How to Read the Blog and see Photos

To read the regular blog stories of the trip scroll down. They start from the BOTTOM and each new one goes on TOP of the previous post.

They are collected together by month. Only the latest month comes up. To read previous months go to Archives or History list to right of page (you may have to scroll down) then click on the month you want.

All photos can be brought up full size simply by clicking on them.

The Istanbul to Normandy story is the current page but you can get the Fiat 500 Trip story just by clicking on the archives for 2007 as above.

Istanbul - Normandy Final

End of another trip


Penelope


Chev Cab

Bertie's adoption paper

We can now look back and feel very pleased with what was a highly successful expedition. Everywhere in every country, the vehicles were received with enthusiasm by the general public. Those with knowledge of these old vehicles were astonished by the audacity of the concept to attempt to get such a large group such a long distance.

All the crews contributed to this success by retaining their focus for 6 weeks. As they became more comfortable with travel in strange lands – on the wrong side of the road – their enjoyment also increased. Right to the end everyone was still socialising every night and setting out each day with enthusiasm.

Once again we had our faithful companions along on the trip, Penelope ( the Garmin GPS ) proving her worth as the marriage saver. Sitting on the ledge behind my head was Bertie the Brooklands Bear, our adopted mascot. Bertie, dressed in a Sidcot flying suit made by Gieves and Hawkes, was presented to Lang by Prince Michael of Kent just prior to the Vimy flight. He has since accompanied Lang on the Avian flight, was in the Itala during the Peking to Paris expedition, travelled around the world in the Fiat 500 and is now safe at home again.

In conclusion we would like to thank our friends who generously provided some very unique hospitality that no tourist operation could possibly emulate. From the brass band parade followed by some wonderful Italian fare we thank Sandro and Wilmy Scarpa and the Fiat 500 Club. For the night at their 17^th century farmhouse with tables groaning with homemade fare and a cake decorated with an Australian flag, along with an impressive private collection of military vehicles, thanks to Marjorie and Peter Tombs. As a fabulous finale to our week in Normandy the D-Day dinner party at a real French Chateau with fine food and wine thanks to Anna and Franck Bailleul.

There were many others along the way who made our trip unforgettable – Jerome Stevens and the boys at the French Military Vehicle Club, the enthusiastic crew in Scarperia from the Italian Military Vehicle Club, Derek Skoda for help with shipping, Colin Smith and the MVT. There were also numerous people who extended friendship and help to members of the crews right across Europe – thank you all.

We were all proud to have reminded people of Australian and New Zealand historical achievements and commemorate the sacrifices our forefathers made by walking the ground where they endured, suffered and died.

Bev and Lang

France and Belgium

The Cloth Hall Ieper/Ypres


View from the tower at Villers-Brettoneux


Australian National Memorial Villers-Bretonneux


Le Hamel memorial with old trenches


Field of poppies Flanders


Amiens Cathedral

Our final week of the trip was spent in the area of the Western Front of France and Belgium. This is where so many futile massacres took place during WW1, and where the breaking of the German offensive of 1918 allowed the advances by the allies that led to the armistice 90 years ago on November 11 that same year.

Driving through this area there are so very many beautifully maintained cemeteries mostly established where the men fought and died. It is so emotionally charged, wandering through the headstones seeing the average age of these men in their early 20's and so many with just a headstone stating "An Unknown Soldier" or " An Australian Soldier of the Great War"

On Tuesday we went into Amiens and saw the huge cathederal in the centre of town containing many dedications to the soldiers who fought in the area. We then visited the town of Villers Bretonneux where not only is there a reference to Australia on every street corner but it also has a dedicated Australian National Memorial where there are names of 11,000 Australians who have no grave. On the outskirts of the town is the Adelaide cemetery where the Unknown Soldier's remains were exhumed in 1993 and taken to the War Memorial in Canberra, as a lasting memorial to all unknown soldiers in all wars. We also visited the French Australian museum in the town.

We camped overnight at the village of Le Hamel on the Somme River and saw the new Australian memorial that has recently been established that depicts Monash's very clever assault and recapture of the ridge line. The memorial is on a hill behind the village in amongst the local farm fields and obviously a very stategic position during such a battle. This was also the first battle in which a small number (1,000) of newly arrived American troops were put in with the battle-hardened Australians to gain experience. Several small items such as buttons and bullets were found in the remains of the trenches still scarring the wheat field beside the memorial.

An interesting feature of this memorial is it is from near this spot that Sgt Popkin and another Australian gunner shot down Manfred von Richtoffen (the Red Baron) with their machine guns (despite the unfounded but propaganda driven official story that Canadian pilot Capt Brown was responsible).

On the following and our final day with the group Lang and I visited Arras. Just north of the town is the stunning Canadian Memorial at Vimy Ridge, very stark but unbelievably impressive. The Canadians lost 10,000 men on one day taking this point and the names of 60,000 Canadians lost are recorded (about the same number of wartime losses as the Australians). From there we went across the Belgium border and attended the playing of The Last Post which is performed every night at 8pm at the Menin Gate at the entrance of Ieper/Ypres through which marched thousands of men to the slaughter of the salient. The spectacular stone city gate has the names of 54,000 men, mainly from the British Empire, who died in the immediate area but have no known grave.

Those of us who still had the energy left, attended a last get together with a strange but tasty menu, the pooled remains of our food – and wine - supplies. Even though it had been raining heavily and quite cold during the day, the camp site had a large weatherproof tent. We even managed to have a funny hat competition.

For us this is the wrap-up of a very successful trip. The majority of the group headed to Antwerp to pack their vehicles into containers for the trip back home. The coordination of the containers is not as critical for the trip back, so it was not essential that they all got away together. The Studebaker was sold in Europe and others in the the group are continuing to travel for a longer period. At the last minute we have some interest expressed in the Chev have chosen to wait a few days to see if anything develops.

We have had the dynamics of approx 30 people (numbers have varied between 28 and 33) travelling in 15 vehicles (1 motorbike, 5 jeeps, 3 large trucks and 6 medium size vehicles). Each day I posted the next night's campsite and it was free travel for the day. Some of the team formed themselves into smaller groups of two or three and stayed together during the day, while others were happy to be independent and use the day to do and see what was of particular interest to themselves.

Having been over much of the route before made things easier for us in planning, if not in execution. A mob of fifteen 70-year-old vehicles made it unwise to rigidly plan every nightly stop and we also wanted to retain the flexibility to stop at places of interest or by popular request. Things went very smoothly most of the time but we spent at least an hour each day and several hours on a number of days, trying to secure a suitable stop for the night, reorganise ferry bookings etc. Every camp site we went to was well above the average Australian caravan park standard.

The participants, as planned, knew little of the day to day administration required for the trip and many continue to assume that it all "just happened". Our $1,000 telephone bill is a reminder to us of the constant work required on trips like these.

Because of the the common interest in military vehicles the tour was designed around quite a few of the significant battle fields in Europe of both WW1 and WW2. In between though, there was plenty of opportunity to go sightseeing, and we stayed over in quite a few large, diverse and very colourful cities, such as Istanbul, Athens, Turin, and Paris.

Even though the battlefields have been maintained as memorials to many incredibly bloody and futile experiences I believe they serve as important reminders to future generations, so that these brave men, regardless of nationality, and what they endured will never be forgotten.