I riled the Russians with a decadent jive!
CONTINUING our series featuring the holiday experiences of famous people, this week Liberal Democrat leader
SIR VINCE CABLE recalls his lifetime of adventures…
First holiday I can remember
Every year until I was 12 we used to go on a summer holiday to Scarborough or Bridlington. I remember catching the steam train from York with my bucket and spade and spending hours on the beach with my brother Keith.
The sea was too cold to do much but go paddling, but I still have fond memories of riding the waves at high tide.
First time abroad
I did a rail tour of Eastern Europe when I was at university in 1963. I visited Prague, Budapest, Kiev and Moscow – during the days of the Cold War – with a group of students. When I joined in a dance in Kiev and started doing the jive, a group of Russian officials came over to me, told me it was immoral and gave me a lecture on Western decadence.
My first school trip
We were taken to the Lake District and that was where I first discovered my love of British mountains. I have climbed Scafell and all the major peaks, and I’ve been a keen fell-walker ever since.
My honeymoon
I’ve had two. After my marriage to my first [late] wife Olympia in East Africa, we visited Zanzibar and then spent two months travelling back to Britain overland via the Sudanese desert – not most people’s idea of an idyllic honeymoon. My second honeymoon in 2004 was spent with my wife Rachel walking in the Brecon Beacons.
Best trip ever…
It’s a toss-up between a wonderful trip around the coast of Ireland with Rachel, starting in County Antrim and staying in various country hotels in 2011, and my final trip to Goa with Olympia a couple of years before she passed away in 2001. It was a sad but moving trip.
… and the worst
It was a recent holiday in southern Italy, courtesy of a certain budget airline. First of all we had the most appalling journey and then we had to wait around for hours on arrival because there was no one available to take the baggage off the plane. I don’t think I’ll be using that particular airline again in a hurry.
Essential holiday item
I don’t have a Kindle so I just end up taking a pile of paperback novels on holiday with me. I always take a hat with me, too, if I’m going somewhere sunny.
Dream destination
I’d love to go on a road journey across the Himalayas to Tibet, and trek in the Andes. I’d also like to go to the Hebrides, one of the few parts of the UK I haven’t visited.