From being so much "pie-in-the sky" it had to be translated into reality. Tony's access to so much information from an "experienced hand" was invaluable and he was elected organiser. After a few meetings between the four of us - Tony, John (Cahill), Phil (Unwin) and myself - in numerous "pubs" we ironed out the details into a coherent plan of action - le route, accommodation, money, ticket, timetables, maps etc.

The ticket cost £70 and allowed us unlimited travel on the railway network of Europe (barring a few Iron Curtain countries), and Morocco for a period of one month. On top of this we would have to pay ferry fares (which were halved with Interail and Student cards) and BR train fares which were also halved. We decided that £150 was the minimum amount of money we could take for an "enjoyable" holiday. Out of this we had to pay for food, drink(?) and accommodation - Youth Hostels campsites and hotels - en route. This was seen to be a wise decision in the end. How we took it was a personal choice, but all of us ended up with at least £100 in travellers cheques - John and I took Deutschmarks, the other two Sterling. We also took some cash in the currencies we would be going to first.

Having finalised the monetary aspect we next turned our attention to the route. Our first thoughts were over ambitious. Everybody basically agreed that we would like to see parts of Germany, Switzerland, Greece and Italy but John and Tony also wanted to take in some of Scandinavia. In order that we could at least spend some time in the first four instead of travelling all the time the latter two were ruled out. The route was finally settled and in the main we stuck to it throughout, thus not having the worry, and perhaps argument, on station platforms about where to go next. The route we decided on was: - London - Ostend - Koln - Koblenz - Black Forest - Zermatt (Swiss Alps) - Interlaken -Venice - Athens - the Pelopponese - Patras boat - Brindisi - Rome - Florence - Paris - London.

Besides our rucksacks we took two small two-man tents which saved a great deal of money (some continental youth hostels are expensive), but where we could not use these we stayed in Youth Hostels.

The Journey We left Victoria Station just before midnight on the 21st August, arrived at Dover and boarded the ferry for Ostend. The trip across the Channel was fairly calm and the cold and the anticipation of what was to follow did not allow us to sleep - so we played cards - a useful asset.

At Ostend we boarded a German train for Koln - which left promptly as German trains are wont to do - and had an uninspiring ride to the walled city where we changed trains and travelled south alongside the Rhine, to Koblen. We decided not to stay here as we had intended as the nearest Youth Hostels and campsites were 3km outside the town. So we continued further down the Rhine to Rudesheim - one of the many small Rhine villages where we just happened to find a convenient campsite and wine festival - our first stroke of luck. We spent the evening exploring (the wine festival and the town) and heard a German brass band play whilst eating German sausage and drinking German wine.

Next day we broke camp and continued our train journey down the Rhine to Triberg in the heart of the Black Forest. Here we tramped 3 kms up a very steep hill to the Youth Hostel at the very top where we were greeted by a very unsavoury fat German warden who, at first, told us that we could not stay there the night. He did soften (just a little bit) and we were permitted to stay in the usual "prison-like" building which characterises continental Youth Hostels. We left next day after being summoned to breakfast by him shouting over the tannoy system for the "VIER ENGLANDER".

On the train again we headed for Switzerland and Zermatt at the foot of the Matterhorn and surrounded by breathtaking scenery. Here we spent three nights and four days exploring, climbing and eating excellent, but very expensive, Swiss food. This was definitely the place we all liked best.

The next stop was Interlaken to see the Eiger and the Jungfray. Then east and south via Luzern, Zurich and Innsbruck to Venice, seeing the marvellous Alpine and Tyroleon scenery on the way. Venice was a beautiful, but smelly, city corrupted by "rip-off" artists who preyed on tourists like us. We stayed in a pleasant Hotel, which was both cheap and clean. It served our purpose well as a base to see the sights such as St Marks.

After 3 days we had had enough and got on the Orient Express for the long journey to Athens. The train by the way, is nothing like the one in the film but is the main European "cattle" train with all that goes with it. Ugh! The journey took 36 hours with a short stop at Belgrade. We were able to sleep, however, with the aid of numerous bottles of Chianti (bought especially for the purpose).

We arrived in Athens under a sweltering noon-day sun, and, having elected to stay in a Youth Hostel for the night, set off to walk to it - a definite mistake - (Well you know what they say about "mad dogs" and Englishmen). We stayed in Athens for one night exploring the Fleamarket and the Plaka around the base at the Acropolis. In the morning we left for a campsite a few miles outside at Daphni where we knew a wine festival was open throughout the summer. We stayed at Daphni whilst we saw the rest of Athens and enjoyed the entertainment provided at the wine festival every night. After 3 days we left for the Pelopponese, the sandy beaches, the sun and a restful break from travelling.

Thus the homeward journey began. Instead of retracing our tracks we had decided at the outset to go by boat from Greece to Italy via Corfu. In the end we did not stay on Corfu as planned as we had heard about the strike of ferrymen in England and expected long queues.

At Brindisi (Italy) the train for Rome was packed and we could not get seats so we had to stand for ten uncomfortable hours in a cold corridor until we reached Rome.

In 3 days we managed to take in all the sights of Rome including the Priscilla catacombs which contain the earliest known painting of the Madonna, amongst others. John, Tony, and Phil also managed to get themselves asked to leave St Peters because they were only wearing T shirts - atrocious behaviour. We enjoyed our stay in Rome, savouring some very nice Italian food, and likewise Florence where we went next. Besides John and I getting washed out of our tent one night the stay was uneventful with the time spent taking in the sights.

And so we returned home after a month of travelling around Europe seeing the places we had seen and heard so much about. For us it was a truly memorable holiday and I would encourage anybody with a sense of adventure to attempt it. Good luck !

Chris Whelan