Adventures With Harvey

Berlin to Cardiff!

It’s been a couple of weeks of socialising... but more on that shortly! With Anita away I had travelled on my own across Poland and arrived in the massive city of Berlin. With a population of around 4 million it is very spread out and of all the German cities we have visited, showcases why the country is such a cultural and economic powerhouse.

I was in my late teens when the Berlin Wall fell and the cold war effectively ended. In many ways it seems such a long time ago however in reality it’s not. Along with a divided Germany, the wall itself is long gone however there are a couple of reasonable sections of the old divide still remaining, one is an open-air museum and the other is these days known as the East Side Gallery and has been superbly decorated by a multitude of artists, both conventional and graffiti.

Although we stopped by the Brandenburg Gate and the Reichstag (German parliament) my personal favourite highlight was Checkpoint Charlie and the accompanying museum. There are so many harrowing tales of families separated and also of the vast numbers who died vainly attempting the dream of freedom in the west. Happily there was much happiness amongst the misery with stories of the many and varied escapes which were characterised by creativity and ingenuity. In the museum you have vehicles that were modified to allow the hiding of escapees, several homemade aircraft and microlights, remnants of tunnel digging equipment, modified suitcases and all manner of other methods to cross the border undetected.

The travelling Woodies were most fortunate to be joined for part of our time in Berlin by, initially, our friend Chris from Wales who joined your very grateful author so he wasn’t alone on his birthday weekend. Then a couple of days after Chris had departed, my cousin Jono was finished with his conference in town so joined our explorations for the next couple of days. The greatest delight (of course) was shortly thereafter to be reunited with the lovely Anita who had completed her flying visit back to NZ. This meant a second celebratory birthday dinner… and another goal ticked off the list! You see before leaving New Zealand, your faithful correspondent had never been to Germany however Anita had been there several times and she promised me that, while in Germany, she would find and feed me a schnitzel as big as my head! There had been some (rather unkind) discussion about the size of my swede and the corresponding difficulty in finding a suitably large schnitzel however, in the end… SUCCESS! Jono and I each ordered one and quickly discovered the getting through such an enormous plate of food was indeed a ‘real man test’ nonetheless, we lads are nothing if not determined, and the aforementioned big fat schnitzels were duly polished off and washed down with an excellent German pilsner or two!

Once Jono left it was time for the long haul west to begin because we had around 900 miles to cover in less than a week. First stop was Wolfsburg which happens to be the home of Volkswagen in Germany. Some of you may not be aware that the VW group comprises a multitude of other brands including Audi, Skoda, Porsche, Lamborghini, Bentley, Seat and others. Known as the Autostadt, this massive facility pays tribute to the mighty automobile and contains a 5 story car museum as well as showrooms for all of the aforementioned brands, as well as many other items of interest. Your author must admit to hopping up & down with excitement at the prospect of seeing a Bugatti Veyron in the flesh. Please allow me to indulge in some very brief trainspotting when I say this is a street legal car which exceeds both 1000 horsepower and a top speed of 400km/h. Just wow!!!

Our last night in Germany was spent in Bielefeld before passing through 5 countries in the following 2 days. Yes, we left Germany, traversed through The Netherlands before another most enjoyable evening and overnight with our adopted Belgian family just out of Antwerp. The next morning included a physiotherapy appointment for the quickly-recovering shoulder patient before continuing onto France for the evening ferry crossing from Calais to Dover. That night we slept in England making it our 5^th country since waking up in Germany the day before.

We had previously passed through the area but always been on too much of a time schedule to stop at the Battle of Britain Memorial. One of the most famous quotes by Winston Churchill referred to this event when he said: “Never in the field of human conflict has so much been owed by so many to so few”. Thereafter the brave airmen who fought in this battle for air superiority over the English Channel became known as ‘the few’ and this memorial and museum was a truly sobering tribute to their bravery and endeavour. There were only around 3000 British and Allied airmen involved in the battle which lasted from July until October in 1940, of which around 1000 lost their lives. We’ve been to several of these types of memorials on this trip however none moved me as much as this. Located at Folkstone right on the coast, the area was known during the battle as Hellfire Corner and was the actual airspace where much of the fiercest fighting occurred. The tribute there is in the shape of a giant propellor and includes a memorial wall containing a tear-jerker of a poem along with the names of those who perished. The museum was also excellent with an audio-visual presentation showing a crew scrambling, getting airborne, then getting in amongst the incoming enemy aircraft. They explain how the invention of radar was pivotal to their success, along with the tactics employed to defeat a numerically superior foe. Amazingly these brave pilots would sometimes fly up to 5 sorties per day and, in the latter part of the battle, the Allies were so short of experienced air crews that many pilots took to the skies with only 10 hours of training under their belts! Thanks guys, we owe you big time!!!

Our trip from Folkstone to Newport was punctuated by a most enjoyable overnight stop with our friends in Emsworth. A little like in Antwerp, we seem to have been adopted by the crew there who were wonderfully welcoming as always. Clive and Steph will soon be winging their way to Russell for the NZ summer, so it was awesome to catch up with them for one last time during our Northern Hemisphere adventure. The next morning Wendy (who happens to be a physiotherapist) very kindly offered to give Anita another session which was hugely appreciated and has been of tremendous help getting that shoulder moving. It’s been a slow and at times frustrating rehab however between the various physio appointments (including some over skype) along with the multitude of exercises being faithfully and diligently undertaken, we feel like she may just be coming out the other side of this nasty injury.

I imagine that few of you will have trouble guessing why Wales was our next destination. Yes, that’s right, the All Blacks are here in the UK for their annual autumn test matches against teams in this part of the world. It is not an exaggeration to say that following the All Blacks on a November tour has pretty much been a lifelong ambition of your humble author. Although he has attended many live tests in the past, only 2 of those have been outside of New Zealand and both in Sydney. In our part of the world, most venues are ovals also used for cricket however in Europe and South Africa, they’re generally rugby-specific stadia and therefore rectangular meaning spectators are much closer to the action. It’s very hard to put this experience into words... can you image the atmosphere of 72000 spectators (Eden park holds 45000) under a closed roof singing the Welsh National Anthem or Bread of Heaven? This season one never knows which AB’s team will turn up on the night (reminds you of French teams of old) however thankfully on this occasion the boys in black turned up to play and our 69 year unbeaten record against the team in red remains intact. Of course we’re now less than a year out from the Rugby World Cup in France so it was pleasing to see the boys put together such a dominant performance – let’s see how the next 2 weekends go! We had a wonderful weekend in Newport with our friends Chris and Patti – those who know them will attest to their magnificent hospitality and unwavering conviviality. Our crew for the rugby was complimented by our friends Terré and Dil who also live nearby, so altogether it was a most memorable weekend in the land of leeks and rugby!

Today’s edition is coming to you from the town of Cheltenham where Harvey is undergoing some repairs and maintenance. The old chap has actually been behaving much better lately however while in the UK, it’s important that we get him into the best shape possible before our return to the continent in a month or so from now. Again, it should be no surprise to hear that from this point we begin wending our way north because next weekend we have a date in Edinburgh!

This brings today’s rather lengthy missive to an end – thanks to those of you who have stuck with us all the way! With much love as always…

The Travelling Woodies