In April 1967 my father and I drove from Singapore to London in a Citroën ID 19. I was 18 years old at the time and was enrolled at the University of Hamburg in the winter semester 1967.

As Burma (now Myanmar) was impassable by road, we shipped the car from Penang to Madras (now Chennai), then drove through India, Pakistan, Afghanistan, Iran and Turkey to Europe. We had intended to travel to Israel, but the timing proved to be inappropriate: we would have arrived there round the end of May, just before the beginning of the Six-Day War. On advice from the British Consul in Tehran, we chose not to go. I often wonder if that was the correct choice.

The following diary pages relate to this journey:

• April: Singapore to Madras
• May: Madras to Istanbul
• June: Istanbul to Tavistock

Distance travelled

I made some notes about the distance travelled on the journey, but I have lost them. Here's an overview based on the roads of 2022, 55 years later:

Work in progress

Date		From		To		Distance (km)
8 April 1967		Singapore		Kuala Lumpur		437
24 April 1967		Kuala Lumpur		George Town		389

I used Google Maps with “Avoid Freeways”, since there were none in those days.