Jailed and deported – what a journey! (From Lancashire Telegraph)

Jailed and deported – what a journey!

2:18pm Thursday 4th March 2010 in

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IT took just a day for the telephone to ring following our story on four Burnley lads planning to hitchhike to Australia, back in the sixties.

One of the intrepid travellers contacted Looking Back to relate their exploits — all the way from the south of France.

He told how their journey included being thrown in jail in Iran, deported from Burma and hitchhiking the length of India.

Eddie Cryer, now living near Bergerac and his friends, John Bridge, Kenneth Duerden and Jack Harker, planned to go half way round the world and back again, in 1962, as an adventure.

At the 11th hour, however, Jack decided to stay at home after meeting his future wife, so the remaining trio had a change of plan.

Said Eddie: “We decided to rescue a Landrover from a local scrapyard and after some DIY renovation, set off on August 12, '62.

“The journey through western Europe was very pleasant and without any problems, so we crossed into Asia via Istanbul and headed south through the Middle East, Beirut and Jordan, heading for Iran.

“However, we broke a rear suspension spring in mid-desert and after making temporary repairs limped into Tehran. We had new springs fitted but not the correct ones, which meant the Landrover had to be driven at more than 40 mph to stop the vibrations!

“This caused a collision with a villager whilst crossing an Iranian mountain region en route to East Pakistan. The local policeman threw us into a cell where a mob gathered and would have attacked us. We owe him a great deal, as his action saved our lives!”

Jack goes on: “After 10 days of imprisonment, we secured the release of John, who had been driving, with the help of a local businessman.

“We agreed compensation for the injured man and with low funds headed directly to Pakistan before they changed their minds.”

So what now? Low on funds and with a vehicle with a smashed windscreen and bald tyres, the trio sold the Landrover — illegally — to a consortium of scrapyards in Karachi and were paid in rupees.

As the currency was worthless elsewhere, the friends spent time on the docks exchanging it into dollars by offering preferential exchange rates to American merchant seamen.

Said Jack: “For the remainder of our journey we hitched or travelled by train. In East Bengal, now Bangladesh, we found that crossing into Burma by land was forbidden due to border fighting.

“A short flight to a small island, Akyab, off the coast of Burma was the normal entry route. We hadn't the funds so opted to be smuggled across the river estuary/border by canoe at dead of night.

“We got to Akyab on foot after three days where we were arrested once more and deported back to East Bengal.

“We then decided to hitch the length of India from north to south to Sri Lanka in the hope of a cheap passage to Australia, but it was not possible and so we parted company.

“John and Ken had money owed to them sent from England and headed back to Burma, getting in by the air route. John, I believe, flew direct to Australia but Ken worked for a while in Cambodia to raise funds and then reached Australia some time later “I was without money, but was befriended by some English merchantmen who smuggled me on board their ship bound for England.

“I declared myself to the captain once we had cleared the Suez Canal into the Mediterranean and worked my passage back to Tilbury.”

Jack, who believes his two pals are still in Australia, went back to wotk at Lucas Electrical where he stayed for 30 years as designer and project manager.