Awoke at first light. At 10 am, packed up and set out. The sun never rose more than 30 degrees in the sky all day from the horizon, crossing over from England the rain clouds cleared and left a sun shining through a cold atmosphere. Both yesterday, today, and tomorrow were real freezers. Each morning a little more white frost would be on everything, making it look like after a snow storm - but no snow. My feet and hands froze numb while cycling. Some orange drink I put in my water bottle froze solid before I could drink it. The intense cold in my hands and feet combined with the heat of my chest and a strong wind and an extra heavy load and hills up and down made cycling most miserable. Arrived in Tourcoing at dusk, 4 pm. Mr Xavier was not in town so his teachers at the University gave me another place to sleep. A castle more closely. After dinner I retired.
Xavier Brouaux
15 Place du Theatre
59 Tourcoing, France
Mileage: 60 km
Mr Voller took me up to Dover at 9 am. Wheeled my loaded-down bike on the ship and was off to the continent at 10 am. Arrived in Boulogne at 11:30. Met a Canadian cyclist on landing. He split south and I east. With no map, I wandered for two hours in the hills. Just as I thought I was really lost I found a bookstore and got a map, and found out I was lost. Three hours later I pitched my tent in a forest near God knows where, either in France or in Belgium, I still don't know. Read by candlelight until no more candle. Slept in full dress.
Mileage: 50 km
Map .30
Ferry 7.50
Awoke at four cracks before dawn (i.e. 7 am). Dismantled the bike to fit in Gwen's car. She let me off at Victoria but I had to cycle a nerve-wracking mile through early morning London traffic to Charing Cross station. Got the 10 am train to Folkestone. Arrived at noon. Bought my Dover-Boulogne ticket and returned to the Vollers. Washed clothes and packed and repacked. Susan and Clair came home first, then Andy. After dinner Clair, Andy and I went down to Lydd for a dance. Andy and some of his cool teenage cousins and I took a ride out on Romney Marsh for a little known pub. I told Andy I didn't want a weak English Lager so he bought me two of England's finest. They did the work of a six-pack of America's finest. Returned to the dance, no girls available. Returned home at 10 pm.
Awoke about 9 am. After breakfast Mrs Gough saw me to the bus station. Took the 9:40 train, arriving in London at noon. Bought a 1967 Great Britain coin set at a shop on Regent street. Took the tube out to Victoria and visited the Scout shop on Buckingham Palace Road. A friend of Jim Shepherd gave me some patches and said he'd send me more. Took the tube back to Highgate and Bus 134 to Muswell Hill. Gwen returned home soon thereafter. We watched "the telly" had a good Chinese dinner. To bed at 10 pm.
After breakfast on this Sunday morning, Mr Gough and I walked along the beach several miles, and I piously paid homage to the little village and school where my Aunt Roberta ("Boots") taught school for a year. We took the bus back to Yarmouth town and he showed me where the former home of Boots stood. Bus back home - had lunch and a quiet afternoon of reading and writing. Watched TV until time to dress for the evening. At 7:30 pm Sheila and I took the bus downtown, walked to the tower ballroom. Although there was a large crowd and a good band, there was little dancing, but we danced the little that we could. Had my first "Lime and Lager," a really good drink. Walked along the beach for two miles home as the buses didn't run late. Had some snacks and to bed.
Slept until 9 am. After breakfast, took the tube to Liverpool Street station. Took the 11:30 train to Great Yarmouth. Arrived at 3 pm. Taxi to the Gough's. Had dinner and wrote letters. Michael's away at Manchester studying. Shelia is working in a job employment office. At 8:30 Shelia and I took the bus downtown to the town's youth club. We played a highly competitive game of ping pong and had a Coke. Then we walked through downtown and home by way of the sea. Had tea and retired.
Train round-trip ticket $8.00
John and Nora Gough
51 Blake Rd
Great Yarmouth, Norfolk, England
After breakfast I took the tube to South Kensington. Passed an hour in the Baden-Powell House Museum. [Baden-Powell was the founder of the Boy Scouts]. Spent five hours in the Science Museum, an absolute must to return to next trip. Took the tube downtown at 4 pm and walked around the shops until 6 pm. Met Gwen at Picadilly Circus. Had dinner in a restaurant on the South side of the Circus. Went to see the play "Oh Clarence" at a theater. Returned home late.
Slept late again. After a self-made lunch I packed up, took the bus to the tube, and rode to Oxford Circus underground. Bought a Churchill Crown coin in the shop on Regent Street. Walked through more of the shops before watching "The Graduate" at the London Pavilion. Returned to Gwen's at 6 pm. Dinner, watched TV and retired.
Churchhill Crown 10 shillings
Tube - Bus 4 Shillings
Movie 7 Shillings Sixpence
Slept late after that wild night. Wrote letters until 2 pm when John Long picked me up. He and his wife and I drove around Slough, showing me the sights, including Windsor Castle. Had tea at his house. John gave me some scout souvenirs and his wife gave me some stamps for my brother Stephen. John took me back to Jim's house. After dinner, Jim took me to the district's gang show practice to see Rex and John. Scratched a visit to the London airport because of rain and went home to watch television.
John Long
88 London Rd
Slough, Buckinghamshire
Jim Shepherd
165 High Street
Langley, Slough, Buckinghamshire
John Mackrell
16 Coleridge Crescent
Toll House Estate
Colnbrook, Slough, Buckinghamshire
Rex Lee
27 Moreland Ave
Colnbrook, Slough, Buckinghamshire
Brett Mildenhall
Brookfield Cottage
Datchet Road
Horton, Slough, Buckinghamshire
After breakfast Gwen took me down to the London University and let me off. I spent the entire morning in the British Museum. A Fine collection of oriental art, printings and paintings. Enormous rooms of Indian relics and historical books. I merely passed through in a hurry. Had lunch with Gwen in the faculty restaurant. In the afternoon I spent three hours in Hawley's, the biggest toy store in London. Only got two out of five gifts I need. Went home at 4:30. After dinner Gwen packed up her gifts and I my luggage, and we went to Slough. Sat around talking for several hours. Brett Mildenhall, a fellow scout dropped in. Jim Shepherd's son, now with a Jim and daughter of his own dropped in for a while. At 10:30 pm, Jim suggested a night trip into Picadilly Circus. Got home and to bed at 2 am.
Jim Shepherd
165 High Street
Langley, Slough, Bucks 42260
Letter to my Uncle Bart Strong written from London Dec 3, 1968
Dear Bart,
Sorry it's been so long. I've been "on the run," you might say, last week in Paris and this week in London.
On November 16th, my birthday, and last day in Switzerland, in Geneva, it snowed on my, so I was forced to take the train up to Paris and on to Boulogne. I stayed five days in Paris, but I could have spent months strolling along the Seine, through the Latin Quarter and the curious back streets of the city.
I took the train and bike up to Boulogne, crossed over to Dover, and cycled down into Folkestone, where I stayed with a Scout I met at the Jamboree. Then I visited another friend in Sussex County, then up to London. I'm now staying with the sister of Gwen Abbot, Boot's English friend. Last night he took me on the grand tour of London by night. At midnight last night I was sitting in the British Parliament's House of Lords, listening to a debate on the budget that lasted until 4 am! We drove through the Christmas-decorated shopping streets of Oxford and Regenet streets and the always gaily-lit Picadilly Circus.
After a week here I cycle back to Brussels and Luxembourg, from where I fly home on the 19th, and I'll be in Lawton on the 22nd. See you in Norman at Christmas.
Mike
