Heat makes walk tough

Press, Volume CXI, Issue 32788, 13 December 1971, Page 2

Heat makes walk tough

Intense heat made conditions difficult for the 945 walkers who trudged into Lyttelton yesterday afternoon after walking the Bridle Path from Ferrymead in the third commemorative walk to celebrate the arrival of the Canterbury Association’s first settlers in 1850.

Three walkers were treated by officers of the Lyttelton St John Ambulance Brigade after feeling the effects of a sudden drop in the wind about 3 p.m., when nearing the summit.

A Lyttelton Road Tunnel Authority utility vehicle came to the assistance of a girl in her teens, who suffered from heat exhaustion. She was taken to the Christchurch Hospital, but recovered on the journey there.

Others suffering from heat exhaustion were given a

cooling down by the St John Ambulance Brigade men at the summit, before continuing their walk. Several others were treated for blisters and grazed knees.

Although most of the walkers came suitably prepared, there were some who wore stockings, street shoes, reefer jackets and ties, and winter clothing.

Several walkers were in their seventies. The oldest to finish, Mrs M. Bumip, who was bom in Lyttelon and has lived there all her life, arrived looking fresher than many of her younger travelling companions. It was the third consecutive time she had completed the walk. Her mother arrived in Lyttelton in August, 1851, and her grandfather’s brother came in the Cressy.

Others among the walkers were a troop of Culverden scouts, a few tourists, and two nurses from Waipukurau, complete with heavy packs, doing the “grand finale” of a South Island hitch-hiking tour.

The first of the walkers set off at 12.40 p.m. A Cashmere youth, lan Little, aged 16, ran most of the way to arrive first at Lyttelton. The journey took him 40 minutes. For many of the others, the journey took considerably longer. Most arrived dripping with perspiration, and with salt encrusted on their brows.

The youngest walker was Laura-Jane Taylor, aged 2J, of Bryndwr, although her parents said that she had to be carried some of the way. Heather Lewis, aged five, walked the complete distance, about four miles.