Where It All Began 5

Portbou

The ferry docked in St Malo, already Jersey seemed a long way back. Time was different back then. Maybe it’s because you’re only eighteen, and you have lots to spare? Eager to reach Spain, we drove the van through the day and night until we hit the Pyrenees. We camped in the heart of the mountains for a couple of days. I’d never seen mountains before. I have to admit come nightfall it was quite eary with those huge, black shapes towering above you. But over the next few months I was going to experience many things I’d never seen or experienced before. Kinda pinched these from the internet, in 1976 we didn’t have an iPhone, just an old Kodak camera, but they look familiar 😂

Road through the Pyrenees

The first Spanish coastal town is called Portbou. Parked by the beach, and staring out over the sea I was looking forward to diving the following day. Suddenly a Volkswagon camper pulled up at the side of us and a large bearded man got. He ran round to the rear of his vehicle, lifted the tailgate, spat at the engine, kicked the bumper, and began to shout, inferring that the engine was a fornicating, illegitimate nuisance. Peter, my new mentor and travelling companion suggested I get out and ask if he was Australian. Remember, my first ten years were spent alone, on a farm with imaginary friends. Swiftly followed by seven years on a Bradford council estate where I had become feral and led a life not becoming of a young Englishman. There was no way I was getting out. So, with a sigh Peter went for a chat.

It turned out both the bearded man and his younger brother were in fact Australian and the swearing was fury, aimed at an engine that was burning oil. We introduced ourselves to John Mulhall and his brother Peter. It might have been confusing with two Peters but luckily young Australian Peter was known as Mudguts, due to his strange dietry habits as a toddler. It was several months before I discovered this, because of the Aussie accent I presumed his name was Maggots.

When you’re travelling, apparently, alcohol is the key ingredient for getting to know people. So we set up a table, cracked open one of several bottles of wine, and began to wave complete strangers over to join us. Within an hour we had a company of: 2 Aussies, 6 Germans, 3 Welshman, and a couple, Josephine who was French and Jamie an Englishman. The couple had completed a tour of Australia including the 200 mile cattle train hike through the desert. We went down to the beach, lit a fire and stared at the sky. Jamie was aquainted with all the star constellations, and pointed them out to us. If this was travelling? I was hooked.

Photo by Mael Balland

Happy Trails, Folks x

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Author: Charlie

They say I’m retired. Huh. I prefer to say I now work for myself. I published a debut novel a couple of years ago and have now published the sequel. For my sins I am a Yorkshireman, albeit well travelled, but back home in God’s own country now. I run, cycle, swim and drink Red Wine. If you want to know anything else just ask.

12 thoughts on “Where It All Began 5”

  2. The very few camping trips I went on in high school weren’t quite like this. :-D But I will agree, alcohol was a sure way to make new friends… and the mountains were impressive. ;-)

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    1. Aye, We had loads of photos and later gave the films to a friend in Mogan to take back to Jersey and get developed (we were worried about the heat and had three months left) He lost the films 😂 Who would have thought back then there would be a box in the future where you tap in a destination and it tells you where to go? And people would still get lost 😂

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      1. I had several experiences with getting other people’s pictures back, and annoyingly they were always more interesting than mine.

        My sat nav is hopeless in parts of Stoke on Trent due to road changes. I try not to use it too much as it makes me lazy.

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      2. It does have it’s limitations with updates. The one in my car is so out of date it quite often tells me I’m driving across an open field and not on the new bypass 😂and yes it can make you lazy, also if I used it a lot and stop using it, on a long journey I can miss a turning because I’ve switched off, and no posh lady to warn me.

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      3. When we visit No 1 Son in Norwich the last few miles are across what the satnav sees as farm land and a river. It took me years to get used to taking directions from a woman in the car. The subset of women who can read maps and are prepared to put up with me is so small I’ve always ended up with women who can’t read maps. Yes, I know this is now called misogyny and is bad, but sometimes I feel the need to speak out. :-)

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      4. I find it strange my sat nav is a woman whereas Gillian’s is a man, maybe it works from your pronoun. But then I wonder what voice you’d get if you identify as a Hamster 🤔 I wouldn’t worry about the misogyny, we’re getting to a stage where anything we say will be frowned upon, sadly for them it just makes me do it even more 😂

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