On The Road: 7th February 2006

Having recreated the last known movements of The Secret Method in London we now embark upon part two of our journey marking ten years since their disappearance. The next two days will be filled largely with travelling as we head North before crossing the Irish Sea .

I should perhaps explain at this point that I have elected to omit some of the more intricate details about the functional stages of this voyage. Whilst the key elements of the journey made by The Secret Method will be examined thoroughly, it is safe to suggest that certain legs of the overall trip would be of limited interest. Between London and Liverpool from whence we are due to depart for Ireland, it is my understanding that we have followed the most usual route and that we could not really have failed to replicate that taken by the band in 1996.

Note also, that herein, my good friend Clive Lubb will be accompanying me on the journey having kindly offered his services as both driver and provider of a suitable vehicle. His estate car will be necessary to collect three commemorative trees upon our arrival, one for each band member, and I am very pleased to have Clive himself on board. I am certain that his company will make the journey a greater success.

For those to whom it is of interest, our route for this part of the journey can be summarized as follows; M4, M25, M40, M6 Toll Road , M6. In addition the maps below depict both our route between London and Liverpool and the Ferry Port at Liverpool Freeport where we are currently entrenched.

According to the many useful route finder software packages which are available nowadays, it was predicted that our journey would take around four and three quarter hours to complete. However, with Clive at the wheel I would suggest that we achieved the distance somewhat more efficiently, although to protect his modesty and indeed his driving licence I will not publish our actual journey time!

Our Ferry is due to leave at 22.00 this evening and our check-in was not required until 20.45. Thus, upon arriving in Liverpool to find ourselves with more than two hours to spare, we decided to fulfill an additional aspect of the journey made by The Secret Method by visiting Liverpool’s Tate gallery. Bob Longfellow recalls a later communication in which Nick Young mentioned their visit to the gallery; much like ourselves it would appear, to fill in time before their own ferry crossing.

As I write, Clive and myself are comfortably settled in our cabins aboard the P&O ferry and are awaiting the commencement of the crossing in a little over a quarter of an hour. We are due to arrive in Dublin at 06.00 tomorrow morning, when after being reunited with Clive’s car, we must make our way South - West. Although we will not see Black River House on this occasion, I am nonetheless filled with a strange blend of excitement, trepidation and indeed, overall purpose. With luck tomorrow afternoon we will collect the commemorative saplings which we have ordered before proceeding to the site where they will be planted in memory of the band members.

Although I am of course very eager to return to Black River House, in some ways I have come to regard this current journey as being somewhat removed from the spectre of the house itself. Although its shadow is never far away, this trip, ten years after that made by the band, should serve to honour and perpetuate the memory of these young men whose fate remains as yet, unknown to us.

As Always My Best Wishes,