Around the World on a Shoestring

On Tuesday 20 August 2019 Richard (Dick) Williams, who was in Kings and left Cribb in 1966, gave a talk to OCs at the Pavilion on his adventure Around the World on a Shoestring.  
 
Four people were required for a trip of a lifetime - Ron Harvey, Pete Strickland, Tim Evans and Dick Williams. The mode of transport to Australia via the snow capped mountains of Europe, Turkey, Syria, Iraq, Iran Afghanistan was a 21-year-old short wheel based Series 1 Landrover with a canvas hood, no heater, called Sweaty Betty. It had been rescued from a pig farm for £160. The Landrover had been checked over and a new roof rack fitted, loaded with petrol cans, spares and tinned food. D Day arrived and they left on 7 November 1971. Armed with only Daily Telegraph maps of Europe, the Middle East and the Far East, plus a Daily Express World Map.
 
Doing 2 - 3 hour turns to drive Sweaty Betty they drove through France and into snow covered Switzerland. They thought going south it would become warmer but were proved wrong especially camping outdoors in freezing temperatures. Through Italy to Yugoslavia where most camp sites were closed so camping where they could, and conditions getting worse with snow, wind and rain. Even with four-wheel drive, some roads were impassable. The first problem with Sweaty Betty was that the engine kept cutting out and eventually found to be a blocked air hole in the petrol cap. This turned out to be about the most serious problem on the journey.
 
On to Greece surviving on tinned food supplemented with local vegetables. Then on to the Turkish border - the Border Guard asked if we liked Turkish cigarettes, smoking hash or wanted a nice Turkish girl. All of which we replied in the negative. He replied 'what the hell do you want to come to Turkey for'.  He then let us through.
 
On to Istanbul and across the Bosphorus by ferry into Asia. Still camping in below freezing temperatures and six inches of mud and snow. At the Syrian border the Guards were all at prayer so after a short wait we went and opened the gate and let ourselves in. A bad mistake - the Syrian Army officers caught up with us, confiscated our passports. After obtaining visas and a very long wait we were on our way again. Navigation was difficult, no GPS, and signposts were all in Arabic.  Next stop Aleppo.
 
Then on to Iraq asking about the best route to Baghdad we were told 'there are no roads, keep left of the oil pipeline, do not cross the Euphrates, you should end up in Baghdad' . We topped up with as much fuel as we could carry at 14p per gallon and set off across the desert.  Through Iran and reaching Afghanistan in the New Year where our passports, visas and medical cards were checked.
 
We were now in need of a few nights of comfort and we booked into hotel rooms at the equivalent of 35p for all of us. In Kabul we learned of the Indian/Pakistan crisis meaning that the border to India was closed to us. The road trip was at an end and Sweaty Betty had to be sold to an opium farmer (warlord) for $420. We just about got our money back. The only problem now was that we could not sell the Landrover in Afghanistan because our passport had been stamped with our Landrover listed on it and when we left the country we had to leave with it so we had to drive 50 yds outside Afghanistan to do the deal. This did cause a problem as the Afghans were trying to charge us tax on the sale. This meant we had to make a quick exit out of the country.
 
Our aim was to get to Australia but we split up and eventually the rest of the journey was completed by road, air and boat, where after a period of time working, Dick eventually returned to the UK after an extraordinary trip of a lifetime.
 
A big thanks to Dick for sharing his adventure with us, which was brought to life by his humour and slides. 
The Book “Around the world on a shoestring” by Pete Strickland can be bought on Amazon.