More of my ramblings of our adventure in 1970. Sorry there are no pics, we filmed it all on cine film.
Part 2 – France, Belgium and Holland
France was hot, very hot and my lasting memory was the smell from every drain. We could not find any toilets as they were all in cafes and we were not! We did not stop, but drove to Belgium. The drains also smelled in Belgium, but the landscape changed, becoming hilly and wooded. I can only assume now that we must have been in the Ardennes region. Camp sites were basic and I don’t remember any other British people camping. At 10 years old, I didn’t speak any foreign languages, but I had a football, so quickly made friends.
Belgium was also the place where we experienced a phenomenon which was to stay with us wherever we went. Nobody appeared to have seen a Commer before and wherever we went people turned and looked, smiled and often waved. People were also very trusting. On one occasion it was raining and we passed a young boy of about my age walking towards a village. We stopped, offered him a lift and although he didn’t speak any English, he got in and we took him to the next village, where he thanked us and went on his way.
Holland was very different to Belgium, flat and clean. We visited a swimming pool and were pleased to find the car park almost empty, then we saw the cycle park. There were thousands of bikes and the place was packed. We also experienced trams for the first time which ran down the central reservation of the roads.
My parents had hoped that this holiday would be an education for us three children and our next destination was – Amsterdam. Remember, this was 1970 at the height of flower power. We camped in the Olympic stadium which hosted the games in 1928 and it was full of hippies. The atmosphere was fantastic with people sitting around strumming guitars everywhere. I’m sure that’s where the inspiration for Dylan the rabbit in The Magic Roundabout came from. There was also a lot of smoking and it didn’t smell like the ciggies Mum and Dad smoked! In the morning I went to the amenity block for a wash and had the surprise of my life. There were as many women as men in there and they were wandering in and out of the showers naked. As I said before, it was an education.
Our next stop was The Hague, which was very different to Amsterdam, being modern with wide streets. This was where we suffered our breakdown. It was rush hour and we suffered a complete failure of all the electrics on one of the main roads out of the city. Fortunately we got going again, I can’t remember whether my Dad fixed it or we had assistance. I just remember it as a bit of a Smurf experience with traffic all around us! I don’t recall any further breakdowns.
Our next destination was Germany, where we would meet up with an old friend of my Mother’s who she had not seen since 1948 when he returned to Germany having been a prisoner of war.
'It's not a proper slider'
Part 2 – France, Belgium and Holland
France was hot, very hot and my lasting memory was the smell from every drain. We could not find any toilets as they were all in cafes and we were not! We did not stop, but drove to Belgium. The drains also smelled in Belgium, but the landscape changed, becoming hilly and wooded. I can only assume now that we must have been in the Ardennes region. Camp sites were basic and I don’t remember any other British people camping. At 10 years old, I didn’t speak any foreign languages, but I had a football, so quickly made friends.
Belgium was also the place where we experienced a phenomenon which was to stay with us wherever we went. Nobody appeared to have seen a Commer before and wherever we went people turned and looked, smiled and often waved. People were also very trusting. On one occasion it was raining and we passed a young boy of about my age walking towards a village. We stopped, offered him a lift and although he didn’t speak any English, he got in and we took him to the next village, where he thanked us and went on his way.
Holland was very different to Belgium, flat and clean. We visited a swimming pool and were pleased to find the car park almost empty, then we saw the cycle park. There were thousands of bikes and the place was packed. We also experienced trams for the first time which ran down the central reservation of the roads.
My parents had hoped that this holiday would be an education for us three children and our next destination was – Amsterdam. Remember, this was 1970 at the height of flower power. We camped in the Olympic stadium which hosted the games in 1928 and it was full of hippies. The atmosphere was fantastic with people sitting around strumming guitars everywhere. I’m sure that’s where the inspiration for Dylan the rabbit in The Magic Roundabout came from. There was also a lot of smoking and it didn’t smell like the ciggies Mum and Dad smoked! In the morning I went to the amenity block for a wash and had the surprise of my life. There were as many women as men in there and they were wandering in and out of the showers naked. As I said before, it was an education.
Our next stop was The Hague, which was very different to Amsterdam, being modern with wide streets. This was where we suffered our breakdown. It was rush hour and we suffered a complete failure of all the electrics on one of the main roads out of the city. Fortunately we got going again, I can’t remember whether my Dad fixed it or we had assistance. I just remember it as a bit of a Smurf experience with traffic all around us! I don’t recall any further breakdowns.
Our next destination was Germany, where we would meet up with an old friend of my Mother’s who she had not seen since 1948 when he returned to Germany having been a prisoner of war.
'It's not a proper slider'
