A SPRIGHTLY 90-year-old was told - it's time to visit the Panama Canal or it' s off to the residential home.

And so Ernie Davis, who celebrated his 90th birthday yesterday with friends and family, is adventuring to South America to visit the massive engineering feat, which he has read about and admired all his life.

In jest, his daughter Maureen Griffin gave him the ultimatum in the run up to his birthday, and now the plans are in place to jet off for two weeks next month.

"I said to him 'if you don't go now you never will'," said Mrs Griffin.

"He has always read about it and said it is a wonderful piece of engineering.

"He now knows how many people died building it and all sorts of other facts - he has always wanted to go."

Mr Davis is one of seven siblings and a retired farmer who has lived in Droitwich all his life.

Mrs Griffin - who is accompanying her father with her husband - said he has come to travelling late.

"The older generation didn't do as much travelling as nowadays, so it's all very exciting."

The trio plan to cruise along the manmade waterway, which dissects South and North America.

The Panama Canal was opened a year before Mr Davis' birth in 1914.

It is 50 miles long and is used by cargo ships to cut thousands of miles off their journey.

It means they don't have to circumvent South America and the treacherous waters around Cape Horn.