I recently met up with David after about 48 years. These are pictures taken from his long-lost slides, scanned and cleaned up with Photoshop.
I do not know where many of the places are; if you know then please tell me.
Email: c.anthony AT soton.ac.uk

I had recently started my PhD in the University of Reading where I was friends with David who had spent much of his life with his parents in Portugal. He asked a favour: that I give him a lift to visit his mother. After I agreed he told me she was in Portugal, so I then agreed more enthusiastically. We went on my single cylinder 350cc BSA. I had bought this a few months earlier for £25 on the day i passed my driving test on my NSU 50cc Quickly. The bike went well but before we reached Portugal the spring in the gear return spring lever [right foot] broke and so had to be manipulated with an elastic cord and complicated footwork for the rest of the journey. Usual running speed was 55 - 65mph.

The journey:
I kept no record so this may not all be accurate. There were no motorways and the roads in Spain and parts of Portugal were poor and often with no proper surface. The weather was hot and dry on the way there. On the way home within 20 minutes of crossing the Pyrenees into France the rain started and continued all the way home. I learned half a century later that David was slightly embarrassed by my usual driving clothes - only crash helmet, shorts and shoes. We flew in a Bristol freighter from Lydd to North France [where?]. The front of the aircraft had 'clam doors'. After we disembarked onto the runway the clam opened its shell and the bike was rolled out with 3 'porters' balanced on it. We slept in a tiny tent always in wild places. I learned that the best way to travel fast and safely through France on simple roads was to follow a Dutch car towing a small trailer; these were fairly common and they loved fast safe driving.

This is a rough itinerary:
Lydd [nr. Dungeness]; N. France; Bayonne; San Sebastian; Burgos; Salamanca; Portugal [details to be added].
The route home is even more vague: Lisbon, Evora; Toledo; ??? Pyrenees; France,; UK. I am hoping that David will provide more information.

Places visited: Lisbon, Cascais, Coimbra, Porto, Nazare [sardines on the beach], Sintra, Setubal.