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FIRST OVERLAND NEWSLETTER 25The latest news of the 'First Overland' DVD, based on Antony Barrington-Brown's original film footage of the 1955 Oxford & Cambridge Far Eastern Expedition from London to Singapore. |
'Operation Enterprise' heads off south again towards the Equator... and a ski resort! There's memories of a 'First Overland'-inspired round-the-world bike ride (well, at least as far as Rome!), and news of Land-Rovers in the world of Brooke Bond and the Darjeeling Highland Railway — India.
In previous Newsletters I've referred to the wonderful emails I get from those of you who've bought the DVD, and are moved to write back with stories about how you first came across 'First Overland', and often the adventures that Tim's book led you to set out on. From Santa Clarita in California, Carl Boyer wrote:
In 1960 Keith Fitchett, Mark Follett (both English) and I (American) took a bicycle trip inspired by Tim Slessor's book. I made it to Rome, and Keith and Mark made it to Athens, so we were not successful in our efforts to make it around the world. Those were great times. We attended the Olympic Games, including opening and closing ceremonies and a ticket for an event every day, for about $22.00 each. Sadly I let myself be distracted by a girl in Rome. I'm pretty sure I acquired my copy of 'First Overland' while I was in Edinburgh attending university for a year. My copy is pretty worn, having been lent to many people. Now I can acquire another copy, and they can have their own!
Carl's email included the text of the Journal he kept on the trip. It's far too long to reproduce here. but I think that one or two extracts will give the flavour:
1960 EUROPEAN BICYCLING TOUR
This journal was kept daily from June 13, 1960. I had flown from New York City’s Idlewild Airport (now JFK) to Reykjavik on an Icelandic Air DC-6, leaving, as I recall almost fifty years later, at 4:00 p.m. and arriving at 7:00 a.m. I spent a day in Iceland, walking the capital and then taking a postbus into the countryside, before going on to Glasgow on a Lockheed Electra. I was traveling light, and had no return ticket. I spent much of the day of my arrival convincing customs that I would not become a public charge. Indeed, if I had not had the addresses and phone numbers of English cousins with me I would probably have been sent back to Iceland. After taking a train from Edinburgh I was met by Ben Ramsbottom, who had met every train from Glasgow that day. I spent a few days there before going onwards.
June 13, 1960
I hitchhiked from Edinburgh to Blyth, arriving about 5:30 p.m. Keith Fitchett, whom I had never met before, said at the door, "Come on in. It’s good to see you. We've got work to do." I spent the evening talking and looking over equipment and stores.
14 June 1960, cycled 13.8 miles to Worksop and Blyth
We went to Worksop to shop for equipment and bought about £3/10/-worth. We spent the rest of the evening planning and talking, as well as printing up the sides of our trailers. I stopped smoking. Spent 52 cents. [It was interesting, also, to see the town where my grandmother was born, although at the time I knew little about the homes in which her family lived.]
After some time preparing their bikes, they set off on their journey:
June 20, 1960, cycled 68.8 miles down the A1 to Thornhaugh
We were up at 7:40 and on the road at 9:30 after breakfast, packing and goodbyes from the Fitchetts. We went straight down to Newark with a short stop in Retford. Although I was pushing with 100 pounds of gear on my bike, and Keith and Mark were each towing an additional 100 pounds on the trailers, we made good time, stopping in a lane past Newark for lunch.
Then we traversed some nasty hills on the way to Grantham and Stamford, stopping for the evening about 6:30. I did not enjoy the road at all, for much of it was in the process of being widened and the construction work made it quite dangerous. We all got sunburned badly; I was the only one wearing a T-shirt. Mark said, "You're dressed to kill - I'm dressed to die!" Having received permission to camp from the gentleman of the manor house we had a supper of tomatoes and beans, the last of the sandwiches and some cake – an experimental and amusing meal. The villagers proved friendly. Spent $2.27, mostly in postage.
I kept that bit in, because many will remember the horrors of the Great North Road in the 60s, with the widening going on. Also, nearly a decade later, I pushed a dead Lambretta up and down those hills at about 3 in the morning — but that's another story!
Carl's next milestone from our point of view came a few days later:
June 26, 1960, Sunday, cycled 24.9 miles about London
We were off about ten for London, but took a wrong turn and wound up in Chelsea instead of going straight in. We took photos at Westminster and got to Buckingham Palace to find the changing of the guard in progress.
We met Tim Slessor at noon, having phoned just before leaving the hostel. The phone did not work properly and we got two wrong numbers for eight pence before I called the operator, who put us through free. The Windsor Castle Pub in Campden Hill Road was a most enjoyable place. We managed to rendezvous before noon, met Tim and his wife outside, and took our drinks, which Tim paid for, to the garden outside for a most interesting ninety minute session. We traded questions, cleared up some last minute points and learned a little about Tim's work at the BBC, filming geographic programs. Having read his book, First Overland, it was great to meet him.
It's that Tim Slessor's fault again! 2 days later they were off to France, flying (like the 'FO' team) across the Channel by Silver City air ferry, but from Manston rather than Lympne. They were late in taking off because of an air blockage in the fuel system of the plane — not very reassuring, but it didn't seem to bother Carl and his friends unduly!
But as that's only got us to Page 8 of the 41 pages of his Journal, I think we'll leave it there for the moment, and I'll read it through and see what other gems there may be.
Carl, of course, is an American customer... and I've been looking through the list of addresses I've sent DVDs to. The vast majority of buyers have been (as you would expect) from the UK, but the Top 6 of 'export' destinations have been USA (94), Australia (54), Canada (18), New Zealand (8), Norway (7) and South Africa (6). Now we have a new country to add to the list — India!
From Bangalore I received an order from LR enthusiast Ajit Krishnamohan, which led to some email correspondence about Land-Rovers in India. Ajit said:
Series 1, 2 & 3 vehicles are not too common in India outside of one or two places (Darjeeling, the North East) but they do appear to have a growing cult following. There is also the odd vehicle to be found elsewhere, and friends of mine have managed to pick some of them up at very good prices for restoration. The challenges are that parts are hard to come by (unless cannibalised from another Series vehicle or fabricated locally), and experienced mechanics (though comparatively cheap) are few and far between.
Ajit says he's a great fan of overlanding ("although 'armchair-only' thus far"), and has been to Darjeeling several times. He sent a link to a BBC World News page that features vehicles that could well have been on the local roads at the same time as 'Oxford' was there. Ajit himself visited the UK as a child but unfortunately never to made it up here to Yorkshire. "King's Lynn was probably the furthest north we got on that trip".
'Second Overland' goes online
And talking of East Anglia, the previous Newsletter featured the coverage given in 'Land Rover Owner' magazine to the plans of Michael Geary and his team of Oxford and Cambridge students to recreate the original London-to-Singapore journey 55 years on. They intend to leave London on September 1st next year, and follow (as far as is politically prudent) the original journey to the Far East. Since then there's been some sterling work done on preparing the vehicles, and one DVD buyer asked me if the 'Cambridge' look-alike he'd seen running around... well, Cambridge... was the original. No, as we've explored before, the final fate of 'Cambridge' is still to be confirmed (and will be reported here as soon as I'm able), and rest assured that any sightings of 'Cambridge' or 'Oxford' in East Anglia are purely Michael's wonderful replicas, going about their lawful business of raising awareness of their planned expedition (which now has official Cambridge University support).
And we can all keep abreast of the latest developments by visiting the new www.firstoverland.co.uk website, being hosted by the LR Series One Club — it's a smashing site, set up for them by the Club's Forum Administrator, Peter Jolly.
And while we're on the subject of replicas, I mentioned in Newsletter 24 that Oxford Diecast were bringing out models of the two cars as a special set. They're now available, and an Oxford Diecast package arrived here a couple of weeks ago — it's my 'surprise' Christmas Present... but the only surprise will be which member of my family will be giving it to me! I had a sneak peek 'to make sure it hadn't got damaged in the post', and the models look great — an absolute must for 'First Overland' enthusiasts.
In recent Newsletters, we have been serialising extracts from 'Operation Enterprise' — a report described as 'An account of the gruelling 10,000 mile reliability trial over the Sahara Desert, jungles and mountains, undertaken by the Turner-Diesel Trans-African Test Team.' They were driving (for reasons explained in Newsletter 23) a Turner-powered Land Rover (107" NUK952) across the Sahara to Kenya and on to Rhodesia. The leader, Ken Hill, wrote 'Operation Enterprise' as a record of the event.
In the last episode, they found the (French) border guards in Morocco far more friendly than the Spanish ones they'd come across either side of the Straits of Gibraltar, and had sampled the extreme hospitality of their Arab host in Casablanca.
On to Azrou
Away to a good start, and made Azrou (approximately 250 miles) by evening. The route was extremely hilly but with magnificent scenery. Azrou is a holiday resort with good skiing, in season. Only three weeks ago the roads were snow-bound. The hotel here is a gigantic barn of a place, empty at this time of year and our presence echoed oddly through its corridors. The place is policed by an enormous Alsatian dog, whose company can be embarrassing at dark corners. All in all, a pleasant evening with the proprietor pleased to see us.
Fantastic Scenery
Left Azrou early morning for Colomb Bechar (327 miles). This road deserves special mention. We climbed immediately through pine forests still covered in a mantle of snow. Thence through rolling hillside and down into lovely emerald green valleys with the most beautiful green meadows through which trickle crystal clear streams patronised by splendid horses and sheep. Arab nomadic encampments abound and are positively biblical in appearance. From this land of milk and honey one suddenly emerges into the foothills of the middle Atlas mountains, and climbs to 6,000 ft. of barren rockiness and descends through inspiring gorges and chasms into the utter waste of the desert approaches to Colomb Bechar.
Here we committed the inexcusable error of attempting desert travel by night and suffered the resultant indecisions in consequence. On checking with compass and stars I was convinced we were travelling in the right direction and ultimately observed the light on the Colomb Bechar Aerodrome winking out like a good Samaritan. We entered the town amidst great excitement and on finding all hotels fully booked, washed down the sand with numerous bottles of beer and prepared camp some two miles from town. No food being available and the time around midnight, we delved into our food stocks and each consumed a tin of baked beans by the light of an Ever Ready lantern, and very magnificent it was.
Blistering Heat
Much business to attend to and reported to Police, Customs and Agents for fuel and breakdown contract. We obtained Rotella from Shell service station and permission to use garage for various small jobs. The most disturbing news today was from the Military Authorities, who informed us that officially the route is closed, but we may proceed from here to Reggan at our own risk and obtain permission from the authorities there to continue across the desert. This will undoubtedly be in convoy and will in all probability entail our staying at Reggan or Adrar until suitable vehicles are available to accompany us. It is difficult to convey to you the conditions prevailing here at this time of the year, but the heat is blistering and the Khamseen wind has started to blow, filling the air with quantities of fine sand, reducing visibility to a minimum, just a few feet, and penetrating everything. There is a very real danger that sand is drifted on to the track, making it quite impossible to distinguish the route. Consequently the Authorities were reluctant to permit any but their own vehicles to travel between Adrar, Reggan and Gao. I confirm my cable of this afternoon, but qualify it by saying that we may proceed to Adrar or Reggan at our own responsibility having first taken out an assistance contract with the Government-sponsored Transport Co here, who will also supply fuel.
Sand – sand – everywhere
Extremely hot with this fantastic wind continuing, sending sheets of sand through the air. It penetrates everywhere, filling the vehicle, our kit, eyes, nose, mouths and hair. I took the vehicle to the Rover Agents to have an extra leaf put in each front spring, this will ease the weight of the 40 gallons of fuel and 50 lbs. of water on the front end. Camping out tonight; good to make a decent cup of tea in spite of the sand.
Weather 'hold-up'
Weather extremely poor, we have now been compelled to seek shelter at the local hotel and very fortunately found a couple of empty rooms. Negotiated assistance contract this morning, and attempted to arrange finances with the local bank, but the manager is absent until this evening (when opening time is 5 p.m. – 6 p.m.). Everything closes down between 12 noon and 4 or 5 p.m. The clerk looked in awe at the letter of credit, and it was quite obvious it meant just as much to him, upside down as right way up.
Crossing the Sahara
We completed the desert crossing this morning and what a journey it had been. With delays by the Military, we were unable to leave Colomb Bechar before Monday morning. Monday evening found us in the teeth of a howling gale. At times the wind force was so strong the whole vehicle seemed to shake. Sand was everywhere. Tuesday, midday, we arrived in Adrar, but it was Wednesday morning before we were allowed to proceed. During this day we travelled 246 miles to Balise 250, where we refuelled and were given several cups of mint tea by a kindly old Arab. We spent the night some six miles from Balise 250 and during Thursday covered 337 miles to Tossalit.
On Friday, we travelled to Gao, a distance of 360 miles. Saturday, Sunday, Monday and this morning were spent driving through French West Africa to Kano. At no time have Jock Allum and myself driven for less than 12-13 hours per day.
Trackless wastes
The precautions taken by the French have been fantastic, but not in any way exaggerated. It is difficult to convey the hazards of travelling over this terrain, particularly at this time of the year, but believe me, when one looks over the utter barren trackless wastes of the desert, it is not hard for an active imagination to appreciate what the consequences would be if one wandered off route. At each Military post we were required to book in and out, our E.T.A. at the next post was radioed ahead and rescue vehicles stood by at these posts to search for us within 36 hours. The weather was scorching by day, temperatures averaged 115 degF at mid-morning, too cold in the evening. The route was difficult and not at all well defined. Some times there was a faint grader line to follow, but mostly it was a question of following old wheel tracks in the sand with the odd beacon or oil drum to mark the edge. There were soft patches of sand all the way, including two very bad ones of 20 and 39 miles respectively. In some sections 1 ft.6 ins. deep. Water was a serious problem, our longest run between points being 450 miles.
We get through
Our assistance contract officially terminated at Gao and it was very gratifying to be greeted there by really hardened French desert travellers who understand the desert in all its moods and shaken by the hand with congratulations on our performance.
The route is closed and we were the last people to be permitted to cross — nothing will now go until September/October. I think we can justifiably feel a little proud of our achievement and the memories of the huge sun ascending above the eastern horizon and beating on us with fiery heat until, its energy spent, it slipped below the western sky to leave us in the delicious coolness of the evening will remain with us for a long time to come.
In the next Newsletter the Expedition moves into French West Africa... and gets worried by a hornet. In the meantime, I've come across scans of two pages from 'The Autocar' magazine with Turner Company adverts, one based on the Expedition. They are very low resolution, and it's hard to make out the date, but I reproduce them here out of interest.
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If anyone has access to better resolution version of these, I'd be very interested to see them. And if I've inadvertently offended anyone's copyright by reproducing them, then I apologise, and will remove them. In the meantime, the Southern Africa Land Rover Club have included a couple of paragraphs from me in their Newsletter, asking if anyone knows the ultimate fate of NUK952. Is it still lurking in a village somewhere in Africa? If it comes to light, it will (of course) be reported here.
As it's now the second week of December, and this Newsletter was supposed to be out in November, I'll stop... and wish you all Season's Greetings, and a Happy New Year.
GRAEME ALDOUS
Previous Newsletters are available here
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