3rd October. We spent a fairly leisurely morning in Zagreb cleaning up and checking stores, and in the afternoon made for Salzburg. By 10 p.m. we were too weary to carry on and stopped in a partly cut clover field. I was glad we had the sense to camp on the stubble because next morning the farmer was round to cut the remainder before half of the contingent was up! Instead of erecting the tent we used it as a cover over the groundsheets. The tent comes in two halves, a groundsheet for each, so we had two glorious big beds with sleeping bags between tent and groundsheet. The morning greeted us with thick cold mist and the cheery farmer cutting his clover. We breakfasted on jam butties, pancakes and coffee and by the time that was over the farmer had cleared his field and the mist had lifted to reveal an encirclement of high snow-clad Alps. Back

  4th October. An hour or so was spent in Salzburg, then we crossed the German frontier and reached Munich about 5 p.m. Edinburgh and Liverpool camped in a caravan site which cost us about £7 per contingent a bit of a blow but we and dozens of other British and American people were there rather obviously to sample the pleasures of the Munich Beer Festival.   The Beer Festival itself turned out to be somewhat expensive and we finished up in the Hofbrauhaus - the biggest pub in the world. There, in an atmosphere of malt, smoke and old wood, we swung and danced with the Germans. Buxom barmaids, bustled to and fro with litre bier steins, twelve at a time, and colossal Germans tore at ham off the leg and bread by the loaf. Drink or not, the atmosphere was inebriating enough and we staggered out about 11:30pm and drove back to the camp and, with the help or otherwise of four semi-paralytic navigators, we did a double sightseeing tour of Munich before finding the road to the camp. Back

 5th October. A cold autumnal morning had us on our way by the startling hour of 10 a.m. and we took the fast autobahn for Frankfurt. The alternator seized and reduced us to our two batteries, but we were in the Rhein-Maln U.S. Air-Force base before nightfall. There the tent was erected and we were given as much food as we could put down. Some stomachs were not yet recovered from Asia and this glorious European fodder came right back up again.

The 6th of October was a free day, with breakfast at 6 a.m. We replaced our alternator and spent the afternoon in Frankfurt. We filled ourselves to capacity again at dinner, then spent the evening in the N.C.O. club drinking and dancing - we seemed to be home already. Back

 The next day was for cleaning up, and we actually hosed Cuddles with hot water. We held an auction for all surplus food and camping gear and packed away the tent and equipment for the last time. We had dinner about 5.30 p.m. and left the base around seven. We had a little trouble from the alternator again but reached the Channel port of Zeebrugge in Belgium by 4.30 on the morning of 8th October. After a short sleep and breakfast we set off for the ferry port, but, of all stupid things, ran out of fuel half-a-mile from the port. However, we were there on time.

The day was fine and the crossing calm. Don Clarke and I won a draw for free lunch on board and after that and hot showers were like Contented cats. The white cliffs came into view about 5 p.m. and we came off the boat first into Britain. Any ecstasy however was soon shattered because customs shut us into a shed and demanded that absolutly everything came off the coach and out of the boot. After our careful and so-called last packs in Frankfurt we were more than slightly annoyed. We were tired after the overnight run from Frankfurt and had another overnighter to Edinburgh before us. Nothing amiss was found, however, and most of us had to pay duty on goods brought in. After that we had to get a new tyre for our spare. This was another tale to add to the dissatisfaction we had received from our tyremakers and won't be told, but by 8 p.m. we were at last on the road for Edinburgh. Back