dad went walkabout for nearly 7 hours today

[sandy68]

Dad lives in sheltered accommodation.moderation and I go round daily and take him out most days but he still goes out on his own when I cannot be there. He is 80 and his under 9 stone now with all his walking he does. Before I got there today he had gone off for a walk. He has a tracker but it we t flat an hour into his walk. Has it seemed to be his usual route I left him as he is usually back at lunchtime. Anyway 3 hours later he had still not returned so I went out in the car to look for him. After another 2 hours touring around his usual routes I called the police. They were excellent, checked the curb at the shop he goes to on his walk and were about to send the helicopter out when almost after 7 hours he walked in wondering what all the bother was about. He could not tell the policeman where he had actually been other than further along the road and in the fields. He did tell him all about his national service nd his family (not me his daughter) his brothers and sisters. He was in a jolly mood after this marathon walk. The tracker is new and I have had to change the batteries daily where the previous one lasted about a week so need to get it sorted. I do not know how he keeps going.

 

[LizzyA]

Hi. No advice I'm afraid I just didn't want to read and run. What a stressful experience for you. I hope it just means that he was ok and out enjoying himself (at least he found his way back) but how awfully distressing and worrying for you. Have you spoken to him/asked him about where he went etc? I hope you are ok. x

 

[sandy68]

He cannot tell us exactly where he has been other than further up the road to where he usually goes but said be had gone into the fields along there. Was worried he had collapsed somewhere. He has still gone for a walk for an hour this evening. I just do not know where he gets the energy. All he wants to do is walk. We tried day centre but he started jumping out the car when we got there,swearing at us and running off because he did not want to go.

 

[Beate]

Have you thought about a sitting/befriending service? We have a lovely fellow from Age UK who comes three hours every Saturday and Sunday and takes OH for walks.

 

[Bod]

Make sure you get a Police incident number.
This is an official record of what happened, you may need it in the future.

Bod

 

[DeborahBlythe]

Just a thought. If there are any Ramblers groups near you, you might want to talk to them about your dad. There might be a member or two who would be glad to go off rambling with your dad, or, at the very least they might be useful contacts in case this happens again.