From the wheel to the window seat – watching Britain change

When I first took to the wheel, at midnight on my 17th birthday, in a Land Rover decked out with red L plates, and my dad in the passenger seat, driving was still a pleasure.

- with Joe Riley

I passed my test just three weeks later, having booked well in advance, and having already had two years' experience learning the basics of gear changing, reversing etc on private land at a relative's farm.

Adventure lay ahead. Three years later, the M6 reached the Lake District with the opening of the Lancaster to Penrith section.

By 1972 I had my own Land Rover - a K Reg series 3, diesel short wheelbase hard top with station wagon door, costing £1,200 ex-works, the loan agreed by a Midland Bank manager, Wilf Gill, who was himself a Westmorland man. “You'll be needing that for your adventures,” he said at a casual face-to-face chat which, in those days, was so easy to arrange.

Off I went, pleased as Punch, one of the first challenges to go over the Wrynose and Hardknott passes (maximum gradient one in three) on the way to Wastwater., and a feat I later undertook many times, including, once, in 10 inches of snow!