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Welcome to my website

Hi, so a little about me, my life and how I got to this wood burning stage of my life. I was born in Penarth South Wales in 1951. My old man was in the Royal Navy and I brought up in Plymouth, Devon, had a great childhood getting into all sorts of mischief, went to school in Plympton.

My parents separated and ended up divorced, me, my brother and Mum went back to Wales, where I ended up doing a degree in electronic engineering. I eventually got work in R&D for British Aerospace in the military side all hush, hush, offical secrets act stuff and I realised after a year or so that this was not how I wanted to spend my life.

My nomadic side took over, I have always wanted to see around the next bend or over the furthest hill, so I took off to Spain, Franco was still in power, all seems so long ago anyway ended going to North Africa with a friend and travelled from Morocco to Egypt in an old Citreon 2CV, this was when you could travel without being kidnapped or shot at. That trip took about a year, at the end of had to get back to the UK and earn money for the next trip. But How?

Well got back to London and all I hear was the whoosh of air brakes from HGV trucks, I thought to myself, I could drive one of those so enrolled on a weeks course to take a HGV 1 licence in Croydon and after a weeks intensive driving took the test and passed. Managed to get a job that took me all over the UK and into the Rep. of Ireland, this all led to continental driving into, France, Germany, Austria down into Yugoslavia (as it was then) onto to Turkey, Bulgeria, Syria and Saudi Arabia, weyhey, I was travelling and getting paid for it.

During all this I managed to get married and have two kids. One day when I was back in London, I was reading the London Evening Standard and there was an advert "Join The Metropolitan Police" it appealed to me as I had an Uncle who was an Inspector in the south wales Police.

To cut a long story short I applied and ended up joining in 1975, spent 3 months at the Hendon Police Training College and then on the beat in Hounslow, West London. I did 2 years and was involved in the Nottinghill riots that occurred in the Nottinghill carnival, not for me, I resigned and went back to trucks, more money driving. Got divorced and went travelling in my spare time.

In 1982 I met the lady I eventually getting married to in 1996 in Las Vegas after starting a travelling expedition in 1993, which took us from the UK with a one way ticket to Katmandu, Nepal. We managed to get into Tibet as independent travellers a quite hard thing to do in those days and gave out many pictures of the Dali Llama without getting caught by the notorious Chinese Secret Police, who were a pain in the arse to anyone they could be, especially foriengers.

In Tibet we went to Everest base camp Chomolungma, (the official name of Mount Everest as known to the Tibetans) and met up with the Irish climbing team who completed the successful ascent of the formidable and seldom climbed north-east ridge of Mount Everest by an Irish team in the Spring of 1993.

When back in Katmandu we bought 2 India Enfields from some Isrealis we met there and started on the journey overland to India, which was quite daunting when I look back. We survived the trip and sold one of the bikes in Delhi to another Isreali. Went back the Himalayan region this time on the Indian side and ended up staying in Manali, (Manali in the Kullu Valley) chilling out and partying.

Great people the Indians, talented and happy race of people, they seem to be able to do anything when they put there minds to it.

More to follow so please call back...