“high on the open hills, … by a road that runs right over the roof of the Downs unflinchingly into the south-west wind.” Hilary and Margaret continue their journey…
Welcome to this episode of Light Travels, following two young women on a journey through the south of England in 1936, with snippets and concepts of green travel, and stuff we can learn from travel along the way.
On the third morning of their tour, Hilary and Margaret made their beds. They tidied up and said goodbyes, while the rest of those at the hostel at West Wellow had only just finished washing. The hostel had been really nice, Hilary decided.
Bare and bleak
They spent the morning in the New Forest. After mending a puncture on Margaret’s bike, oil splashed Hilary’s shorts. She walked through Lyndhurst “looking horrible”.
A photo of her tidying her hair, with the aid of a comb and a small mirror, pokes fun at her vanity. The brake rod on her bike also needed attention.
In the forest, they enjoyed their lunch, despite being charged too much for bread rolls by “a horrid old lady in a bun shop” but, with 25 miles still to cycle, they “stepped on the gas” and left the forest for “bare, bleak North Hampshire”.
Keeping dry
Rain began falling. They stopped, hoping for the storm to pass, but it settled. They faced a 20 mile ride to Nether Wallop in a hard, steady downpour with macs, and berets securely on.
Their macs, or macintosh coats, made of rubber coated material, were the heavy waterproofs of the day. They were named after their inventor, Charles Macintosh, and I remember them from my childhood.
Hilary’s coat was too small. Rain soaked her knees, got into her shoes, and down her collar. When they had to walk, their wet coats clung to their legs. They would have loved our modern, lightweight, breathable jackets.
Different
They used their Bartholomew’s half inch map so often, colours and names wore away in a strip. They went hopelessly wrong.
Further directed by small boys and a labourer, aided by raisins, nuts, and toffee, they climbed a hill before the road swung downhill in a sweep spoiled only by a sharp bend that nearly threw them into a brick wall.
Despairing that they would ever find their hostel for the night, which was beyond the village after which it was named, they plugged on, until a roadside sign rewarded them, announcing a petrol station and the youth hostel.
The roof of the Downs
They had arrived at Nether Wallop youth hostel, on the Stockbridge and Salisbury road, “high on the open hills, … by a road that runs right over the roof of the Downs unflinchingly into the south-west wind.” [1]
The hostel first opened in 1933, and was run in conjunction with a petrol station. “Petrol pumps may sound unromantic but the kindness and efficiency of the warden more than make up for this.” [2]
Mr Roper, the warden, described as an old sailor by another guest, showed them to the hostel, telling them where to get water, promising to bring a stove, and potatoes.
Feasting
Hilary mentions no toilets. Presumably washing was done in the dormitory with water carried from wherever Mr Roper directed them. A little drawing indicates that again they slept on camp beds.
They had the hostel to themselves, a converted American Air Officers’ hut used during the 1914-18 war. The common room, and mens’ quarters were at one end of the hut. The women’s dormitory was round the back. To get to it they had to go out in the cold again.
They changed out of their wet clothes, peeled potatoes, and cooked food they had bought in Lyndhurst. They read magazines in the common room, studied maps, and wrote their logbooks.
Fears
The hostel was the quietest one they had visited. They were alone in that high dark place.
A mysterious tapping at a window frightened them, though they tried not to show it, until Hilary realised that the tapping came from a bramble, blowing in the wind, against the window. After much laughter at their own fears, they retreated to the dormitory.
Going to bed they locked the bedroom door. Almost before their heads touched the pillows they were asleep.
Expectations
That day had been their toughest. They had endured a soaking in the rain and at the end of it, with little to entertain them, but magazines they had found. No television, no phones, no tablets. The dark, lonely place where they stayed had frightened them.
But they even managed to laugh at that, as they had at difficulties all through their journey. They were, if not when they set out, now hardy travellers,
They were frugal and used very little. Today we would not expect to be scared in places where we stop for the night. We probably wouldn’t expect to be alone. We would not want to wash in cold water. We’d want toilets, showers, food.
Zero
We’d expect efficiency. We’d aim to carry as little as possible. We’d aim to travel light, using lightweight equipment, and we’d use as few resources as possible.
We like sustainable energy that is clean and efficient, food produced and consumed quickly, and plenty of clean water, carried in bottles, filled at taps and drunk at every opportunity.
The world tourism organisation maintains “tourism that adopts sustainable consumption and production (SCP) practices can play a significant role in accelerating the global shift towards sustainability.”
Essential
Hilary and Margaret didn’t use much. Neither did youth hostels. They fuelled themselves with very little.
Youth hostels aimed at simple accommodation, basic and inexpensive, which became their outstanding success, so much so that in 1936, the year of Hilary and Margaret’s tour, where before there had been no opportunities for young women like them to take a tour from their homes, where there had been no youth hostels in 1929, now there were 262 in England, Wales and Northern Ireland and more in Scotland.
Achievements
Youth hostels were phenomenal, in their achievements, in their speed, spread and success, and in the hitherto unknown opportunities they brought Hilary and Margaret and their generation born in the first quarter of the 20th century.
It was fuelled by using as little as possible, through a tourism stripped of anything but the essential.
Their tourism that may offer lessons to us in our debates and desire for something new, as we search for holiday making that is brighter, lighter and kinder, to ourselves and others.
Maybe the way in which they used resources offers us glimpses of tourism that uses as few resources as possible.
Notes
Image (Y050001-Nether Wallop 601-8pcY) courtesyYHA Archive at Cadbury Research Library.
All quotes from Hilary Hughes’ log book (Y691019), except
1. Herbert Gatliff, Southern Pathfinder, Spring 1934
2. London Region Youth Hostel Guide 1935