WW2 had only been over for less than one year and this teen age adventurer decided to see how his brand new 350cc AJS would perform on the continent. The AA advised against this but provided all the necessary customs documents after a friendly request. The crossing from Newhaven to Dieppe takes four hours and the waves crashing against the sides makes all except the hardy sailors sea sick as the ship rocked and rolled for the full four hours.

Landing in the harbour at Dieppe made it hard to believe that this was the scene of the ill fated commando raid of 1942 most of the town had been cleaned up. A quick tour of the town and I was on my way to Paris.

Paris was known as the city of lights but that was before the war. In ’46 it was not yet back to normal except for one thing, The speed of the taxies which seemed to fly around at high speed and what was for me the wrong side of the road. At the end of the Champs Elise is the Place de la concord which has about six lanes of traffic circling it at high speed. For an Englishman who is used to drive on the left this is most confusing and I circled it about six times before I could escape.

Two or three days were spent touring the various attractions in Paris including a trip to the top of the Eifell Tower and the Arch de Triomph the Notre Dame cathedral was quite interesting as I joined a group of tourists who had a very good English Speaking guide.

Then it was on the road once more to Brussels. Again the only signs of the recent war was the highway signs which were riddled with bullets as infantry men passed the time taking pot shots from their transports as they advanced to the East.

At Verberie a knocked out German tank had been left at the side of the road to rust and wait for the scrap merchants to remove it.

Brussels seemed untouched by the war. The black market was doing a thriving trade and selling openly “ cigarettes Anglais Amercain “and clothing ration coupons, until the police appeared and they would disappear into the woodwork only to reappear like lightening as soon as they had passed.

After a few days in Brussels and a few trips to the surrounding countryside to a number of historical sites such as Waterloo where the famous battle of 1812 was fought.

I decided to take the coastal route back to Dieppe via Antwerp the highway was quite modern and relatively undamaged It seems very strange in this day and age that after six years of war the countryside seemed untouched, and contrasted with London and the south of England.

After a good nights sleep in the local watering hole I boarded the ferry for the four hour trip back to Newhaven and after clearing customs I headed North and Home.