(Dangerous )Tales from the UTE (pick up truck)lonely planet.bike packing, near death experiences,dangerous travel ,grassroots-travel, bicycle, cycle touring ,hitchhiking,sailing,illegal border crossing,drugs,guns, corruption, comedy,humour,philosophy, inspiration.India,Thailand ,Malaysia,Indonesia,Australia.sheep farms,fruit picking ,washing dishes ,knives ,opium, heroin, bandits,Khun Sa ,

Dicky and me return to Fuengirola but the place ain’t the same for us anymore . Dicky is pining for Maria so badly that we jump on a train to her home town.Money is running low and we start to feel the pull north .

After getting my moon bag pilfered in Torromolinos ,we ride even further south toward the tip of Spain and the Atlantic Ocean .We have a couple of brush in with the boys in blue ,Dicky falls in love . But will we find our Shangri-La

Despite living like kings on the Costa Brava the call of the wild is calling .

After the slight oversight ,being two months early for the grapes , Dicky and me roll to the coast and over the Pyrenees to Spain, in search of Dickys mate Toni in San Antoni.If want to send me a message I can put it on the next episode and you will be famous 😎

After waking up alive we jump on our steeds and ride out of Paris,rejoicing when we find the countryside again . After several more scrapes in boat and a Mercedes we hit a big blob of a mountain range. Undeterred by the perpetual headwinds ,we labour up and onward toward Perpignan and the chance to pick grapes .

After getting knifed /falling in love /being crushed in a mangle .i limp back home to lick my wounds . Poor Dicky was in the same boat and back under his old superman duvet at his Ma’s . It was at this point my Padre said “why don’t you go and pick grapes 🍇 in France 🇫🇷!

This is another travel tale but with a much younger self and with a very good mate of mine Dicky Hanlon .It’s the summer of 1988 .. both of us 19 years of age .After getting simultaneously dumped by our girlfriends ,my dad aka Padre said “why don’t you go and pick grapes 🍇 in France 🇫🇷 . “Notoriously low on cash 💰 we buy a couple of second hand push bikes and with just 300 quid each ,we point the pushbikes south and roll into a new life .This episode does have some backstory in it ,to give the listener an insight into how’s these kids were shaped into who they were by the time they were 19 .The end of this podcast also has Dans message . A decent sounding chap who left me a message of encouragement on my podcast ,asking, if i would do the story about riding to France and Spain 🇪🇸 and making many a mistake along the way 😎 so here it is . I hope you enjoy it and if you do ,please record a message for me and I’ll put you in my next episode .And finally “this one’s for you Dicky 😎”

Got a job working for a Swedish lady at the Blue Oyster Bar surrounded by many interesting characters.

This Episode paints a lil picture of where the journey began ,upstairs above a laundrette , and the need to find adventure from an early age . It touches on the rather rustic childhood I had in a rural town before moving closer to the bigger cities and the characters I encountered. From kids knocking me out with bricks to thugs trying to beat me ,to male strippers and a farmer called red vest . It’s probably easier just to listen .

Back at the Blue Oyster Bar Trying to get enough cash to leave Tonga 🇹🇴 while avoiding gold diggers and getting married .Lil Frank burns his bridge with Naomi .This is the last of the book 📕 chapters . Gonna finish my book next and if I get enough positive feedback do another podcast of 7 months hitching and walking back through SE Asia . Just gotta make sense of my old journals and sort the gems from the grime . Let me know if you’re keen to hear more yarns 😎