After the Torquay debacle 1976 saw me setting off in my old beat-up VW Beetle with cousin Gill and her friend Jude. I am in the hat, Gill is peeping out from behind Jude. I was due to go with friend Alistair but he cried off so Gill and Jude travelled with me for 3 weeks before starting their own inter-rail journey. We drove down through France, and Franco's Spain [with scary Guarda Civil] to the Algarve in Portugal where we stayed at a villa that belonged to some friends of my parents. Next we drove back up to France where we parted as planned. I drove on alone, hung out at Antibes with some French guys, then met up with Martyn from England. Together we drove through Italy to Florence and Venice before heading up to Austria where we parted. I then made my way up through Switzerland, Germany and Belgium before heading back home. It was a great start to travelling.
An example of how youth thinks: my father suggested before I went that “you just check you know how to change a tyre on the car”. This was an entirely sensible suggestion – which I ignored. Luckily I had no punctures. The brakes failed though, so I had to negotiate a couple of Alpine passes on the handbrake; all part of the fun.
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