Spain and Scotland - Bilbao to Galashiels

Tuesday 21 - Saturday 25 May, Spain and Scotland - Bilbao to Galashiels

Badger came to see me in the hospital at 8.00am on Tuesday morning. He had brought some more of my stuff round and was going to ride my Honda out to the ferry terminal, get a lift back to Bilbao from a couple of Bikers from Galashiels who were staying at his hotel and going back on the same ferry as him. He was then going to ride out to the terminal on his Triumph and attempt to get both bikes back to Portsmouth. I was feeling a lot better and could have probably have got up but the Spanish doctors were insisting on me staying in bed and as I didn't want to create any problems with the insurance I had no choice to but to comply - it was very frustrating. Badger was still very shaken with the whole affair and it was all I could do to reassure him that he was taking by far the most sensible course of action.

Badger's visit was pretty brief as he had a lot to do by 10.00am - so off he went. I had arranged for a letter for him from the hospital to help him get my bike onto the ferry - he also took some snaps of me in my hospital bed as additional proof. He rode my Honda to the ferry terminal - explained the situation to the ferry staff and they agreed he could take both bikes. He then had to get a taxi back to his hotel, which took over 40 minutes and had to rush to get own bike to the terminal, which he managed to do. He kept in touch via my mobile and had a pretty stressful morning. When the ferry sailed at 10.30am he and both bikes were on board.

When he docked in Portsmouth on Wednesday morning they let him get both bikes off, he rode home to Bath on his bike, caught a train back to Portsmouth and rode my bike back to Bath as well - what a hero? He still felt guilty about leaving me and I still kept trying to reassure him that he doing the right thing. While Badger was wending his way home I was busy trying to arrange my own repatriation.

Both Bikes back in Portsmouth

My main worry was that I was covered for medical emergencies, I had purchased the outward ferry tickets on my Visa card and checked with them beforehand that they would provide emergency cover, but this would not be guaranteed and no repatriation could be arranged until they had checked with the hospital in Bilbao and my own doctor in Galashiels. The Spanish side was sorted out that day, but it took until Thursday and quite a few UK calls to sort out my own doctor's report. However as the crutches and brace didn't arrive until Thursday this didn't actually slow things down. I had to pay over 500 euros for the crutches and brace although the insurance people said that this would be refunded. At least I was now allowed out of bed - thank god!.

By the end of play on Thursday the insurance people confirmed that my claim was OK and they were finally able to start arranging my repatriation. To be honest I could have taken a taxi to the airport and got on a scheduled flight back to Edinburgh, but they wouldn't allow that - I had to be accompanied by a nurse on a flight that accepted patients. In the event they arranged to bring me home by air ambulance on Saturday morning - I couldn't wait. The Spanish hospital was fine, but I was bored stupid and to put the cherry on the cake I broke my Kindle luckily I had a couple of books on my mobile otherwise I would have gone truly mad. There was no wi-fi in the hospital and whilst I had my laptop with me - I couldn't do any real work without internet connectivity. It was great to phone home and tell Claire that I would be back on Saturday. My time in hospital was pretty tough on her and she couldn't even come and see me, plus her own shifts as a nurse in Edinburgh meant that there weren't even many times when we could talk on the phone.

Saturday finally came round and at about 10.30 an ambulance man turned up for me. This turned out to be Alfonso, who not only spoke really good English but was a fellow biker. After 5 days of near silence on my own it was great to have someone to talk to - particularly as he had been to North Africa before on his BMW and was keen to hear about the trip to Morocco. Alfonso and his crew took me to Bilbao airport and waited with me until the Air Ambulance turned up having first picked up another patient in Cadiz. I just want to say a huge thank you to Alfonso and his mates - they were great.

Alsfonso and his Mate

The air ambulance turned out to be an 8-seater twin-engined turbo prop - basically a small executive jet. There was a pilot - Ollie, co-pilot - Adrian, doctor - John and nurse - Liz as crew plus another patient George and his wife Patricia. Liz introduced the doctor to me as "Dr John", but didn't get it when I asked where his piano was? The company CEGA who handle patient transfers on behalf of insurers run this Air Ambulance as a sort of sweep-up service - picking up those patients that can't be handled by scheduled airlines. After my time in hospital it felt great to be going home by private plane.

The Air Ambulance at Bilboa Airport

The flight plan was to fly to Biggin Hill, where George, Patricia and Dr John would be taken by ambulance to George's local hospital, they would refuel the plane and take me on to Edinburgh where an ambulance would get me home to Galashiels. When we landed at Biggin Hill it was full of German executive jets that had flown VIPs over for the Champions League Final at Wembley. We saw a few Mercedes Limos turn up to whisk people off to Wembley - how the other half live!

Taking off at Bilboa

Adrian and Ollie

Adrian, Liz , Me and Ollie at Biggin Hill

Once we had refueled the four of us got back on board and headed up to Edinburgh. The weather had been awful the whole time I was in Bilbao - in fact they had had one of the wettest springs for years, but by the time we got to the UK the weather had cleared up and it got better as we headed North. I had an amazing view of Morecambe Bay and then we turned East as we headed for Edinburgh and I had a panoramic view of the whole of the Borders including Galashiels. We got a fantastic view of Edinburgh as we landed at about 5pm. I felt a bit sorry for the crew as all the hotels in Edinburgh were full for the Marathon and they still had to get a taxi to Glasgow, which was the closest place they could get in at!

Landing at Edinburgh

Within 5 minutes of landing the ambulance taking me home turned up and off we went on the final leg of my journey. I knew I was back in the Borders as within a few minutes we had established that the ambulance driver was friendly with a colleague of Claire's and the other crew member - Jo was best friends with an old colleague of mine in Peebles - but that's what the Borders are like! After nearly a month abroad it felt weird but nice to be driving on the left again.

In less than an hour I was back home in Galashiels and Bella - our mad lurcher was running down to meet me. Claire was home as were my daughters Kate and Jess who'd come for the weekend from London and Edinburgh respectively. It was wonderful to be back in the bosom of my family.

Back Home

Jess, Claire and Denzil

Kate, Claire, Denzil and Bella

Afterwards

It only took a week or so to get back on my feet properly again. Within a week of getting back home I'd managed to see my orthopedic consultant, who confirmed that there were no complications arising from the dislocation. It took a few massages to sort out my shoulder and back, but they are fine now. My left elbow is a lot better but still a bit dodgy.

Badger looked after the Honda for a couple of weeks then he drove it up to Preston en route to a family do in Blackburn. Claire and I met up with him and his family at a service station and I drove the bike back to Galashiels. I had to buy a new indicator lens and I also arranged for a service with Willy Stewart before having it MOT'ed at the end of June. It sailed through the MOT although they recommended that I change the front pads and wheel bearings which I arranged for Willy to do. The insurance company refunded me for the crutches and brace and took care of all the other medical bills. It probably cost £10-15K just to fly me back.

It has taken me until September to complete this blog - but it's finally done. Thanks to the first decent summer for years in Scotland I've been out and about quite a bit on the bike discovering bits of the Borders and Northumberland that I've never been to before. In June GV - an old cycling mate from Essex - came up to the North-East on his 1960's Norton Commando, I met up with him in Durham, we rode up to Galashiels and spent a day riding round the Borders. Claire and I are off to Bath to meet up with Badger and Kate this weekend, unfortunately Eddie is away in France so it might be a while before we meet up again. Badger and I are already planning another trip. He still wants to get to that hotel on the edge of the Sahara. However as I might not be able to get medical insurance it might be the Scottish Highlands instead. He seems to have the bug and is even considering getting a BMW 1200 GS. I'm more than happy to stay with the Pan European though I did fit some bar risers that Eddie sent up for me.

I want to say thanks to: -

• Ian Hunter for selling me the Honda and being a nice guy.
• Eddie Stewart for all his assitance and spanner work.
• Ian at Anderson & Wilson for sorting out my hydraulics.
• Chris Billam at TyreFactors.com Ltd for letting me go away for a month.
• Badger (Chris Palmer) for inviting me in the first place and being such a hero in getting the Honda back to me.
• Eddie Lambah-Stoate for putting up with my blethering for two weeks and teaching me some of the basics of riding a motorcycle.
• Alan & Jackie, Duncan & Linzi in Sunderland / Jim, Annette & Brigit in Huddersfield / The Palmer Family in Bath / Sid & Lottie in Montpelier / Jane & Mark, Jame & Johnny in Ayamonte / Hugo and Bianca in Lisbon for all their hospitality.
• All the medical staff, ambulance teams and CEGA flight crew for taking care of me and getting me home again.
• My wife Claire, my daughters Jess and Kate, Philip Munro (Jess's boyfriend) for encouraging me to go and for putting up with me when I got home.

Denzil (Mike Dennison)
04 September 2013
Galashiels
Scotland

Galashiels - from my front door