Over The Hill
Guru
- Location
- Ridden off into the sunset
I lost contact with my Father for many years after my parents divorced when I was young. So now when I see my Dad he comes out with a stories from his past that I have not heard before. Here is a little gem he came out with last Sunday.
In 1944 my Dad left school aged 14 and was about to start work at a local sheet metal factory that was making shell casings. He was the seventh child from a very poor family in London and his only income came from digging through rubble on bomb sites to get the money out of gas meters.
He and a friend decided to go to the seaside for two weeks. They made two bikes from parts they could scavenge from the local rubbish tip and they made a trailer for one of the bikes from some old pram wheels. The tent was made from the canvas they took from the awning from a bombed out shop.
They loaded the bikes with food and tent and set off with no money maps or means of contact with home, heading for the south coast. The journey from London to Hastings took them two days to cover around 60 miles. They went in the spring of 1944 and their progress was held up by road blocks to let endless convoys of tanks trucks and troops move along to the coast for what they later found out to be the preparations for the D Day landings.
The pram trailer fell apart on the way and they had to somehow load everything onto the bikes. When they got to the coast they surprisingly managed to pitch their makeshift tend right on the coast and used to watch the build up of troops and frantic activity that was going on.
The highlight of the trip was when they looked over a fence that had been build along one section of coast to see a coach full of WAAFs (Women's Auxiliary Air Force) arrive on the beach and go for a swim in the sea. Dad found this a “bit of an eye opener for a fourteen year old” as most of the young women did not have bathing costumes.
After about a week they found they had eaten all their food and so with no supplies or money they set off back to London. As they cycled along they met a local vicar cycling home who on learning of their situation took them home and gave them a hot meal.
Dad seemed to gloss over the fact that he went without food for a day or two and I can only guess that this may have been a common occurrence. He also seemed to think nothing of setting off without a map. With the threat of invasion all the signposts had been removed too.
On his return Dad started work at the sheet metal factory. He will be 80 in December and still cycles once a week along the coast in Spain where he lives. He now had an electric motor on his bike to help with the hills.
In 1944 my Dad left school aged 14 and was about to start work at a local sheet metal factory that was making shell casings. He was the seventh child from a very poor family in London and his only income came from digging through rubble on bomb sites to get the money out of gas meters.
He and a friend decided to go to the seaside for two weeks. They made two bikes from parts they could scavenge from the local rubbish tip and they made a trailer for one of the bikes from some old pram wheels. The tent was made from the canvas they took from the awning from a bombed out shop.
They loaded the bikes with food and tent and set off with no money maps or means of contact with home, heading for the south coast. The journey from London to Hastings took them two days to cover around 60 miles. They went in the spring of 1944 and their progress was held up by road blocks to let endless convoys of tanks trucks and troops move along to the coast for what they later found out to be the preparations for the D Day landings.
The pram trailer fell apart on the way and they had to somehow load everything onto the bikes. When they got to the coast they surprisingly managed to pitch their makeshift tend right on the coast and used to watch the build up of troops and frantic activity that was going on.
The highlight of the trip was when they looked over a fence that had been build along one section of coast to see a coach full of WAAFs (Women's Auxiliary Air Force) arrive on the beach and go for a swim in the sea. Dad found this a “bit of an eye opener for a fourteen year old” as most of the young women did not have bathing costumes.
After about a week they found they had eaten all their food and so with no supplies or money they set off back to London. As they cycled along they met a local vicar cycling home who on learning of their situation took them home and gave them a hot meal.
Dad seemed to gloss over the fact that he went without food for a day or two and I can only guess that this may have been a common occurrence. He also seemed to think nothing of setting off without a map. With the threat of invasion all the signposts had been removed too.
On his return Dad started work at the sheet metal factory. He will be 80 in December and still cycles once a week along the coast in Spain where he lives. He now had an electric motor on his bike to help with the hills.
