How two young women became tried and tested travellers, on the road to freedom and independence.
Margaret spotted the big YHA sign.
They had arrived at Meon Valley youth hostel at the end of their first day not far from Exton, on the Warnford Road, now the A32, a busy road between Gosport and Alton in Hampshire.
Little known
Overcome with shyness, the pair dashed past until they realised they had no choice but to turn back. They had nowhere else to go. They had reached the only place where they could stop for the night.
They returned, pushed the gate open, and wheeled their bikes up the uneven track round the side of the house, from which a woman emerged. Mrs Annerau, who ran the hostel, showed them where to leave their bikes.
She was a YHA enthusiast but we know little more than that, and Hilary’s description of her as fat. Like many men and women who helped start YHA, running committees, and finding accommodation, she shared her home with YHA members. For that she probably earned and kept the income from the hostel.
Cold water
Her house was newly built and modern. Behind it, YHA members had demolished a building and put up a low wooden hut with a common room, cooking facilities and dormitories that would be the youth hostel, and where Hilary and Margaret would sleep.
In their room, they found two girls washing in enamel basins. Hilary blurted a volley of questions at the pair which neither was able to answer. They apologised. They were Dutch, and spoke little English.
In the common room three boys played darts. Franz, another boy, also Dutch, ate at a table. He lit a stove for Hilary and Margaret so they could cook their meal.
What they ate, beyond sardines, milk and chocolate bought from Mrs Annerau, we don’t know. Hilary often glossed over practical details that she may have thought were unimportant.
But we do know they did their washing up after their meal in cold water.
Mapless in England
Hilary and Margaret helped Franz with directions. He had been in England for a fortnight. He had been to London, the Lake District, and Stratford-on-Avon, all without a map, getting directions along the way from road signs, and people he met.
He rode a massive, heavy bicycle all hung about with gadgets. With three days left, he was on his way home.
Jean Annerau, daughter of the warden, and Franz joined Hilary and Margaret for a walk. Jean was a Girl Guide like Margaret and Hilary so the girls had lots to talk about.
The Guide movement figured large in their lives. On camping trips they had learned skills like cooking, and some of the confidence which took them on this their first trip away from home.
Companions of the road
Back at the hostel they washed in cold water. Much at the hostel was plain and simple.
They hauled water from a well a long way down a field and carried it back to the hostel. They cooked on camping stoves and camp beds were uncomfortable. Their room, shared with the other girls, was stuffy.
For a long time Hilary could not sleep. She had cycled more than eleven miles that day. Ahead were five more days, and three more youth hostels.
That morning they had met two dirty and unkempt travellers on the road. As she fell asleep, Hilary knew that though she and Margaret had started as raw, clean travellers on their first journey, they had joined that pair of tried and tested travellers now.
They were now “pardners”, comrades on the road to independence, freedom and a life of travel.
Image Meon hostel Y050001 courtesy YHA Archive at the Cadbury Research Library, University of Birmingham.
Great post. Of its time, perhaps, but the sense of freedom the 2 young women must have felt is something so valuable to growing up.