Trans Asia 1977 Eastbound - Core team

Ivan Hurst People 24 August 2016 Hits: 1456

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The picture above is (L to R) Annie, Pete, Chris, and Celia on a outcrop by a river in Yugoslavia.

Pete at Herat, Afghanistan Pete reading on the terrace of a hotel in Herat, Afghanistan.

Pete and I went to the same collage together, on the same course. We were both allocated to a house in Rollswood Road, Old Welwyn, near Welwyn Garden City with a number of other students, and this is where we first met. So fate put us together without any input from either of us. One of the others was Ivan Hurkett. He was the first other Ivan I had ever met, and the first three letters of the surname matched as well, and, if that was not enough, we both hade the same make and model of an unsual clock. But I digress. Pete and I were studying for a Degree in Civil Engineering. As part of the experience we worked on a construction site for the summer holiday. By then we had moved out of the digs found by the collage and were living in separate parts of Hatfield. We worked for the same company, Percy Bilton Ltd, on the same site. The works involved building a new duel carriageway between Hertford town centre and the new A10, which was being built at the same time.

Pete in Afghanistan

Pete was brought up in High Wycombe and, at the time, his parents still lived on the outskirts in a suburb called Terriers. I think his dad was a teacher / headmaster. When he retired from school they moved to Norfolk. Pete has a brother and sister. His brother was friends with one of The Wombles (re Wombles of Wimbledon), and Pete and I met him (the Womble, sorry I can't remember his name) once at his west London home, as I recall. Pete's sister got married and moved to the States. I visited Pete's sister in Ohio on my first trip to the USA.

Pete and I became good friends and continued to work together, frequently travelling to work sharing transport, which could have been his motorbike, the works Transit minibus, or a white Mini van with Percy Bilton all over the sides. ( A kind of early company car, given to us to share ). Occasionally we would use my Austin Champ, but that was very heavy on fuel. This was in part during the 1973 oil crisis. We also very rairly used the company Land Rover.

Pete was a very keen motorbike enthusiast. He and a friend, Tim, both bought Kawasaki 750 H2A as soon as they came out. They arrived, bright and shiny, serial numbers 00004 and 00005. They were the fastest production bikes at the time.

Pete also started a racing team, which was called idp racing. The order of the initials did not have any particular significance, other than which sounded best. idp = Ivan, David, and Peter. Pete was the mad one that rode around the track at breakneck pace, and left breaking to the very last moment. He came off a few times, doesn't everybody? His racing bike was a Yamaha 250 with a custom built Machin frame, water cooled. Similar to the one in this link. Water cooled was rare in bikes at time. We had a good couple of seasons. Even though it was 'only' a 250, it was pure race built with chromed pots and needle baring's, and was significantly faster than the bigger Kawasaki 750 triple. The small ends had an estimated life span of 250 miles. On one occasion we calculated that that would be partway through a race. We decided that there would probably be some tolerance to that life span, so decided to change them after the race. They blew up partway around the track, at about the 250 miles point, wrecking the engine. We did not make that mistake again.

Pete was living with his long term girlfriend (from school days) in Hatfield when we hatched our first plan to travel together.

For our second trip to Asia, Pete and I advertised in 'Time Out' for companions to travel with us. We did not get many replies. We wrote to those that did reply (some or all, I can't remember) and all traveled from our various homes to a McDonald's. At this point I should note that McDonald's first restaurant in the UK was only a couple of years earlier, in October 1974. We met in the 108-110 Kensington High Street branch, which was our local. And yes we did travel over 20 miles for a late night burger, after the pubs had closed. Not that infrequently either. BigMacs were much bigger then. How times have changed. The team was chosen, coincidently all were girls. Can't imagine why. Annie, Chris, and Celia showed up at McDonald's and they all turned up on the day of departure. Result!

Which trips were Pete involved with:-

Asian trip 1. England to Kathmandu, and fly back, 1975. Read more ...
Asian trip 2. England to Kathmandu, 1977. Eastbound Read more ...
Asian trip 3. England to Kathmandu, 1977. Westbound Read more ...

Chris Hackett

Chris wrapped up warm, with snow capped mountains of ___ in the distance.

Chris Hackett grew up in Chichester, West Sussex, on the South Coast of England. Chris was a PE teacher at at school in Littlehampton, about 15 miles away. Chris was an ardent badminton and hockey player. I would very occasionally join Chris and her friends for a game of badminton. I looked to be brilliant at the game. But it was all delusion. They were so good that they managed to aim it at my racket and I would barely move a muscle. So many returns, without breaking into a sweat. The fact is I am now, and was then, useless at ball / racket games. The badminton was just between friends, however, the hockey was altogether more serious. Chris was a member of a team. They played hard, and partied with equal vigor. On one occasion I went with the team to Holland, for an international tournament. Not to play you understand, just to make up the numbers, and carry the beers. It was fun just being the mascot for the weekend.

Which trip was Chris involved with:-

Asian trip 2. England to Kathmandu, 1977. Read more ...

Annie

Annie Annie above a gorge in Yugoslavia.

Annie was also a teacher, but of English. Unlike the rest of us, Annie was a northerner, although she did not have the accent to go with it.

There are certain questions that we did not ask and which strangely did not come up even at McDonalds, which was fairly strictly beef burgers in the day. I had two Big Macs. Then I could do that with out any adverse consequences. Not so today. The thing is both Annie and Celia were vegetarians. Celia's list of banded products was longer though . This does present some problems in remote areas which just don't understand the concept, and the non English speaking way of ordering food in a restaurant is either to point at somebody else's food or go into the kitchen and point at something in a big pot on the stove. Would knowing in advance have made any difference in our choices? Did we regret our choice because they were vegetarian? No, on both counts, but it did give us some interesting episodes. Some of the more publishable one's are included in the stories.

I am sure that there is more to put into Annie's bio. I expect I will remember more as I write the stories of the trip.

Which trip was Annie involved with:-