Sending love to Ukraine – Cornwall to Poland Road Trip
I once had a rather grandiose idea of driving in an aid convoy to the then war-torn Yugoslavia but, thankfully, that was vetoed by my then wife as we had a 3-year-old in the house. However, I no longer have a 3-year-old (nor a wife for that matter, but I digress) and the idea of a “CONVOY ROAD TRIP!!!” has never entirely left the dim and distant recesses of my brain.
Being of a certain age, I do remember towards the end of the Cold War period, mostly via Michael Caine spy movies and the ever ratings-chasing, scare mongering media. Nowadays, it is all too obvious that the world appears to be heading back towards that type of period and, horribly for some, back to a far hotter war-time environment. So, when I found out about a local volunteer group who had been delivering aid and donations to Poland for onward transfer to needy people in Ukraine, I was reminded of that time and my previous, definitely far too risky idea about helping out.
Now, there are benefits and drawbacks to working entirely from a home office. A definite benefit is that you are always working from home. A definite drawback is that you are always working from home. I enjoy driving and had found that the daily commute (I live in Cornwall and not London so this may have an impact on the memories) was a good time to eject the work issues of the past day (on the way home) and plan for the inevitable issues of the coming day (on the way in). Working from home doesn’t give you that relief and I’ve only relatively recently realised that it is a notable loss.
After talking to Darren, the main organiser of the volunteer Cornwall and Devon Sending Love to Ukraine convoys, and understanding that it’s a well-planned, 5 day “drive there, unload, drive back” approach and definitely not a holiday), I volunteered. It’s a bit of a commitment as the drivers have to fund their own ferry crossings, accommodation, food and preferably fuel costs, but in reality, when you are in a position to help and fortunate enough to either raise funding or self-fund, then it’s just a van-driving 5 day “holiday”. Bliss!!!
Next was to book time off work. Betsmart has been really busy recently, all the way through from Christmas if memory serves, and so taking time off was definitely needed. I let The Boss know I wanted time off and when asked if I was “going anywhere nice”, answered with a somewhat unusual “I’m driving a van for 5 days”. When the full explanation was given, Kirsty offered to donate towards funding the volunteer group’s fourth ambulance to be sent since they started soon after the Russia / Ukraine war started. In total they have now sent 33 convoys of donated goods including everything from toothbrushes to baby incubators. Much of the stuff is donated by private individuals but the group has also managed to work with charities and other organisations to repurpose medical equipment which has passed its standard useful age. It’s an amazing operation and entirely resourced by volunteers and Darren was very appreciative of the Betsmart donation and found a retired ambulance for sale at Arley Medical Services in Coventry which was then collected.
After loading the ambulance and 4 other vans full of all the donations at the group’s donation hub, we set off at 03:30 from Callington, Cornwall down to Dover for the ferry. Apparently, after 32 previous trips, that start time works the best for avoiding traffic, getting decent rest periods en route and still managing to catch the ferry’s last full English breakfast before they switch to the lunch menu! Dover was, well, Dover. Full and slow and we missed the intended ferry crossing thanks to the long queues (bank holiday weekend in the mix) but other than that, the first leg to Duisburg, Germany was straight forward. Well, apart from the Ambulance tripping into limp mode if you went over 70 mph. That wasn’t too much of an issue as it was at max weight and neither me nor my very able co-driver, Robin, fancied utilising the German autobahn’s unrestricted stretches with faster speed.
Having not driven in Europe for some time, a very obvious thing is how fabulous the roads are. Road surfaces were sound and the roads themselves mostly very straight and not overly busy. We were very lucky with only 2 traffic jams and 1 detour in the roughly 2500-mile round trip. And as for how clean they were, just astounding that there was no litter by the side of the road and almost all verges were mown and landscaped. Why is this worth mentioning? Well, if you’ve driven on UK motorways recently, you’ll know that none of the above is recognisable!! All that was except Poland, which wasn’t as good but still better than the homeland. Oh, and border crossings, where the delayed lorry drivers showed their displeasure by lobbing anything and everything out the window while they waited in the queues.
Having made it to Poznań, Poland on the second day, we were all very tired and appreciative of the 2-day hotel stop, with the drive to Warsaw and back in the middle. Day 3 was to Warsaw where the Ukraine aid group was waiting to help unload the vans. Being the 33rd trip there were lots of hugs for those on their “nth” trip (several people were well into double figures ) and a very warm welcome for me as a newbie. Van unloading took a couple of hours and then the ambulance was officially handed over, complete with ceremony and the necessary social media videos. Then it was into Warsaw central for food, laid on by the Ukraine aid group and once that was done, and we were given even more thank you gifts (who was delivering stuff to whom?!?!?!), we headed back to the Poznań hotel. The day was definitely a “tired an emotional” day. Not only seeing the obvious joy and gratitude from the Ukraine aid group but also the realisation of what the Cornwall & Devon volunteer group had just done. Again. For the 33rd time.
On the outbound trip, amongst several things that flashed by at 70 mph, we stopped briefly at the memorial statue to the former divided Germany (holding hands statue) and the former Helmstedt–Marienborn border crossing (aka “Checkpoint Alpha”) which is also now Cold War a memorial. Both were reminders of past periods of world challenges and timely reminders as to why we were on the trip. We also went to Świebodzin, Poland where the largest statue in the world of Jesus is located. Apparently, more than one place claims to have the largest statue of Jesus, now there’s a thing.
The return home was pretty straight forward although it was this leg that gave us the two traffic jams and a detour. The detour was actually excellent as we were driving through villages and the like rather than boring old motorways, although I think some drivers would have preferred to save the time spent for sleeping.
Then back to England and honestly, anyone who drives in Europe on their clean, well maintained and straight roads with hardly any roadworks and then lands in the UK to the comparatively horrendous situation that we put up with and who then wants to come back a second time, needs to find a better holiday destination!
The whole trip was amazing. Easy, (thanks to the prior organisation), hard (thanks to the long days, heavy loads and fast motorway drivers) but definitely rewarding.
Will I do it again? YES! Definitely.
Although I will probably add a couple of days on to actually be able to see some of the 5 or so countries we drove through next time.
There are lots of volunteer groups doing similar things around so there’s bound to be a group near you or supporting a cause you have sympathy with. So, if you feel like helping out and are in the fortunate position to be able to do so, then why not? Alternatively, if you want to support Cornwall and Devon Sending Love to Ukraine, have a look at their website for information on how and what to donate.