RAOC Gazette - page 258
Image details
| Corps | RAOC |
|---|---|
| Material type | Journals |
| Book page | |
| Chapter head | |
| Chapter key | |
| Chapter number | |
| Full title | RAOC Gazette |
| Page number | |
| Publication date | 1983 |
| Real page | |
| Colour | Yes |
| Grey | No |
| Early date | 1983 |
| Late date | 1983 |
| Transcription |
making that appointment. On the outskirts of Derby we in- structed our stand-in support (Ray Powell) to find the where-. abouts of BBC Radio Derby and report back to us as soon as possible. Once again, in a confusing configuration of roads, we took a wrong turning and, instead of walking the approxi- mate two miles, we ended up covering something in the region of six miles. We were, consequently, very late for our appoint- ment and, indeed, too late to have a live interview that day. However, Mr Gore very kindly pre-recorded an interview with us that he promised to air the next day, when we would be some fifty miles away. Having suffered the ignominy of getting lost going into Derby, we now had the prospect of getting out of the city. This was overcome by sticking very close to our support vehicle until we reached the road to Uttoxeter and Stoke. Even we could not get lost on this road, the A50, because it is a direct link between Derby and Stoke. However, the road contains many long, straight stretches and this part of our walk became a very boring affair, with John and 1 desperately searching for some light relief. To the consternation of our back-up man, we found our relief in the form of a Little Chef cafe, some two miles short of a pre-selected rendezvous point. When Ray eventually retraced his steps, he found John and I sitting in the cafe, eating soup and bread rolls. This small sojourn was not good for the figure but it provided the respite we were searching for. At the risk of upsetting originators of Stoke-on-Trent and the surrounding area, John and I are agreed that if we never walk through that area again, it will still be too soon. Those acquainted with the city will know that it is built on a series of hills and that the boundaries stretch for a number of miles. We had chosen a time to pass through Stoke when the day-was at its hottest and, at the evening rush hour, when exhaust fumes were at their thickest. This, coupled with the fact that our back-up vehicle went on a little too far, meant that our spirits dropped to their lowest of the entire walk. I can only say that the best part of Stoke, during our short visit, was the road out which was to take us into the beautiful country- side of Cheshire. Once again, Pete could have been a little more selective in his choice of camp site because this time he c had placed us at one, near Sandbach, which was in earshot of the M6. As had been the case when we were camped close to ' Heathrow' (Hinckley), the noise did not desist at dusk and, in the stillness of the night, one could be forgiven for thinking that we were actually camped on the central reservation of the M6. However, our spirits once again picked up at the thought that Day Five was at an end and that there was only one more County to go before we reached Merseyside. As our spirits had been dampened earlier in the day, our bodies were in danger of also being dampened because that night was to prove to be the wettest of the entire walk and my tent was beginning to spring a number of leaks. Day Six. We rose to find ourselves in the middle of a waterlogged field but having, once again, eaten a substantial breakfast we had the prospect of walking through the Cheshire countryside in the direction of the Runcorn bridge and, beyond that, the city of Liverpool. Nothing could stop us now so, with spirits once again at a high peak, we were on the road towards Middlewich and Northwich. Apart from an un- scheduled detour I had to make when getting ' caught short'' somewhere between the two towns, we made rapid progress and, once again, found ourselves two hours too early for the 4 pm appointment I had made with the Liverpool Echo on Runcorn bridge. This was a time when we sat in our support vehicle and contemplated what we had achieved so far, little realising that the few miles from Runcorn bridge into Liver- pool were to prove the most hazardous of the trip. As both of us were unfamiliar with that particular part of Merseyside, we didn't know that the A562 and A561 were roads slightly less than motorways and that there wasn't an alternative, apart from going miles out of our way. Anyway, with John and I fairly racing over the bridge and with the ' tang' of Merseyside in our nostrils, we left Cheshire and only had a few miles to go. With no Liverpool Echo reporter in sight and us not in the mood for waiting around, we started along the afore- mentioned roads to Liverpool. There being no pavements on either side, I constantly had the thought that our lives were in mortal danger especially with the nnmber of heavy lorries hurtling to and from Liverpool docks. It was with a great deal of relief that we entered the outskirts of Liverpool and the safety of some pavements. We had decided that we would get to a point within easy walking distance of the city centre before stopping for the night. This point eventually turned out to be Speke Airport, approximately six miles from Liverpool Town Hall. During the walk we had experienced a number of pleasant spontaneous acts of kindness but our arrival at Speke Airport proved to be the most pleasant of all. On approaching a garage forecourt just outside the airport, we heard a voice from ' the sky' inviting us to have a cup of tea. We eventually realised that the voice had come over the tannoy system of the garage and a very kind ' Scouse' and his girlfriend, who were manning the cash register, had seen us coming down the road. This kind gesture was superb in itself but as a result of a casual mention that my car (the back-up vehicle) had got rather grubby during the week, I was ' knocked out' by the offer of a free car wash. Having had our faith in humanity restored . and with the promise that we would return to that particular garage the following morning to continue our walk into Liver- pool, we set off, in a sparkling car, for our camp site for that night Because Liverpool is a very built up area with no real camp sites, the only sensible solution was to travel the few miles to Aintree Racecourse where there is plenty of real estate on which to pitch tents. This also gave us the opportunity to recce the road into Liverpool which we considered essential after our experiences in Derby and Stoke. Because the owner- ship of Aintree Racecourse has been in doubt for a number of years, it has been allowed to go to seed, literally! Before pitching our tents we had to hack away at grass over two feet in height but, that night, we would have slept anywhere because of the elation we all felt at almost completing the walk. Last Day. We had a meeting with the Chairman of the Liverpool City Council at 10 am and this was to mark the completion of our walk. With this in mind and the fact that we had to travel through Liverpool during the early morning rush hour, we set off very early, back to our newly found friends at the Speke garage. With final farewells being made to them, we had the relatively short distance to the city centre to cover. On our arrival at Liverpool Town Hall we were shown to the same room in which the Liverpool Society had held their inaugural meeting some one hundred years earlier. There we were met by the Chairman of the Council and both of us dis- covered that we had no idea of how to address him. However, in the presence of the Liverpool Echo reporter, who had eventually caught up with us, we took tea with the Chairman who congratulated us on our achievement. Having spent some thirty minutes with the Chairman, we were whisked away to the studios of BBC Radio Merseyside and a fifteen minute interview. Due to the time factor involved in these two receptions and because we had achieved our objective of walking from London to Liverpool, it was with little conscience that we ' hitched' a ride from the town hall to the Melling Road entrance of Aintree Racecourse. Here, we had to wait for a few minutes before making our grand entrance onto the racecourse at twelve noon, in time to be greeted by a large crowd of people who had gathered to take part in the annual NSPCC Aintree Walk weekend. To the applause of these people, John and I walked faster than we had done the whole week and it was a great sense of achievement that we crossed the finish line together. Our job, however, was not yet over because we were invited to start the main event of the day and also to take part in i t We declined the offer to take part in the event, a twenty four hour non-stop walk, but we did walk a few laps of the 1.6 miles track. 1 was accompanied by two of my sisters, residents of Liverpool, and six nieces and nephews, one of whom decided that riding on my shoulders was the best form of transport. Conclusion. Although it would be untrue to say that a walk of this length is enjoyable, we derived great satisfaction from being able to help people less fortunate than ourselves. The main enjoyment was in the comradeship amongst the whole team and the goodwill shown to us by so many people through- out the country. Apart from the expected fatigue and a small blister I picked up on the second day, neither John or I suffered any great distress during the walk. In fact, to the amazement of a qualified nurse of 208(V) General Hospital who inspected our feet at Aintree, we had both come through remarkably well. At the time of going to press, we are still collecting the money pledged but we anticipate that the final sum will be in the region of £2,000. This, we consider, has made all the hard preparatory work and the actual walking worthwhile. How- ever, our fund is still open so if anyone would like to contribute to the NSPCC they may do so by sending their donation to me, WOl F. Morton RAOC, DSM(A), LE(A) Andover or W02 J. Brooks BEM RAOC, School of Ammunition, Kineton (cheques made payable to NSPCC). — 2 3 — (Continued on page 215.) |
| Book number | R0406 |