Lancashire Evening Post 07 April 1931
THREE YOUNG “HIKERS” LEAVE ACCRINGTON FOR WORLD TOUR
Three young “hikers” from Morecambe, Accrington, and Leeds left Accrington shortly before noon today on a tour of the world. They intend to make it mainly afoot. They received a hearty send off.
The party consists of Mr.C. Pringle (20), 83 Manchester-road, Accrington; Mr. David Cecile (sic) Wootton (20), of Leeds, and Mr. Arthur Hodgson (22), of Westminster-road, Morecambe. With them is a mascot, a 10-weeks-old Labrador puppy.
Dressed in scout costume they were a fine built trio who looked capable of carrying through an adventurous programme. Wootton is 6ft. 2¾in., and both the others are well built young men weighing about 13 stones each.
They are equipped with oilskins, windproof jackets, khaki shirts, shorts both of drill and corduroy and thick nailed boots. Their shirts and jackets have leather paddings at the shoulders. They are taking one tent with poles, mosquito nets, ground sheets and Alpine sleeping bags. The Mayor, (Coun. J.S. Snell) has presented them with a well-stocked ambulance box.
A KING’S SCOUT
Hodgson, who is a King’s Scout and has innumerable badges for proficiency in the practical arts, has worked in Paris and speaks French, German and Spanish. Wootton speaks French and German. Pringle has a knowledge of French. As to how they will get on east of the Urals they are prepared to risk it. “There is a good deal to be said for a universal language, isn’t there?” Wootton asked a “Daily Post,” reporter, who enquired how they would carry on in Oriental countries.
The first objective is London, where Wootton hopes to celebrate his twenty-first birthday with his grandparents at Hampton Hill on Thursday. Afterwards they will go to Paris and then down the Rhine Valley by boat and on to Switzerland. They are doubtful whether they will cross the Mediterranean by Greece or Italy, but after going down the Red Sea and across the Arabian Sea they will go by way of Bombay, Karachi, Delhi, and Calcutta on to Burma, Siam, and the Malay States, and thence by China and Japan.
Their journey will next be by Australia, skirting the east coast by way of Queensland, Victoria, and New South Wales. Their track across the Pacific will include Fiji, Honolulu, and the Pacific Islands. They project visiting the United States of America and Canada. After visiting the West Indies they will go to the South American countries before they embark for home.
The journey it is expected, will take three years or more. They have visas on their passports for many of the countries of the world, including Soviet Russia.
1939 Register: (Findmypast)
1 Borrowdale Grove, Morecambe and Heysham
Arthur Hodgson 28 Jan 1908 Male Master Painter & Decorator Married 361 1 (+3)
