Bill Rich Remembers Gunner's Challenge.
Sometime in the spring of 1967 Gunner looked across at Brian
Roberts, Colin Atkins and myself and suggested to us that we should
go to France. I cannot remember exactly when it was, but it was said
quite quietly during an A level Latin lesson.
At the time we were in his office. We were sitting in our usual
seats along the wall, Brian nearest to Gunner, then Colin and
finally me. We always sat in this order. I think that there was a
bit of planning in it. Brian was the smallest and we reckoned the
best at Latin so he could sit nearest to Gunner and answer the
questions. Colin was next, probably because I got the seat nearest
to the door and exit. It also meant that I could lean back against
the wall and hide from Gunner with Brian and Colin acting as
shields.
Gunner explained why he thought we should go to France. We were
after all studying A level French and the only way to improve the
language was speak it amongst the natives. Leaning forward I engaged
Gunner in conversation by asking him where he thought we should go
and how we should get around. This prompted him to reminisce about
his younger days cycling and camping in the Loire Valley. He
mentioned the chateaux, the river and the youth hostels. For one
short moment we saw a side of Gunner that was almost unheard of in
school. He told us about the lavatories and how he had to take a
bucket to swill them out. He then went on to sell the holiday to us
by mentioning that the dormitories and wash facilities were mixed.
As he was talking I was back in my seat, but as he mentioned the
mixed dormitories I leaned forward to look at him. There was
definitely a twinkle in his eye. The rest of the lesson was a blur.
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|
Letter from Buzzer
that was used to enter chateaux and other buildings of
interest at reduced prices. |
All I remember is leaning back behind Colin and biting the inside
of my cheeks to stop myself from laughing. Thoughts were flying
through my head of Gunner in shorts sneaking around the dorms, his
face being the face that I saw every day but on a young body. After
the lesson Brian, Colin and I tried to work out when Gunner would
have gone to France. How old would he have been? Was he at school or
a student? Was it before, after or during the First World War? Our
imaginations ran riot.
Looking back I wish I had actually asked him how he got to
France, because our journey from Northampton down to Southampton was
hard.
After being ‘ordered’ to go to France we had to go home and
confront our parents. I had been to various towns and cities train
spotting from the age of about 10 so did not see a problem in going
abroad. To my surprise my mother agreed as did Colin’s and Brian’s
parents. The year book for 1966-67 states that the “6th Lower
Parents’ Coffee Evening” took place on 25th May, so Gunner’s
suggestion would have been shortly before this parent evening as he
had also justified to my mother, during that evening, why we should
go.
Once we knew that each other could go, the planning started. From
what I remember Gunner never really got involved with this. Len
Hill, our French teacher, became our mentor and motivator. He
brought in a youth hostel guide, recommended wines to drink and
suggested places to get cheap meals. Although we were at school he
told us about the student discounts that we should be able to get.
Either he prompted Jock Meldrum or Jock took it upon himself to get
Buzzer to write a letter explaining that we were studying A level
French at school. I can remember being told to collect the letter
from the secretary’s office. It all seemed very official and
serious.
As I mentioned above I do not know exactly when the idea was
first raised, but it seemed to take over my life. I had cycled 100
miles in a day, travelled to Germany on my own, but I had never had
to look after myself. Fitness was not a problem as Colin was in a
cycling club and I had a butcher’s round and cycled virtually
everywhere. However we were worried about Brian. Whilst he played
football and had a bicycle we felt that we would not get to the
Loire. We were worried that his little legs would catch fire as the
thighs rubbed together. We started making alternative plans for
cycling along the Normandy coast, but at some point Brian pulled
out. In a way it was a relief, but at the same time it was a pity.
To see the route we took on this trip click
here
School finished on the 14th July and we set off for France on the
26th July. I had a blue Palm Beach 3 speed bicycle. Colin had a 5
speed racer. What we carried was about the same. We both had a
saddle bag, panniers and shared a tent, which was there as an
emergency only. Wobbling out of Alcombe Road at 6.50 a.m. we got
into Oxford at 10.50 a.m. From Oxford we cycled down to Newbury. It
was either the pint of beer at one pub or the hills that finished me
off. We diverted over to Basingstoke and caught the train to
Southampton. 92 miles had been covered that day.
On the 27th we caught the ferry to Cherbourg. It was fun
freewheeling onto the car deck. We were waved through to the front
and in Cherbourg were off first. The youth hostel, in Cherbourg, had
straw beds, the dormitories were segregated and the toilets flushed!
My lasting memory of Cherbourg is seeing the old Queen Elizabeth
arriving at about 8.30 pm.
Rather than go through each day I shall try and relate the
remainder of the journey to what we were told by Gunner, Len Hill
and Jock Meldrum.
Gunner let us down badly as at no point did we stay at a Youth
Hostel with mixed dormitories and washing facilities. Our use of
French was also limited. Most of the people in the hostels were
either British or German. I suppose the French had gone to England
to learn English! In fact my French was so poor that I ended up
being told off in Saumur for not cleaning the gas stove. I thought
the old bag had said clean the kitchen, so muttered some Anglo Saxon
words. When I got home I looked up the word, that she had said
repeatedly, in a dictionary and found cuisinière (cooker), not
cuisine (kitchen) - a simple mistake. He was Wright about the
chateaux and the Loire. They were worth visiting and at Blois we
finally had to use a bucket to swill the toilets.
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|
My Youth Hostelling
Card
(The photo was taken when I was in the
third year. I did not have any other photo to put on the
card) |
Len Hill’s advice was invaluable. He had warned us about the heat
and how we could put our bicycles on to the buses if things got too
much. We did this on three occasions. The first time was between
Laval and Angers and 2 days later we bussed from Saumur to Chinon.
On our last day we caught the bus from Rouen up to Le Havre. It was
amusing to see the drivers climb onto the roof and haul the bikes
up. Had we not known about this I think we would have had a few
difficulties with the heat.
We were taught about Appellation Contrôlée so of course only
drank the best wines. Generally we bought a bottle at lunchtime.
What we did not drink was put in the water bottles for later. We did
find a few cheap places to eat.
The letter that Jock got Buzzer to sign was useful. We used it to
get into a lot of Chateaux at the student rate.
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|
Cycling in Swiss
Normandy |
When we went back to Trinity in September and told Gunner about
the trip, he smiled. The smile probably had something to do with
seeing the small SNCF sign that I had stolen and was showing him.
Gunner had mellowed. More importantly he had quietly given my
mother, what I believe was called, a Benham grant. In 1967 it
amounted to about £70 and he had told her, at the parent evening,
that it would help with the trip. Len Hill likewise was pleased and
Jock invited us, with the other sixth formers who did French, to his
house for a meal and slide show. Colin Atkins took the slides. I
managed about 36 colour prints! Jock put in one of his own slides to
quiz us on the chateaux. None of us recognised it and with a laugh
he pointed out that it was Burleigh House, near Stamford.
Brian Richardson had gone to Brittany that summer, I believe, on
a motor bike.
Looking back, the trip seems an age away. We were 17 and had been
away from home for 3 weeks, cycling about 800 miles. To be honest we
were naïve. We slept under canvas twice. The tent had no
groundsheet; we had no sleeping bags so put on all of our clothes to
go to sleep in as it got cold in the night. My legs got badly
blistered in the heat and I was bitten by mosquitoes or fleas after
a night at one hostel. We carried no first aid kit and no sun tan
lotion. We drank wine and cycled in temperatures of around 30oC. Some of our food was stolen at one hostel
and Colin had contracted shingles.
I just wonder if there is anyone who fancies trying it today.
Gunner did it back in the Stone Age; we did it in the 60s. As I
think about it perhaps Gunner had cycled there in 1927 (he would
have been about 20) and that prompted him to encourage us to go. We
did it in 1967 and this year is 40 years on or 80 if Gunner was
there in 1927! I still think that the hardest bit would be to cycle
from Northampton to Southampton. The hills are still there but the
road south of Oxford has become a dual carriageway. In 1967 our main
problem was getting caught behind lorries that were slower than us
going up the hills!
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