Hopefully, you guys will receive this! click on: Link here…  This gives all the details including a little 360 degrees video.

I’ll mail this letter to-morrow if… but I’ve also got (Florence’s) phone number.  I’ll try that first. If no luck, I’ll mail the letter.  Wouldn’t it be great to re-connect?

I’d forgotten our nights at the cafe before we moved into the Seminary (yes – we really should stop off for a few days in Le Mans on the way south). I well remember our playing table foot-ball among ourselves at Le Tertre Rouge and then with the locals for the “championship du monde”. I’d love to see those pics from Le Mans - I don’t think I ever have??  PS… I can’t find my old address book – Its not lost, just mis-placed but I do have the Drouin’s address in it.

Link Here… Have just found that Calais to Le Mans is 262 miles/4 hrs 40 mins driving. At least the first night here? Maybe two, there is that lovely Old Town and we can try and find some of our old haunts, (the Seminary for instance!) Le Mans to Agen is 358 miles or 6 hours driving. We can board the boat from 3pm to 6pm. Suggest the earlier would be best as they give us instructions etc. Anyway the first night we stay at the moorings to acquaint ourselves with the gear/controls etc. So sleep aboard – but a night on the town, eh? We’ll have to work out logistics cars wise of course.

Something like this David? We can sort each story by date – there’s no limit!  And they can be linked like this… Christian’s Trip to Africa. Also – try the Torremolinos page…  I’m closing down for the night.

Thanks to you two – and my two – and Anthea & Chris – and quite a few others… for a very special evening.  Just as soon as my eyes re-focus and my hands stop shaking – I’ll put up some pictures… scroll to bottom of page.

The deposit has been paid – we’re confirmed! And I must note that it was much easier to get funds from you this time – than it was in 1966.  A picture of the boat is attached - and I can see Polson already trying to figure out how he can fit one of his silly game fishing chairs to the back of this one! There are very few marlin in the Canal du Midi – JP…

Just prior to sitting down and writing the OVC page – I did a Google search to see what had been written by others… Nothing!  A few sites devoted to relatively new businesses using the name – and some making passing reference to the ‘Real Thing’ – but very little on this famous (infamous?) London travel icon.   This was the organisation that played a part in the emergence of such travel brands as Trafalgar Tours, Contiki Tours and Insight Tours – and launched the careers of thousands of young travellers to London and beyond – I was one of them…

I’ll get started on that page - in the hope that other OVC ‘alumni’ will get to read it – and make contact.  Perhaps with their added input we can turn that page into something more elaborate – and a fitting tribute to the entity that played a huge part in all our younger lives.

Alors, nous avons passé deux ou trois jours très agréable avec Monsieur le docteur et Madame et, plus important, Sylvie et Florence Drouin. Si il y a quelqu’un(e) qui connait la famille ou qui a leurs coordonnés, svp, laissez-nous savoir…

We spent two or three very pleasant days with Dr and Mrs Drouin – and most importantly – Sylvie and Florence.  If there is anyone (reading this) who has contact with the family or knows their current whereabouts – please let us know. In French or English to:  kdebpercy[at]rogers[dot]com

One test of a relationship is one that lasts for 40 years. It all began in London in the fall/autumn  of “66. Just out of University, and set to see the world, I met the limey (or was it the kiwi?) in the Overseas Visitors Club and…  more on my page ‘Next was Keith.’

Great – we’re under way – again!  Got any pictures of you, Jane, Pete and Kate – in those early days?  I’ll add some more “coming together,” Comex, OVC pics tonight.

Finally, having been nagged to death by Polson, I’m here. (He nags more than Patricia!)

We crossed the Channel from Dover to Calais by ferry, and began the drive south.  Calamity struck when, driving through the night, we were hit by a drunk driver just outside Le Mans.  None of us were hurt, but a nasty chunk was taken out of the OLD BLUE TRUCK’s front.  We had been on the road for less than 6 hours!

It was late at night by the time we were towed into Le Mans, cold and raining.  We were taken to a large garage where it was suggested that sufficient mechanical repairs be made for us to return to England, to complete the panel beating.  Return to England?  We had only left that morning and were planning to celebrate the new year in the South of Spain!

That first night we slept in the truck, in a garage on the side of the road.  The next morning we discovered that we were actually right on the 24 Heures du Mans (car race) circuit and ‘our’ garage was part of a complex attached to Le Cafe du Tertre Rouge.

Over the following days we were adopted by the owner and his familly, and many of the local community who gathered in the evening to eat and drink and play endless games of table football.  We were introduced (by those who REALLY knew) to the wines and cheeses of the Loire Valley and that wonderful pork rillette of the Sarthe region!  On student budgets and in very rough accommodation, but living like kings. We were woken early by the mechanics, bathed in oil drum troughs, and then banished to the cafe for breakfast, while they worked on repairs to the truck.  We played so much table football that the locals challenged us for the “championship du monde”.

Each morning, we would set off on the long walk to see the insurance people.  One day (just like in the stories) we got picked up by a nice doctor with two charming daughters.  Dr Drouin, Florence and Sylvie delivered us back to Le Tertre Rouge and, after discussions with the owners (and a couple of phone calls) took us to the very large Seminary in the old part of Le Mans.  We spent the following nights in that seminary – and this could be a whole other story!  The things we saw, late at night!  It was a large, stark, very cold looking place, and even colder and starker were the little cell-like rooms the charitable priests gave us – but the price was right!

We breakfasted in a cafe near the seminary, where the lady wouldn’t serve us until David, Peter and John could order en Francaise.  Evening meals were with Dr and Mrs Drouin and the girls.

Finally, repairs (as far as we took them!) were complete, our insurance payout arrived in the form of a ‘bundle of francs’ and we farewelled our new friends to head south.  In search of the sun!

We WERE there – and we DO remember – some of it…

And – we are going to pull it all back together on these pages.  Four young men from four different countries – met in The Overseas Visitors Club in Earls Court.  We had been brought together to be part of a Government supported COMEX expedition to circumnavigate the African continent.  Just 6 weeks before departure, the Wilson Government withdrew funding and the expedition was cancelled. So we decided to go anyway!

We bought a 1957 Morris J2 Truck – it was Old – and Blue… and set off to cross the Sahara Desert. Many have done it since, few had done it then, but we made it – and months later The Old Blue Truck returned to London – and a sales yard somewhere.  The four young men went their separate ways.   There was no contact until 1993, when a couple of astonishing coincidences brought us back together.

Since then, old friendships have developed into something more meaningful – we are in almost daily contact and visit each other regularly.  In 2006 we returned to Le Mans in France and a 40th Anniversary trip along the Canal du Midi.  And we are currently planning a third trip for 2011…

BLOG Postings here are where we keep up to date between our families - the Story starts in detail on the ‘About Us’ page… Welcome aboard!