in
the Adriatic an iron curtain has descended across the Continent." This was
the first time the phrase 'Iron Curtain' had been used and it went on to become
part of everyday vocabulary for more than half a century.INTRODUCTION
On the 5th March
1946 Winston Churchill gave a speech in Fulton, Missouri which contained the
sentence - "From Stettin in the Baltic to Trieste
in
the Adriatic an iron curtain has descended across the Continent." This was
the first time the phrase 'Iron Curtain' had been used and it went on to become
part of everyday vocabulary for more than half a century.
Nearly thirty years later a TV series was screened, entitled 'From the Baltic to the Adriatic'. In this series, Rene Cutforth, the veteran BBC correspondent drove in a P4 'Auntie' Rover from Szczecin (as it is now called in Polish) to Trieste. The trip was punctuated by long, largely liquid, lunches during which Cutforth pontificated on the state of the world. I was enthralled by the series and it became a long-held ambition to retrace the route.
Another thirty years and the very last vestiges of the Iron Curtain disappeared on 1st May 2004 as many of the former 'Iron Curtain' states join the EU. (Good luck to them, I think they're going to need it!)
I hope this goes some way to explain the background to the trip and how appropriate it was to attempt it this year in particular. Much planning now took place - there was no doubt that the trip would have to be made on my trusty 1953 Panther M100. She had previously circled the North Sea without problem and I had every faith that she would complete this trip. The timing was chosen to coincide with the Panther Owners Club Danish rally. After much deliberation and tempered always by the knowledge that my annual leave is not unlimited, I settled on the following:
· Hartlepool to Harwich by car and trailer.
· DFDS ferry from Harwich to Esbjerg.
· Ride from Esbjerg to the PoC rally then on across Denmark to Copenhagen.
· Ferry from Copenhagen to Swinoujcie in Poland
· Ride through Poland, Czech Rebublic, Austria and Slovenia to Trieste in Italy.
· Ride to Bolzano in Italy.
· Deutsche Bahn overnight Motorail service to Dusseldorf.
· Ride from Dusseldorf to Ijmuiden in Holland.
· DFDS ferry from Ijmuiden to Newcastle upon Tyne.
· Ride home to Hartlepool.
It should be noticed that Churchill was never a man to let a simple fact of geography get in the way of a good phrase. Stettin (or Szczecin as it is today) is not in fact on the Baltic coast but is some 60 miles inland at the head of a salt-water lagoon. Swinoujcie (I give pronunciation demonstrations for the cost of a pint) is the port actually on the Baltic coast.