If my trip to Liverpool was personal and emotional, this trip was that x10.

I was born in Bournemouth in 1975 and had never been back. I was only there a few months from birth before moving back to Dublin to live with my mother and grandparents so had no recollection but I knew a few things from my mother and her photos, diaries and letters. I finally decided it was time to retrace her steps and see the place of my birth and do it on my birthday. What better time!?

Perhaps one thing that had always put me off going to Bournemouth was that it’s not easy to get to. There’s no direct flights most of the time if ever anymore! There used to be though apparently. We had to get a small Aer Lingus (my first time on Aer Lingus since childhood somehow!) plane from Dublin to Southampton then get an awkward coach trip from there to Bournemouth and our cheap but cheerful Premier Inn. We bought couple of bottles in duty free for the crack so that was our cheap hotel entertainment at night! The hotel wasn’t far from town so on evening one we took a walk from there to the beach mostly down quiet, tree lined avenues and accidentally came across the Heathlands hotel where my mother met my father and ended up being his family’s lodger where their illicit affair began which resulted in me! It was late October and late evening so the beach and pier were quiet but I was struck by the sheer size/length of the beach. So long you couldn’t actually see the end of it in either direction! We had a nice walk along the pier then walked back to the hotel.

Next day, after a nice buffet brekkie in the hotel we walked back and had a proper look around the town that my mother once called home including Bournemouth lower gardens which I’m sure she sat in on summer days. We took a walk along the cliff walk overlooking the beach, down on the beach itself and down as far as Boscombe where Joanne’s friend Kian had had an apartment. He sadly passed away about 8 months before so it was an emotional trip for both of us. We got back to the hotel and got an uber to a local Toby’s for dinner.

Next day was retrace my mother’s steps day and also my birthday. I planned that! We got a bus to the local town of Poole where she lived and managed to find the house in which I was conceived! I hadn’t intended to as I felt it would be too much of an imposition but I couldn’t resist knocking on the door to see if anyone was in. I had already communicated with the current occupants years before by email to ask if there were any items of interest in the attic related to my father so they would have known who I was but they were away. The next door neighbour was in his garden so I felt the need to explain why I was hanging around and it turned out it was his birthday too that day which was weird! We walked on to the town and to the hospital where I was born exactly 49 years previously and asked the secretary if they had any records but they didn’t. We had lunch and a little birthday cake in a cafe in Poole before getting another bus to Holmfield avenue, the only other address I had relating to my mother’s time in Bournemouth and the address mentioned on my actual birth cert so I presume she had to move out of my father’s house when I was born or shortly before.

We got another bus back to Bournemouth and had dinner in Harry Ramsden’s with a pile of rats outside! We had our last little night time walk around and went back to the hotel to finish our drinks. We went inside the Heathlands hotel on the way back and I reckon it hadn’t changed since the mid 70s when my mother worked there. Creepily old fashioned! On a side note Joanne nearly poked her eye out on some kind of cactus plant as she put her bag down to take the photo of me outside!

We got a train back to Southampton the next morning after hotel checkout and took some time to walk around there, having a nice Italian lunch before heading to the airport and home. All in all, a strange, emotional trip as it brought back a lot of memories of my mother and thoughts of what life might have been like for her around the time of my birth. It was a trip I had to make but one I probably wont repeat.