Round the World on a Shoestring

This is the story of a journey made in the 1970s that would be nigh on impossible in today’s political climate. It accounts he escapades of four naive young men travelling in a 21 year-old Land Rover (Sweaty Betty). On a shoestring budget they travelled through Europe in mid-winter then journeyed through the Middle East, Far East, Australia and beyond. It was an era before mobile phones, sat-nav, the internet or social media; their only guide was a paper map.


The story tells of sleeping in a tree trunk in temperatures way below zero. Being threatened at gun point for taking an Arab’s photo. Being relieved of their passports for opening the border barricades and letting themselves into Syria. Unintentionally sleeping in an Iraqi graveyard, camping ay night in the Iraqi desert and being awoken surrounded by tanks, having unknowingly pitched the tent in a military training area. Dealing with a hash farmer in selling and smuggling the Land Rover out of Afghanistan. Hitch-hiking through Malaysia and living on a beach in Sri Lanka with the local fishermen.


Living rough through Europe and in such diverse places as Aleppo, Raqqa, Helmand Province, Kandahar, Kabul and Peshawar, and working in the Australian outback. Meeting up with so many different characters an cultures and being met with nothing but friendship and hospitality.