“Right troops!” cried out the Sergeant Major “I’m looking for volunteers to head out to the mystical Eastern front. Sign here on the dotted line if you’re up for it”. Given the continuing sunny forecast, it was no surprise to see so many joining up.
Twelve Knights formed today’s squad meeting at Market Cross. “ATTENTION!” yelled our RSM, “Now you all know where we’re going, usual route to Weel Bridge and Tickton… Move it, move it, move it! Can’t have you hanging around here enjoying the sunshine and shooting the breeze!” “Shouldn’t we let them know we are coming?” ventured one helpful squaddie. “Oh yes, perhaps we should. Here’s the number”.
The thought of facing a constant cool head wind did not dampen the spirits as we set off in search of some “ducks🦆🦆”. Despite the breeze we still managed to make good progress using whatever hedge protection appeared around us. It wasn’t until we hit ‘Swine Lane’ that we felt the full force of the “barrage” from the east over the open fields.
“Right, Left, Right, Left, Right” rang out as we marched our way through Skirlaugh heading to Old Ellerby. “Right, Right, Left, Right” sounded in our ears as we passed Burton Constable eventually turning onto Moor Lane. Now on a lovely smooth surface and with the wind slightly behind the tempo increased “Quick March”. Unfortunately it was all too brief as we turned once more towards Humbleton and our final destination.
After restocking in the NAAFI it was time to be ‘🎶On the Road Again🎶’ with some heat canning down from the unbroken sunshine. Retracing our route back to Humbleton it was “Quick March” time once more as we now had the wind in our favour. From there, the squad passed through Sproatley around the back of Burton Constable eventually reaching Coniston.
Once we’d dodged the ‘convoy’ of ‘enemy tanks’ 🚙🚗🚚 on the Hull Road the squad ‘marched’ through Swine to return following our outward route.
After the “photo 📸 parade” the squad ‘yomped’ north to Routh where we again encountered a heavy bombardment as we fought our way over the main road and onto the cycle path. All too soon, Friday’s campaign came to an end and the squad headed back to barracks.