ASIANOVERLAND.NET WINTER EUROPEAN  DAY 51/224: OSTEND TO LONDON, ENGLAND

 31/1/1981

Our final day starts with the English Channel ferry ride from Ostend in Belgium to Ramsgate, which has one of the largest marinas on the English south coast.

Kent was one of the first British territories to be settled by Germanic tribes following the withdrawal of the Romans. Canterbury Cathedral in Kent, the oldest cathedral in England, has been the seat of the Archbishops of Canterbury since the conversion of England to Christianity that began in the 6th century with Saint Augustine.  Located between London and the Strait of Dover, which separates England from mainland Europe, Kent has been the setting for many conflicts, including the Battle of Britain in World War II.

We drive to Earl’s Court, London, for our final drop off and goodbyes.

Earl's Court has been an Aussie haven in London since the 1960s, when  a large transient population of Australian and New Zealand  travellers began to use Earl's Court as an English hub, and it gained the name "Kangaroo Valley".

We then drive to the Top Deck farm at Woking to clean and service INTER, and, hopefully, have a well earnt break – I've had 8 months straight on the road since starting my first overland from London to Kathmandu on 12 June, 1980.

My final comment is to thank all of the crew and punters who have enjoyed adventure trips with Top Deck and other travel companies. Top Deck trips are described as adventure travel, and they certainly live up to the description. Our own Top Deck trips are meres example of what every Top Decker has gone through, in one way or another, as summarised by Scroo Turner in his forward to Trevor Carroll’s book Crossing Continents with Top Deck:

“Personally, I am incredibly proud of the dedication and professionalism, considering what they had to play with, and what we paid them, of the drivers and couriers. ….. Crews had to be brave in the face of officialdom, capable of continuously improvising to circumvent the many daily obstacles that arose. Above all, they had to be at all times easy going, irreverent and enjoy a beer or three.”

For me personally, I am incredibly proud of my two drivers, Gary Hayes and Les Stringer, who are everything Scroo described of drivers, and without whom our Top Deck trips would not have been possible. R.I.P.

And an especially HUGE thank you to Corrie, the bravest person I ever met on my Top Deck trips, and still my best mate and partner 42 years later.

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