Blind Dave "amazed anyone escaped" from Colditz after Mayor welcomes team to town

The team of 15 are amazed how one prisoner of war escaped the impregnable fortress let alone 76 during the jail break which inspired The Great Escape.

Blind Dave and his team left The Hawthorns on Thursday and on Monday morning will be "escaping from Colditz" and riding all the way home to West Bromwich.

However, unlike the Allied prisoners of war who escaped the castle Dave and the team will not have machine gun wielding Nazis chasing them but will leave with the blessing of the Mayor of Colditz.

Colditz has already taken Dave to its heart with interested townsfolk stopping him in the street to wish him luck and he already has a new friend in the Mayor.

Speaking from within the walls of Colditz to the Express and Star, Dave said: "We thought the Mayor of Colditz might say hello and thought would be it but he has been amazing, Mayor Robert gave us a personal tour of the castle and town and he insisted we go to the town hall on Monday morning so he can say a few words and give us an official farewell."

"I just cannot understand how anyone escaped from this place, It is mindblowing to think the castle is built on 30 metres of rock the the prisoners of war still managed to tunnel out."

It took Dave's team 12 hours to drive from Hook in Holland to Colditz in picturesque Saxony but it should take more than five days to back from Monday.

Dave said: "The team said the approach to Colditz was spectacular as it was all lit up at night. It really is a beautiful part of the world and the people are lovely."

The 64-year-old is raising money for The Albion Foundation and will be riding every moment of the 800 mile trip on a tandem bike as he is totally blind.

German TV stations are interested in Dave's story which has seen him overcome becoming blind to become one of the country's great endurance athletes and fundraiser.

Dave previously ran seven marathons in seven days across seven continents and even tackled the treacherous Marathon Des Sables in the Saraha Desert. An inspiration to blind and partially sighted people across the world Blind Dadve even presented his own radio show giving those with sight loss DIY tips.

Built on perfect natural defences, a hill overlooking a tributary of the River Elbe, there has been a Colditz castle since the 11th Century. In the 16th Century is became Germany's first wildlife park when it was converted into a giant menagerie.

Dave said: "The history of Colditz is just amazing, it is so much more than a prisoner camp as its history goes back to the 12th Century."

During World War Two the Luftwaffe took control of the castle claiming it was escape proof. However, in March 1944, 76 Allied POW proved otherwise and escaped through a tunnel they had dug themselves. The vast majority were caught and then executed. The 1963 film The Great Escape starring Steve McQueen was based on the escape.

Dave is delighted £10,000 had been pledged on his Just Giving page before he had even got to Colditz.

He said: "We set a target of £75,000 before the escape had to be postponed twice because of the pandemic so I am chuffed we have already passed £10,000 before we have even started riding."

To donate visit https://www.justgiving.com/fundraising/teamblinddaveescapefromcolditz.