbyes to the tea shop ladies, they were left with the unsolved riddle of the 4 men in hats. Driving off Michael confessed his compulsion to give them the answer so they could share it (along with the burning island puzzle) with their customers. But he decided against it. I wish I could play my cards as close to my chest as Michael does!

Sifu travelled in silence as we drove towards Caernarfon, every now and then he would ask Michael a question relating to the 4 men in hats. As we arrived in Caernarfon Sifu announced he had worked the problem out, but our attention was drawn to the incredible castle on the hill. I managed to find a car park close by and we set off to explore Caernarfon castle.
Once we were inside the grounds Sifu took Michael to one side to confirm in private that he had indeed got the correct answer to the puzzle. The smile on Sifu’s face said it all (see the incredible photo I managed to take). That was it, Sifu proceeded to give me a couple of clues and told me to relax and the answer would present itself. To my great amazement as I was climbing up one of the towers the solution did present itself, Sifu and Michael confirmed I was correct and we all had a good laugh. I was just relieved that I had managed to demonstrate that I do have some “Scholar” inside of me.

Summer Camp Road Trip pt 5

On our arrival at Dolgellau, I proposed a quick stop and walk about, I was starting to feel tired and needed some fresh air. The scene that unfolded was rather surreal. There were large groups of young people walking around. All were very jolly and replied heartily to Sifu’s greetings (Sifu say’s hello to everyone!). But I just couldn’t work out why there were so many of them around. The answer presented itself after another brief stop for petrol and ice cream. As our navigator tried to plot a course out of Dolgellau and on to A470 that would take us to Porthmadog we had the opportunity to view Dolgellau from many different roads. One of the roads took us passed a large field that was full of tents. The riddle of the 100’s of young people in the middle of nowhere, early on a Sunday morning was solved. We had stumbled across a music festival, if only we’d been there the night before we could have joined in!

Eventually we managed to get the car pointing in the right direction on the A470 and headed off for Porthmadog. Wales is a beautiful country and as I took in the scenery, Sifu and Michael took the opportunity to investigate the back of their eyelids! After a while my body wanted to join in. I realised that stopping every 45 minutes for me to walk around and wake up, wasn’t going to win me any friends and I discovered that by pinching the skin hard on the inside of my leg, I could easily wake myself up again. Later, by necessity, I discovered an even better method. The Small Universe! A few circuits around the small universe soon raised my attention to a safe level.

The plan at Porthmadog was to head down to Pwllheli and beyond. Apparently Michael goes surfing down here and it is beautiful. Unfortunately it soon became apparent that we would be making alternative plans as the road was shut. This was rapidly becoming a familiar theme and we headed back to Porthmadog. Our navigator decided that Anglesey would be a fun place to visit and plotted a route.

Summer Camp Road Trip pt4

I think this must rank as one of the worst nights sleep I’ve ever had. I just couldn’t seem to switch my brain off, not to mention how uncomfortable I was. It also started to get very cold, fortunately my sleeping bag was on the seat behind me and I managed to drag it across myself. Now all I had to worry about was the condensation dripping down the windows. After 4 hours of trying to fall asleep before discomfort necessitated moving I decided I’d rather be driving. Opening the door to go to the toilet I managed to wake everyone else up. I will remember Sifu’s first words that day for the rest of my life: “Ah, another beautiful day!”. They were said without a note of sarcasm, his big smile and sheer joy at greeting another day was infectious and I immediately felt better about matters.

After visiting the washroom we decided to get some warm drinks. Before heading off I stopped the car around the back of the services and we all got out for some morning Lifting the Sky. We must have looked a proper sight! A middle aged handsome Chinese gentleman with 2 scruffy Western guys waving their arms and wobbling around by the side of the road. But I didn’t care, being with Sifu and after the sleeping in the car, it seemed like the most sensible thing in the world to do.

Shortly after heading off we were stopped by the police again and told to find an alternative route into Wales as the A44 to Aberystwyth was apparently closed. There were dozens of abandon cars by the side of the road and the fields were invisible under the flood water. Michael plotted an alternative route to Wales, but it involved the M54. Sifu gave his permission for some motorway driving and we were off again.

We had an uneventful if rather beautiful journey into Wales. We could tell when we crossed the border because everything looked the same and yet felt slightly different. Sifu was overjoyed at the amount of sheep and cows in the fields. He kept trying to take pictures of them on his phone camera as I traversed the twisting and winding road. Looking at the map as I write this, the only place name I recognise during this part of our trip is Welshpool, followed by Dolgellau. So we must have been travelling on the A458 followed by the A470.

Every now and then as we passed through a town or village, Sifu would ask me to take a turning and we’d go past people’s houses and gain a snapshot of their lives. Slowly I was beginning to realise that driving could be about more than just getting from A to B as quickly as possible. It could also be a way of tasting the country I lived in. Sifu joked, quite correctly, that he had probably seen more of the UK than I had. I retorted by saying I’d seen more UK motorways than he had. But I had to agree that Sifu’s way of travelling was growing on me.

Summer Camp Road Trip pt3

I think it was after 23:00 hours when we arrived in Moreton-in-Marsh. Sifu asked Michael to stay in the car and explained that he and I would try to secure the nights accommodation. Poor Michael, I think he felt that Sifu thought he was unlucky! Sifu and I walked into the beautiful Redesdale Arms Hotel, and I prayed to Guan Yin for success. It quickly became clear that we had drawn another blank. But what really impressed me was the level of service we were then provided. The member of staff proceeded to call every other hotel in the area, asking each one for further leads. When this proved unsuccessful he went on line trying to find something for us. In his own words: “I’m determined to find these people somewhere to stay tonight”. He gave it his best shot for over 30 minutes, but in the end we were out of luck. He explained that due to the flooding many hotels were shut and those that were open where full of travellers who had been unable to complete their journeys.

I could have kicked myself, Clare had warned me that very morning that lots of Central and Western parts of England had been suffering severe floods. Sifu, Michael and I had been in Canterbury for the last 14 days, without TV, newspapers or media coverage of any kind. The troubles and the devastation the floods were causing had completely passed us by. Now we were paying for our lack knowledge. We thanked the man at the Redesdale Arms and went back to give the news to Michael.

I continued driving on the A44 and shortly Sifu and Michael fell asleep. I enjoyed the driving as the road was pleasant and the rain had eased off a little. Then I noticed that wisps of fog were starting to appear. Without further warning the car was plunged into thick fog. A real “pea souper” as someone from Victorian London may have exclaimed. I slowed down to a crawl, unable to see more than a few feet in front of the car bonnet. I turned the head lights off and switched to side lights only. The glare from the head lights was being reflected back by all of the water vapour in the air. By turning them off I was able to see much further.

As quickly as the fog had appeared, we were through it. As I approached Evesham, we encountered further problems as many of the roads were closed. Usually when a road is closed, diversion signs are posted, guiding drivers to their original destination via an alternative route. I could tell there were real problems because no attempt at providing diversions was being made. I just don’t think there were any alternative routes. At one point the police turned us back, looking over the policeman’s shoulder after asking for directions I could see why. The whole street was under at least 4 foot of water. I gave up trying to stay on the A44 and settled for trying to find a way out. With Sifu and Michael asleep again, I snuck onto the M5 and headed north.

It was about 01:30 hours and I’d had enough driving for one day. I decided to stop at the next services. I got very excited when I saw the sign post for Frankley services, because it had a bed symbol on it. Hurray I thought, I am going to sleep in a bed after all! But as I drove around the site I couldn’t find anything that resembled a place to sleep. As I write this I am checking the odd fact, place name etc on the internet to make sure I’ve got things correct. I have just discovered that Frankley services DOES have a Travelodge. But that it is located on the Southbound M5, and guess what? We were on the Northbound!

So, for the first time in my life, I found myself sleeping in a car. Sifu didn’t seem too fazed by this, he got himself into a comfortable seated position with his hands on his knees, closed his eyes and fell fast asleep. Michael (also a sleeping in a car virgin) at over 6ft didn’t fair to well in the back. My Peugeot 306 was full to the brim with luggage and various household items (frying pans, toilet rolls etc) that I’d bought for the house in Canterbury and was too tight to leave behind. Michael did his best to find some room, settled down and tried to get comfy.

Summer Camp Road Trip pt2

After a brief journey we stopped for fuel and ice creams. I discovered that a cornetto is ideal for a driver to enjoy. Its cone facilitates smooth gear changing, without the risk of spillage. Like Sifu and Michael I prefer a Magnum any day of the week, but the level of technical ability required makes it unsuitable for eating whilst driving. Unless you like “dinner medals” all over your clothes.

About 20:00 hours on the outskirts of Oxford, I spied a rather pretty B & B (not the one in the photo). Pulling a very illegal stopping manoeuvre I was able to enter the drive way. We had enjoyed rather pleasant weather during our trip so far, but it had started raining about an hour a go and would never be far away for the rest of our road trip. Michael and I got out to make enquiries. The owner expressed her sincere apologies and explained she had no rooms available. I asked her if she could recommend somewhere near by. Her answer caused alarm bells that I ignored at the time: “I’m sorry love but I can’t, I’ve already sent about 20 other people off in all directions”.

I am unable to remember by which road we approached ever closer to the centre of Oxford. My role as Driver did not necessitate such detail, maybe Michael could remember if you asked him nicely. Enough to say that there were many B & B’s along the way. After asking at about 12 of them and being given the same “no room at the Inn” reply we stopped asking and continued into Oxford for our evening meal. At this stage of my narrative I must make a confession. I find driving around strange towns and cities quite a challenge, but Sifu loves it. As a good student I do what my Sifu tells me to. I try to get away with it as often as I can, but Sifu is a great teacher and always manages to provide me with a stretch out of my comfort zone, just when I need it. Oxford was one such occasion. I’m still trying to forget it!

Eventually I parked up (after parking in a doctors spot and then pulling a seriously naughty U turn) and we set off into Oxford. I know it’s probably just me, but UK cities on a Saturday night give me the shakes. Groups of drunken people always put me on my guard. Years of travelling across Nottingham late at night I guess. Sifu stopped a rather unlikely looking youth (in my opinion) and asked where the university was. The youth replied with: “which one?” and the whole conversation went rapidly down hill from there. I think the plan was to find accommodation at the university. But with Oxford having so many, the system wasn’t the same as at Canterbury, where you could pull up and get a room on campus.

Undeterred Sifu set off to find somewhere to eat and came up trumps with a magnificent Chinese restaurant. Sifu spoke in Chinese (Cantonese?) to our waiter and we were off. Great food, great prices and cooked quickly, by 22:00 we were ready to hit the road again.

I remember the A44 out of Oxford very clearly; my alarm bells were well and truly ringing constantly now. We had tried at least a dozen places to stay on our journey, all without success. This usually involved me screeching to a halt in a handy spot and Michael running around ringing on doorbells and crashing into public houses. We stopped at quite a few beautiful towns, places where it would have been delightful to have spent the night. But such a fate was not to be ours.