Ahh , the destruction of the unions , coal mines about to be closed , mass unemployment , a wet summer and the first holiday without my parents , me and my mate rode our peds ( fantic caballero and a malaguti cavalcone ) down to a camping holiday in devon from Surrey, needless to say my italian ped came back on the train lol. 1979 , I would still do it all again.......... apart from the apprenticeship . Puddy
At this time in ‘79 I was two years into a thick sandwich degree in Civil Engineering, on industrial placement in the Rhondda Valleys surveying river walls. Looking forwards to a planned trip around France with a dozen mates on bikes that dwindled down to just two of us with running bikes and some money who went anyway. Slight drama with a week to go: mate hit car with his 500-4 and bent the forks, so big panic to fix. Couldn’t afford all the bits needed, so did France with a rigid front end! We took three weeks to bimble around Normandy, lie on a beach on the Vendee, visit Cognac and Bergerac, then follow the Dordogne up to the source near Drome and drop down to Clermont Ferrand. I had to rush back from there, so left mate who headed for Belgium. Did Le Havre in a day, fishermen blockading port so went to Zeebrugh next day, squeezed on overnight crossing and rode home from Dover. Happy days!
I spent my Saturdays getting the tube into kings road - 20p return Dodging the Watford supporters & smoking my mates mums players Boyfriend had a MB50, I got one as soon as I hit 16 Great days
Summer 79 just finished lower 6th at my posh school. Got the boat train to Belgium and hitch hiked around Germany for 3 weeks on a hundred quid with my mate. Got into all sorts of scrapes with various dodgy lifts, sleeping rough, begging, American GI’s, brothels and beer by the gallon. Some things never change eh?
Blimey 40 years ago! I owned a YB100 and was just about to go to Uni (not that we called it Uni then). Leicester to Bath fully loaded with books and stuff in all weather on my little Yamaha
'79 - not a happy time. Still at school, 2 years away from being envious of my mates and their mopeds and a full 6 years away from my first bike. By '89 things had improved considerably with a GPz550 and a GSX1168 in the garage.
