JOLLY HOLIDAYS
In 1970 a pal and I decided to go on holiday on our scooters to Switzerland, of all places. The journey started well, but my pal on a Lambretta TV175 got a front wheel puncture at 60mph and crashed. The handlebars were damaged as well as his ankle, so we parked his bike under a flyover and went to the hospital to get him fixed. We slept under the flyover for the night, went to Peterborough the next day on my bike to get the parts to fix his bike from the local scooter shop. As the scooters had spare wheels the punctured one was easily changed over.
All was fixed under the flyover using the tools we had with us, and then we (surprisingly) carried on to London. We stayed in a campsite which flooded overnight due to very heavy rain. We had about three inches of water in the tent, so we ended up sleeping in the toilets!
We eventually made the ferry at Calais to get across the channel. Speaking very little French, we took four days to ride to Switzerland, camping on the way, each taking turns to lead and navigate. There were no mobile phones or satnav in 1970, so we spent each evening studying the map for the next day’s route with bits of sticky paper and notes to aid us.
What we ate and how we survived is a bit of a blur. I remember eating a lot of croissants, and a French equivalent of a sausage roll which tasted nothing like a sausage roll, and pain au chocolat as we could actually ask for these in French.
We stayed in Grindelwald in a nice campsite next to a river with very large rats which kept us company in the night, trying to get our food. I remember thinking as we went over mountain passes that this was the place to ride a two-wheeler, and I would be back. I wished my brakes were better, as the front cable-operated disc faded very easily and the engine braking on a twostroke was next to zero. This led to a few hair-raising moments and scraped silencer and footboards. The choice of tyres for scooters wasn’t brilliant so grip was either there – or not there.
I wished that the petrol tank was much bigger than six litres. As soon as we had filled up we seemed to be looking for the next petrol station. Back then we needed French francs, Swiss Francs and travellers’ cheques. (Do people still use travellers’ cheques?)
The journey home was almost traffic-free. In France in the early 1970s you could drive miles on the backroads without seeing another car, but there seemed to be lots of small, family-run filling stations. The journey, however, was not event-free… On the way to Calais I ran off the road after hitting a mound of gravel. I ended up in a field, knocked myself out and broke my collarbone. This was confirmed when I eventually went to A&E in Dover after we had crossed the Channel!
I rode home to the north of England and in total we covered about 2000 miles with no bike trouble apart from the one puncture. I was signed off work for four weeks which gave me time to repair and respray the scooter, one-handed.
Now, I can’t believe we actually did these things. Maybe these days people are not quite as adventurous as when we were young? It would appear that to go touring now you an adventure bike, satnav, smartphone, ipad and more than 100bhp. Actually a small bike can give a lot more satisfaction and sense of achievement, especially when carrying camping gear, tools, and spares. When we toured we carried everything we might need and no credit cards or mobile phones. The only thing we did have was AA five-star coverage, but we didn’t use it.
Stu Thomson, member 2256