So we were now on our way to Anglesey.  I still hadn’t stop laughing and Sue was starting to get a little upset with me.  I had actually laughed that much that I was starting to think I was having a brain embolism as I was now getting a pain at the back of my skull but only in one point.  I had turned the Sat Nav on as we didn’t actually know where we were and it had a much better chance of getting us Anglesey than we did.  We rang Frank Butcher the man we were to meet at the Youth Hostel to tell him that we were running late but we were on our way.  Apparantly the Sat Nav would be able to find him as several people before us had used it and had had no problems.

All was going well, I had stopped laughing, we had found the main drag into Anglesey and we were now crossing the bridge and onto the final leg of our journey.  Unfortunately we came across some road works and diversion signs, we only needed to get to the next junction but the road had been closed.  ‘No worries’ I said to Sue ‘We’ll come off at the diversions.  The Sat Nav will automatically re plan the route.’  These were to be famous last words!!  As we came off the road it did indeed recalculate the route but it kept trying to take us back to the road works so we thought it best to follow the diversion.  This meant that my phone kept recalculating our journey until at last it picked a route that followed the coast directly to the Youth Hostel. 

As Sue drove up, what should be described as a beautiful coast line, we took in the views and checked out some of the houses musing about whether we should move our families out to Anglesey.  It was then that my phone beeped.  I looked down and to horror saw that the battery power of my phone was down to one bar.  The Sat Nav had been on for the best part of 3 hours and all the recalculating of routes in last 15 minutes had drained the life from the battery.  I turned to Sue and explained what the beep was ‘Don’t worry, it says that we are only 2 minutes away.  The batteries should last for that long just put your foot down!’  Sue did as was requested and we zoomed down the coast hopeful that we’d reach our destination.  ‘We’re only a minute away according this to the route.’  The women on my phone said ‘In 300 yrds turn left’ we did all of a sudden the readings on the phone said we were now 6 minutes away! ‘Nooooooooooooooooo!!!!!!!!’ was the chorus from Sue and myself.  The phone was now taking us some wild goose chase.  Turn left, now turn right, now right again, now left (there wasn’t even road to the left).  You know when you see on films when the hero’s friend is on his last legs, just before he takes his last gasp of air and he starts hallucinating about his life?  I think that was what was happening to my phone because as we reached the non-existent left the screen went blank.

We were now stuck somewhere in the middle of Anglesey with no idea where to go but knowing that the place we needed to get to was somewhere between 2 and 6 minutes away.  We decided to head towards the town, there must be someone there who knew where the Youth Hostel was or if not know where we could buy a map.  Once we had found the town and a place to park I headed to the post office.  They must would know where it is, they deliver post to them.  I entered and found a friendly looking teller, ‘Do you know where the Youth Hostel is?’ I asked ready with pen and paper to take the directions.  Her reply was disheartening to say the least ‘Do we have one?  Agnes this young man wants to know where the Youth Hostel is?’ (now I know I’m 34 but this woman was well into her 70′s so to her I’m young. Right!!!)  Agnes replied in kind ‘Do we have one?’. I left the post office deflated but they had said the newsagent next door sold maps so I went there.

I asked the same questions again in the newsagent’s.  ‘Do we have one?’ came the predictable reply, ‘Are you sure it’s in Anglesey?’.  I let them have the post code and they confirmed it was indeed in Anglesey but the code actually covered most of the island.  The assistant pointed me in the direction of the maps but they were only maps of roads not a symbol of church, steeple, school or Youth Hostel in sight!  I bought one anyway.  As I was leaving one of the local residents said ‘My husband is in the car park and he has a Sat Nav.’  I nearly cried following her to the vehicle.  Her husband checked his landmarks and even entered the post code but couldn’t help (yet another 20 minutes wasted on SATELLITE NAVIGATION!)

I returned to the car and recapped my jaunt to Sue.  She took it badly and refused to move any further, she was staying in this car for ever.  I then had a brain wave, yes I do have them every now and then despite what Sue says!  As a precaution, just in case the Sat Nav broke, I had printed our route from the AA website.  Even though I had only used the post code to get directions, it would have the road name of our destination at the end and now I had a map with just road names on!  I told Sue.  After 5 minutes of verbal abuse for not remembering that I had these directions 30 minutes ago she drove very quickly to our destination.

We finally reached the Youth Hostel with Frank looking at his watch.  The upshot is that we now have to return in August for our summer programme residential.  This time we’re taking written directions!

You may have noticed that there were a few weeks between our first and second postings.  Partly this was to do with working very hard over the half-term break and partly to do with the fact I haven’t been able to stop laughing since our risk assessment trip into the darkest depths of North Wales.

Let me set the scene.  We were planning our summer programme and decided that we should have a day trip to North Wales and partake in several activities.  A colleague of ours (lets call him Norman) had been to a centre just outside of Llangollen and completed a risk assessment for some quad biking up in the North Wales hills.  We like’d Norman’s idea so we decided to see if there was anything else we could plan in.  Hooray there was!!!  Clay pigeon shooting, horse riding and hover-crafting it could be a grand day out.  The date was set, we had booked the appointment, I had just got sat nav on my phone and Sue had just bought her super duper, ultra speedy, new car.

We set out early (who knew there were two 7:30s in a day) Sue driving over to Bolton to pick me up and we were off.  As we got to the end of the motorway we were making good time (of course Sue had been keeping to the speed limit!!) I received a phone call from Eric from the centre we were planning to visit first.  Apparently using the Sat Nav would lead into an empty field so he gave directions.  Apparently we turn right at McDonalds, then straight onto the A4500, then something about the HSBC bank…    … the car park is on the left across the road from the Quad centre.  The blank bit in the middle there is the bit that I forgot!!!!  We found McDonalds, the A4500 and the HSBC at which we turned right (should have gone straight on!!).

As I pointed out Sue was driving her brand spanky new car that she had only got the day previous and was having trouble reversing, not just the actual act of moving backwards but she couldn’t find the correct gear.  As we turned right at the HSBC the road became very very narrow, very very very steep very very quickly and Sue was not happy to say the least.  We carried on up this hill for about 5 minutes and decided that this couldn’t be the correct way.  I suggested using the sat nav, even though it would put us in the middle of a field it would have to be close enough for us to find where we were going.  NOT A CHANCE!  The sat nav did indeed put us in the middle of a field which in turn was in the middle of another field which in turn was in the middle of another field… you can see where this is going sufficed to say there wasn’t a building in sight and it was a clear day.

We turned round, obviously not reversing as Sue couldn’t find the gear, and headed back the way we had come.  Unfortunately we didn’t know which way that was!  We rang Eric to see if we could get him to give us directions.  The North Wales hills do not allow for very good mobile signals so we spent 10 minutes trying to get a signal then 10 minutes trying to get hold of Eric who obviously didn’t have a signal so we left a message.

As we set off again we turned up yet another hill.  This was more bendy than the others and was only a single track. After about 2 minutes we rounded yet another bend and was immediately confronted by a farmer, his tractor and his sheep dog.  Sue slammed on the breaks (thank which ever God you believe in for ABS!) and let out an amazingly high pitch scream.  While doing this she through her arms in the air and refused move while repeatedly chanting the mantra ‘What do I do now, I can’t reverse?’.  I am afraid to say that I wasn’t really any help as I couldn’t stop laughing.  This problem was made worse by the fact that the farmer’s dog now decided to attack the car; running in, barking at the bumper and biting the tyres.  Thankfully the farmer was only just passed a passing point so he reversed and beckoned Sue to drive forward.  Every time she moved forward the dog would run in and attack the car.  The farmer kept beckoning, Sue kept edging forward, the dog kept attacking the car and I kept laughing!  As Sue is an ardent animal lover she really didn’t want to run the dog down so 10 minutes after our first meeting we eventually passed the now red faced farmer and his entourage (I believed he mouthed the words ‘bloody tourists!’ as we passed).  As we set off up the hill again the last we saw of the debacle was the insane Border Collie chasing us up the hill as fast as his little legs would carry him.

By the time we had got to the top of this hill we finally got a signal and a message from Eric.  Apparently when we left our message we were nowhere near and we’d been driving in the opposite direction for the last ten minutes!  We needed to get across to Holyhead to risk assess a residential activity so decided to call it a day.  We rang Eric (he didn’t have a signal so we left a message), apologised for wasting his time and turned round to head toward Anglesey.  Since the day we have been told that we can’t use the centre anyway because of an insurance problem so we wouldn’t have been able to go anyway.

So we were now on our way to Anglesey…