After the solo adventure of 1946, friends were anxious to join me when I announced that I was going to repeat. This time though, I was taking tents and camping equipment. We met early morning and this time there were three bikes, My AJS a Norton 500 and a BSA 500 the latter two carried a passenger making five adventurers altogether.

All our tents and camping equipment was loaded on the back and this is where we made our first mistake in not inflating our tires much harder than normal and we hadn’t gone very far before we had our first flat. Fortunately we had repair kits and we all descended on the bike and soon had it repaired. This was a warning of things to come and we became quite adept at repairing tires like the pit crews in road races.

We decided to cross the Channel on the Dover to Calais ferry as the “Chunnel” was only a pipe dream.. We found a cheap (free) camp ground overlooking the channel and after washing and pitching our tents (war surplus one man bivouac’s) we were soon asleep our first night under canvas.

The next morning we were awake early and eager to go. We proceeded to the ferry dock where the attendants drained our gas tanks and gave coupons so it could be replaced when we docked in Calais.

The crossing was uneventful as the channel is only about twenty one miles wide at this point and the white cliffs on both sides are quite visible. The duty free bar opens as soon as you are three miles out.

We waited for the bikes to be off loaded and fuelled again and after clearing customs we had to find the closest town hall to get some ration coupons for gas. We then started south but after about five hours reached Alsace Lorain, this district at one time was a part of Germany and the locals spoke a mixture of French and German and we had difficulty buying a few groceries.

We camped in a farmers field and had a camp fire to cook a meal. We broke camp early the next morning and headed for Switzerland. This took us through the beautiful Vosges mountains ,which though not as spectacular as the Rockies or the Swiss Alps are beautiful an green with the winding road dropping into the valley one minute and then climbing back to the peaks with a series of hair pin bends.

Again we spent a great deal of time on what had become a favorite pastime.

It was getting dusk when we reached the Swiss Border at Basel and we were all fascinated with the neon lights and street lighting the likes of which we hadn’t seen for six years.

While we were gazing at all this two young men drove up in a new Studebaker which was the first new American car we had seen. They asked if they could help us and we told them we were looking for somewhere to pitch our tents, so they said follow us which we did and were surprised when they pulled in to their house and told us that we could camp in their large orchard. They said that when we were settled we must come and meet their parents and stay for dinner.

We spent a very pleasant evening with the Amman family who had a large music store in the town. Papa was a very jovial fellow who only spoke German the sons spoke a little English and French in addition to German which was their native tongue the maid only spoke Italian .I spoke a little high school French and one of our group spoke some German. The next morning we were driven on a sightseeing tour of the town.

Later we Headed for Lucerne and Bern and on to Lausanne. We had no trouble finding places to camp and the farmers were pleased to let us stay in their beautifully groomed fields not one ever asked us for a fee.

At Lausanne we took time out for a cruise on Lake Geneva. This lake is crystal clear and not very deep and fish can be seen swimming around below.

We stayed overnight and the next day headed for Geneva, We left Switzerland at Geneva and headed south west to Lyon here we went into the local “Maison de Ville” or Town hall to get more gas ration coupons we were met by the mayor who replenished our supply. The only signs of war on the highway were a number of Bailey Bridges at every river or stream crossing. Then on to Dijon and Nancy with the usual number of flats to fix..

Nancy was an interesting town and we made the tour of the large champagne caves and were treated to many free samples at the exit. I am surprised that these caves had not been looted by the Germans , lots of the kegs were dated pre war.

As we entered Paris I was had my final flat tire so I left the bike at a garage to be fixed and proceeded from there on the metro. At this point I realized that I had lost my friends.

I found a nice Hotel, it was the Lutetia This was the one that used a short lived TV series in the sixties.

After three days in Paris I was able to find the garage after some time nervously searching. I started for the trip to Calais and while I stopped at a small roadside café I was overjoyed to see my friends heading my way. There was lots of tales to tell it’s surprising that so much happened in three days

We joined together and proceeded to Calais where we found a nice quiet little hotel and enjoyed a good nights sleep and a hearty breakfast before embarking for the trip home the white cliffs of Dover were a welcome sight for four weary travelers.