September 11th, 2026A journey frozen in time
Journalist: Kevin Childs
Words in Winter founder
A certain neatness may be seen with the annual Words in Winter festival almost coinciding with its co-founder publishing a book.
David Hall’s Eastward is a work frozen in time. With two friends he travelled from London across Europe, Asia and the Pacific by car, train and boat.
As he writes, wars and social strife now make such a journey unthinkable.
Sixty-three years later David, now almost 95, recalls deciding to leave England and travel the world. Spotting an advertisement for a boat crew to Australia, he turned up to a meeting at a pub only to find most volunteers were about 40 years his senior.
Four wheels only
But he did meet a 29-year-old Australian and a 24-year-old Scot. Later, the Australian, John Koch, asked David if he would join him in a motorcycle trip across Asia. “I said, ‘No’,” writes David. “But if it was on four wheels, definitely, ‘Yes!'”
The Scot, Alec Moir, teamed up with them. They bought a second-hand Land Rover on which they painted “London to Singapore”.
David kept daily diary notes, which he regularly posted home, recording the warmth and hospitality they encountered, often from the poorest. From these came his book.
Camping mostly in paddocks or at the seaside, they initially covered about 8000km in six weeks, despite punctures, breakdowns and a busted drive shaft. Occasionally, one of them had to hitchhike to a town for a spare part.
David did much of the cooking, sometimes using Oxo cubes or rustling up a corned beef dish, while the other two proved experts at repairing the Land Rover.
Insects
An account of their trip would be incomplete, writes David, without mentioning insects. Flies, midges and mosquitoes tasted them. Beetles 2.5cm long, cuddly furry caterpillars, shy earwigs in the recesses of the men’s tent, spiders, moths which landed in food and drink. Grasshoppers sounded like a clock going too fast.
The cultures and religions of the world were there to see: the Acropolis and Delphi, with its ancient Oracle 400 metres up in “tremendous mountain scenery”. They saw the birthplace of Christianity and of Buddhism. They photographed Turkish caves where Christians sheltered in the 4th Century.
One revelation in Damascus was little kitchens outside in narrow alleys.
Ruins
Ruins of the grand, ancient ceremonial capital of the Persian Empire at Persepolis, contrasted with the many people living in mud huts, especially in now-closed Afghanistan..
Broken-down trucks littered the highways of Turkey, with one leaving its load of red and yellow paint splashed along the road.
A swim in the Dead Sea, “a slimy soup-like liquid”, made any attempt at swimming force David’s legs to rise, making him roll about.
A precursor of the horrors of the last few decades loomed in Arab-occupied Israel in the form of a desecrated Jewish cemetery.
Pictures of Iraq’s Prime Minister, General Qasim, seemed to be on every wall and window. He came to power when the monarchy was overthrown in 1958 but was pulled down and executed in 1963.
The police
One of the oddest moments came when David and his friends were questioned by police and soldiers for trying to photograph an attractive Iraqi mosque, which turned out to be part of the Ministry of Defence.
They were asked to leave Baghdad. Strange to think his travelling companion Alec Moir “over 30 years later would be travelling to Baghdad on a regular basis related to the design of many hospitals…”
Two Melbourne nurses driving home linked up with them in Iran. Later, a prosperous merchant wrote to the men asking their names. The nurses, however, were asked: “What is your price?”
Police insisted on accommodating them in one town, clearing out sleeping soldiers from a dormitory to provide beds for the night.
Afghanis revealed a great cannon proudly captured from the British in the 19th century. It boomed deafeningly at noon daily, so people knew the time.
David was making dinner when the three were surrounded by 20 armed men. The leader grabbed David’s jacket. By mime he explained that thieves were in the area, and they should pack and follow him. They slept in a village hut with 30 Afghani men, warmed by a big wood stove.
India
Their first day in India meant blinding light from an oncoming truck made them force a cart loaded with grain into a ditch. The nurses’ Morris van wrecked the Land Rover’s front wing. The cart driver seemed unworried, but the Morris had a buckled wing and bonnet and damaged radiator and needed towing.
The journey was slow and tedious, but once repairs were made, they reached the Ganges, where funeral pyres blazed by the water.
Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru emerged from his Delhi residence to meet citizens. David and his friends were also able to greet him. He appeared tired and strained from the conflict with China.
At their next stop, Nepal, they sold their Land Rover to the government. It had done 24,000km. Next, they went their separate ways, reuniting 55 years later.
David went on to four Asian countries, before settling in Melbourne, then Daylesford. “The journey had a profound effect on me,” writes David, “I overcame my depression, I became more confident, able to face challenges effectively.”
Eastward is available from Daylesford’s Paradise Books and Daylesford Library.
