Five on a Hike Together

[Moonraker]

I've never forgotten the shop-woman who has to make sandwiches for the Five using "sixty-four rounds of bread"! As an eight-year-old I'd only ever heard the word "slices" for pieces of bread, not "rounds", so I half-wondered if the loaves in the shop were cylindrical!

I have spent hours of my life trying to work this out! I had heard of a 'round of sandwiches' - two slices of bread with a filling, then cut in half, either triangular or oblong. Therefore, sixty-four rounds of bread would make thirty-two sandwiches, or sixty-four if cut in half. That seems to be an enormous amount for four children to eat.

[Hannah]

I didn't like the book too much as a child if I recall correctly - probably because of the atmosphere. I like it a lot nowadays though .
This thread inspired me to a re-reading.

I found it interesting that George says that when she's grown-up she'd like to offer people home-made things. I'd rather expect Anne to say something like that.

“There’s no pudding today,” said the old lady. “But I’ll open a bottle or two of our own raspberries and you can have them with cream if you like. And there’s the cream cheese I made yesterday too.”

“Don’t tell us any more!” begged Dick. “It makes me feel too hungry. Why is it that people on farms always have the most delicious food? I mean, surely people in towns can bottle raspberries and pickle onions and make cream cheese?”

“Well either they can’t or they don’t,” said George. “My mother does all those things—and even when she lived in a town she did. Anyway, I’m going to when I’m grown-up. It must be so wonderful to offer home-made things by the score when people come to a meal!”

[Anita Bensoussane]

Yes, it does sound Anne-ish rather than George-ish. It just goes to show that the characters are not rigidly formulaic. In Five on a Treasure Island Anne says, "How lovely it will be to wear shorts again. I'm tired of wearing school tunics. I want to wear shorts, or a bathing suit, and go bathing and climbing with the boys." Critics sometimes present her as a "girly girl" but she's not someone who cares unduly about her appearance or who prefers quiet pursuits. She enjoys the outdoor life and likes wearing clothes that give her the freedom to explore. She's fond of dolls and pretty frocks too, and making a cave or caravan into a home. However, that doesn't stop her liking boating, swimming, horse-riding, climbing, hiking and camping - and she copes bravely with hair-raising situations even when she's feeling frightened.

[pete9012S]

The sandwich amount seemed about right for me as an always hungry, overeating greedy little child!

Great post Hannah.
I was most interested to read George say:

“My mother does all those things—and even when she lived in a town she did.."

I thought Aunt Fanny had lived in Kirrin all her life.
Did she go to university somewhere?

Did Fanny and Quentin separate at some point?
I seem to remember Julian's father saying:

"Well," said Daddy, "I had to see Quentin's wife in town the other day, about a business matter— and I don't think things are going too well for them.."

[Anita Bensoussane]

Good catch about Aunt Fanny having lived in a town, Pete. I hadn't stopped to think about that before, though I have found myself puzzling over that other line (from Five on a Treasure Island) about Julian's father saying he'd had to see Fanny in town about a business matter.

[IceMaiden]

I haven't got a favourite Five book but if I did, it would be Hike. It's got so much atmosphere, from the gloriously carefree feel at the start when they're setting off to the spooky sinister turn it takes when they get seperated and Dick & Anne wander off down a dark creepy rainy lane. Gloomy Water sounds deliciously eerie too, the very thought of diving into it in the dark gives me the shivers. The only thing I'd say is that you'd think if they're smart enough to work out that genius landmark map, at least one of them would have the sense take the packing with them rather than leaving it in the cellar to be found!

Off topic - Mystery of the Strange Bundle. Loved it like the others but am I the only one who didn't really understand it? I never could work out why a ventriloquist dummy and it's clothes were so important!

[Bertie]

...Off topic - Mystery of the Strange Bundle. Loved it like the others but am I the only one who didn't really understand it? I never could work out why a ventriloquist dummy and it's clothes were so important!

I don't read it anywhere near as much as the others (along with Banshee Towers), but as far as I remember Mr Fellows was the assistant of a ventriloquist who was also connected with the police, and who had a list of criminals that he was going to give to the police but he was then captured. He hid that list in the ventriloquist dolls shoe, which Mr Fellows then had and so the criminals were tracking him and the clothes, which then came into Fatty's possession before they were stolen - but Buster had, fortuitously, taken the key shoe and hidden it in a corner of the shed so the police got the list in the end.
But I'm not surprised you weren't sure of much of that as it all pretty much only gets explained right at the end by Inspector Jenks. Throughout the book, unlike most of the other FFO stories, they're not really sure what's going on or why. So they're not sure what they're meant to be solving. Which is why I regard it as one of the weaker plots in the series, and one of the poorer efforts by the Find-Outers as, but for Buster hiding the shoe, they'd have messed it all up by letting the clothes get stolen. As Anita pointed out previously, there's a lot of good humour in the book, so it's a decent read from that respect. Although there's a lot of good humour in most of the FFO books, and most have stronger mysteries, and better efforts from the Find-Outers, to go with it.

[Splodj]

Or ...

A ventriloquist had a list of trade unionists and climate-type protesters that MI5 wanted but, instead of giving the list to them, he hid it in his dummy's clothes. He was then kidnapped but managed to pass the clothes to his assistant Fellows who didn't give the list to MI5 either but kept the clothes in a bag at home. When someone broke in to his house, Fellows ran down to the river and threw the bag into the water. He didn't tell MI5 what had happened or attempt to recover the bag, leaving the guy who had broken in to try and retrieve it instead.

[pete9012S]

I haven't got a favourite Five book but if I did, it would be Hike. It's got so much atmosphere, from the gloriously carefree feel at the start when they're setting off to the spooky sinister turn it takes when they get separated and Dick & Anne wander off down a dark creepy rainy lane. Gloomy Water sounds deliciously eerie too, the very thought of diving into it in the dark gives me the shivers.

A lovely description of the book IceMaiden.

Even as a Betty Maxey aficionado, credit where it is due, Eileen Soper provides a great atmospheric cover.
This the tenth book, that according to Enid's blurb, she was quite literally begged to write!





The 2017 cover for contrast -

[Irene Malory Towers]

The front cover that Eileen Soper created for Five on a Hike is fantastic and it could easily have been one of the pictures used in the Famous Five calendar that I bought last year. Sadly the company are not making again for this year. I might have to buy the calendar that displays Toilets Around the World instead !

[Bertie]

Yep. Great front cover.
Julian looking an awful lot like a blonde James Acaster (comedian) in the photo on the back.

[Nair Snehalatha]

Aunt Fanny must have been in town to buy some essentials --groceries etc-- Dont think Uncle Quentin and Aunt Fanny were separated at some time. Anyway Five on a hike together is one of my most favourites-- There's something very cosy about that book -- especially when the Five sit to have breakfast.at that cosy inn-- with the nice woman making coffee and frying bacon and eggs
. I love that book

[Bertie]

There's something very cosy about that book

Very cosy? Five on a Hike Together?
I fully understand the 'atmospheric' description that many use to praise it. It certainly has plenty of that. In fact, I'd say it's about whether it has too much of it, and whether or not you even enjoy that particular kind of eerie and depressing atmosphere in the first place.
But, very cosy!? Each to their own, of course, but I'd say it's one of the least cosy of all the Enid books I've read. Almost every setting seems eerie and rather depressing.

[Anita Bensoussane]

When Julian's father talks of having met Fanny "in town the other day, about a business matter" (Five on a Treasure Island), "town" in that instance most likely refers to London (Julian et al appear to live somewhere on the outskirts of London). We can only speculate, but Fanny may have arranged meetings in London with people such as Quentin's brother, a financial advisor, etc., in order to discuss her dire financial situation and get some advice.

The remark "even when she lived in a town" (Five on a Hike Together) is completely different and makes me think along the same lines as Pete - that perhaps Fanny lived in a town for a while to do studying or training.

[pete9012S]

Good points Anita.

Yes, regarding 'cosy', I remember being quite shocked when younger at the the way the local police treated/mistreated The Famous Five!