Details of the Kathmandu to London tour, October-November 1979 by Nick Whetstone.

Part four - Istanbul to London

November 21
Drove to Tikirdag for breakfast stop then on to Greek border around lunchtime. Just after border something came loose on the prop shaft and we had to stop while Tim fixed it. Drove on to Keramoti with a break at Alexandropolis. Where we wanted to camp was waterlogged so we slept in adjacent taverna which was closed for the winter.

November 22
Drove to Astrvolta for breakfast stop then onto Thessalonika arriving at lunch time. Greg, Sue, Chris and Penny left us to head south to Athens. Drove on to Yugoslav border and then on to Predejane, where we stopped for an evening meal. Continued on to Nis and headed for Belgrade.

November 23
Having been held up for an hour just after midnight (lorry crash), we continued on until about 4 am when we pulled into a layby to sleep. Started again just after 7 am and drove to Novemberska for breakfast. Drove on to Ljubljana for mid-afternoon tea then onto Italian border. Stopped just into Italy at La Grave for evening meal before continuing east toward the Alps.

November 24
Despite losing second gear, the bus made it to the top of the pass where we crossed the border into France. We continued east to Lyon and then turned north toward Paris. We stopped at a motorway service station overnight .

November 25
Drove to Paris where we dropped Bo off then up to Calais arriving in the early evening. At ten o'clock we caught the ferry to Dover. An extremely rough crossing with many of us seasick. Arrived Dover 23.15 and spent about an hour going through customs (they just loved the buses coming back from India).

November 26
Left Dover for London stopping on way for breakfast. Dropped Selina, Tim and Jeff in London and continued west along M4 to the Aust service station on the border of Wales to drop Cliff off. Then drove south to drop me and Pete off at my home. Tim continued on another thirty miles to his home to see his first child born the following day.