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From Peter Campbell…

On completion of my tour of duty in Royal Air Force (RAF) Germany in December 1982, I was posted to RAF Chivenor in North Devon and took up my post in January 1983. I was due to retire from the RAF in December 1987, and there was a possibility that I may be invited to extend beyond that time due to a shortage of Engineering Officers in the RAF. So, Pam and I started looking at the possibility of buying a house in the area and planning our future here.

However, on one fateful Wednesday evening in April, I went for a drink in the Station Water Sports Club on the far edge of the airfield, here I overheard a conversation about two RAF Officers who were going to take early retirement and set up a holiday sailing business in North Cyprus, I had taken up sailing as a hobby during my tour of duty in Singapore at RAF Changi in the mid 60’s and had become quite proficient at the sport, I had achieved the Royal Yachting Association position of Coach/Examiner and was very interested in teaching people how to sail safely. When I got home, I told Pam what I had heard, she said I had better contact one of the officers who I knew slightly and see what it was all about.          

The next day I phoned this officer, and he suggested that I may wish to consider what I was prepared to offer the company which he told me was to be called ‘Dolphin Sailing (North Cyprus}. He also suggested that if I was really interested perhaps, I should go for a holiday and stay at the hotel (the Deniz Kizı) where the business was going to be based. This seemed like a good excuse for a holiday in the sun, so Pam and I together with four-year-old granddaughter Chiara flew out in June for two weeks. Towards the end of our fortnight, we hired a taxi for the day and we were taken around various locations in the Kyrenia area, one place of interest was the village of Lapta (Lapitos), it was here that were shown a small house perched on the side of the mountain just below the highest level, this was set in the lemon groves and had a plentiful supply of water. We were given the contact details of the owner who now lived in England, this was a lady who for medical reasons, had returned to England because she needed full-time nursing attendance and she and her husband had bought a ‘Nursing Home.’ In conversation with a number of locals, we understood that in December of 1984, a conference was to be held at the ‘United Nations’ under the chairmanship of Javier Pérez de Cuéllar, who was the General Secretary at that time, it was anticipated that the problems caused by a divided state would all be resolved, well here we are some 40 years down the line and nothing has changed. We were introduced to Sergeant Mustafa, he was the man to visit when you needed to exchange currency, after we had returned and settled in Cyprus he became a very good friend.

After the holiday we decided that we should pursue this dream, so I put in my application for early retirement leaving the RAF after 34 years of service in December 1983. I took steps to buy a Hobbie catamaran yacht which was my contribution to Dolphin Sailing along with a sum of money. I had to deliver this boat to Moors of Wroxham who had taken on the task of shipping all the equipment out to North Cyprus, two 40-foot containers were needed for this task! We also paid a visit to the owner of the little house in Lapta, she wanted to know why we wanted to rent her little house, and we explained that principally we wanted to enjoy the view, this would appear to have been the correct answer because we agreed on a rental, I did find that in the winter months when there was very little haze over the water, I could see flashes of light off the windscreens of cars driving along the coast road in Turkey approximately 40 miles away!           

Upon retirement after 20 years of service, military personnel were entitled to attend a month’s ‘resettlement’ training'. I chose to go to the army base at Catterick for a course in ‘carpentry and joinery’ since I knew that would be involved in all sorts of woodwork construction, I chose for my course project to make a collapsible display stand that could be used at holiday shows, we started by attending the two-week Earls Court Boat Show in January 1984. We had already attended the Southampton Boat Show in September. I wonder where that stand is today! We also set about buying a house in the Peterborough area, our solicitor was quite concerned when we told him that we were buying a house unseen purely on the recommendation of friends, but we knew that if our friends said it was a good but then it would be. Pam together with our young granddaughter Chiara, moved up to Peterborough in October and I followed in November, we had also bought a new Nissan Sunny Estate car at a duty-free rate since it was going onto ‘export’ plates, I had to stop off in Bristol on my final journey home to have a sunroof and tow bar fitted, life is never simple.         

Manning a stand at the Annual Boat Show in Earls Court was quite an experience. Pam and I had already attended an exhibition trying to interest people in a holiday on the North Cyprus Stand, this was our first encounter with demonstrators trying to close us down. I don’t remember any such happenings at Earls Court. I also took the opportunity to buy a video set and TV at duty free rates since we could say that they were going abroad – more on this later. After I returned to Peterborough, we arranged to have all our goods and chattel including the car, to be collected and packed into a 20-foot container ready for shipment out to Famagusta. We used a company that we had used previously on our movement between RAF Stations and new that they would do a good job. I can say that they didn’t let us down.           

It was late January when we finally made our way to Heathrow, we were taking our four-year-old granddaughter Chiara with us for six months, I had to pay a hefty excessive baggage charge for this flight because we knew we were going to need a lot of stuff before our container arrived in Cyprus. We had booked accommodation at the Deniz Kizi hotel to start off whilst I made some improvements to the little house, we were very lucky that an expat offered us the use of a property that he wasn’t using.      

The freighter from UK with the containers aboard was delayed on its way, so I made use of the time to construct shelving in the changing rooms underneath the beach café at the Deniz Kizi hotel, Mr Niazi was very helpful in this respect. Unfortunately, whilst the containers were on their way from the UK, the TRNC Government changed the rules regarding the import tax on sports equipment, representatives from Dolphin Sailing were able to obtain an interview with the then President of the TRNC, Rauf Denktash. Finally, the boat arrived, and our containers were shipped to the Deniz Kizi hotel and offloaded in the car park. As far as I can remember from 39 years ago, there were four Wayfarer dinghy’s, four Toppers, four Lasers, one Dory with an outboard engine, one Fish and Ski power boat with twin outboards, assorted windsurf boards and my Hobie Catamaran, at the last minute a parachute for parascending was also added together with 1000 foot of tow line. Buoyancy aids and oil for the outboard engines were also included. All this equipment was packed into two forty-foot containers if I remember correctly, the man responsible was David Moore of Moore and Co of  Wroxham after we had got everything working, David and his wife came out to stay at the Deniz Kizi and was able to help us with a problem, we seemed unable to get the power we should be getting from the two engines on the Fish and Ski power boat, David advised a change of propellors which did the trick!

An intense publicity campaign was launched in the UK, but the uptake wasn’t very good, one problem was the lack of seats on flights to the TRNC and the necessity to land in Turkey, a problem that still exists today. Dolphin Sailing was being advertised as a holiday with the emphasis on sailing or windsurfing, but Pam thought that not all the members of a family would want to be involved in such activities, so together with the lady in the UK who was doing the booking for Dolphin Sailing, they set up another company called Dolphin Image. We managed to survive 1984 mainly by offering courses in sailing and windsurfing to tourists on the beach. A big earner was the parascending off the Deniz Kizi beach, this location was not ideal being in a horseshoe bay, this meant that the punters had to end up in the water and be brought to shore in the dory, the operation was quite manpower intensive.

Pam found out that there was a government scheme that enabled expats to rent old ruined Greek property for a ‘peppercorn’ rent, there were regulations in place that required you to ‘repair’ the property to a liveable standard within one year, and it was also clearly understood, that in the event of a settlement you could well be required to hand back the property to the original owners without compensation. Following this information, Pam took out a lease on the school in the village of Karmi, she had hoped to convert the property into a ‘Country Club,’ but unable to secure backing, she signed the lease over to a lady who was looking for somewhere to open a restaurant, and that was how ‘Treasures’ came about. I was put to work building storage units in the kitchen and installing a bar. I nearly caused a disaster at the grand opening night to which we had invited some VIPs to join us, in my rush to serve drinks I accidentally put salt and not sugar on a saucer for use when making the popular drink ‘Brandy Sour,’ this error was discovered before any harm was done!

Matters came to a head in September of 1985, I am not going to go into detail, but as the result of an acrimonious court case, the company was dissolved. The equipment was divided between the interested parties.

For medical reasons, I needed to return to the UK, Pam and I decided to get the last ferry of the season from Kyrenia to Tasucu on the coast of mainland Turkey, we were going to drive back to the UK and we didn’t even have a map. So, we arrived at Tasucu late evening and set off along the coast road towards Antalya, we wanted to look at a new holiday centre that was being built on the coast there, we thought that we may relocate there. After having a good look around, we got back to the car to discover that the rear right shock absorber had lost all its fluid, this meant that as we had to drive on the right, the rear right suspension was going to get a hammering as we drove up to Istanbul. We eventually arrived in Istanbul late on Sunday evening, we managed to find a room at a cheap hotel, (we were on a very tight budget).

On Monday morning we made our way to the British Embassy, I had previously contacted them because we needed new (clean) passports because we were not sure which route we were going to take going north, either through Greece or Bulgaria, with our new passports we headed for the Bulgarian visa office, here by a stroke of luck we got visas to drive through Bulgaria. Next, we had to find a Nissan garage in a hurry because had found out that Bayram (a five-day holiday was about to start), and we had to get the Shock absorber changed, we headed to a part of Istanbul where all the various motor garages were located, we did find one that had got a Nissan sign on it although I don’t think it was a Nissan agent as such, however we managed to establish that yes they could change the shock absorber, but, it is recommended that shock absorbers are always changed as a pair, after a discussion it was agreed that they would only change the broken one, I didn’t have enough money with me to pay for two. Pam and I found ourselves a couple of chairs and were given the usual cup of Turkish coffee whilst the work was in progress.

At one stage a quite large Turkish man came in to get a small adjustment made on his car, he spoke good English and we had a brief conversation about what we were doing in driving back to the UK. Now comes the big surprise, when the work on my car was complete and we went to pay only to find that the Turkish gentleman had paid for both shock absorbers to be changed. We had no way of knowing who he was, the garage people couldn’t or wouldn’t tell us, so Pam and I said to each other well that is the sort of thing that we would do under the circumstances, and yes, quite a few years later we were able to do a kind deed for a car of young Italian men who weren’t able to pay for a tank full of petrol so I paid for them!

So now we begin our journey north, from Istanbul. We arrived at the crossing into Bulgaria late evening. The Turkish Border Control Officer took great interest in a bundle of Women’s magazines that Pam had put in the back of the car, rather disappointingly he finally let us move on to the Bulgarian check-point since I can’t remember anything about it, I think we must have been passed through quite quickly. It only takes about two hours to cross Bulgaria, we had been advised to have handy an open packet of cigarettes with a USA ten dollar note sticking out of it, if stopped, lower your window and place the packet on the car roof, as it was quite late we pulled into a rest area and settled down for rest, it was during this time I noticed quite a few police cars going by in each direction, but by the time we got back on the road they seemed to have all disappeared!

It was in the early hours of the morning when we crossed into Yugoslavia as it was then called, no problems as far as I can remember, when we were about three-quarters of the way up towards Austria, it was about 4.0 o’clock in the morning and I was getting low on fuel, so I pulled into the next open garage, I had no idea of how to ask for a set amount of fuel. So, I just gave the attendant something like a twenty US dollar note and indicated all of it, it seemed to work because we got a reasonable amount of fuel and off we went.

It was about 7.00 o’clock am when we found an Austrian cafe open, and having lived in Germany we felt quite sure that there would be some lovely food available for a ‘continental breakfast,’ and sure enough there was, so after we had freshened up in some respectable toilets we settled down to a lovely cup of coffee, rolls and meat and cheese.

From Austria we made our way up to Luxembourg where Pam’s cousin lived, we stopped with Judith several times during my time in the RAF in Germany, so we knew where to go. We arrived quite late in the evening and were made very comfortable and enjoyed a hot bath (the first one in about four days).

All we had to do now was make our way to Calais, jump on a P&O ferry cross over to Dover, drive up to RAF Lyneham in Wiltshire, and arrive at our daughter's Married Quarter and recover from our journey. It was when I went to unload my camera (pre-digital era), that I discovered that the camera was empty and all the wonderful sights that we had seen on our journey were only in our memory box.

And so for the first time in my life I ‘signed on’ at the ‘Dole office,’ to get ‘unemployed credits,’ I also went into what had been RAF Wroughton hospital and was now a BUPA hospital, also I went down to Southampton Airfield for a job interview with a company called Airwork’s, they specialised in providing employment in overseas positions, I had applied for a job in Oman and was eventually offered a post which may be available sometime in 1986! I also got a new fuel tank fitted to our faithful Sunny, we spent Christmas with our daughter Sharon in Peterborough, finally departing in February 1986 to drive back to North Cyprus.

In February 1986 Pam and I drove back to North Cyprus, we had a few loose ends to tie up, and to decide where our future lay, a friend who had become involved in the Company wanted me to stay on and try and make a business out of what we had left over after the court case, because of my status I was important that I was not seen to be working or receiving money from employment.

The drive back was pretty mundane, we had a bit of a laugh at the border crossing into Yugoslavia when we pulled up at the checkpoint a very handsome customs officer came to speak to us, he had a lovely mass of dark hair on top of which was perched his official cap, by this time I had got my pipe going and this official remarked that the aroma from my pipe was very nice, being quick of the mark I reached into the car and got one of the pouches of ‘Condor’ pipe tobacco, I passed it to the customs official to show him what tobacco it was, he took it off me, looked at it and said: ‘” thank you Mr. Campbell, that’s very good of you” as he placed it in his pocket. He told me to ease up and wait for our passports to be processed. As I sat waiting, I could see into the control office, a lady was processing our passports as two men just stood behind her, I called the men to come out to my car where I gave them a couple of ‘Playboys,’ they were highly delighted with and disappeared, the lady doing our passports was not best pleased and quickly stamped them and brought them out to us!

The drive over the top of Turkey was quite interesting and cold, we stopped for a sleep at one time and when we woke up it was dawn, I could see smoke coming out of the chimney of a little café, so I went to find out what was available, mainly it was hot sweet Turkish tea which I drank whilst keeping the stove warm! The ferry people at Mersin managed to squeeze us onto the ferry, and as soon as we were on, we were on our way to Famagusta, it was an overnight crossing, I remember the rather strange system where you had to buy vouchers to exchange for food and drink. All this knowledge became useful when in August 1987 I drove from Hamburg down to North Cyprus and back with my co-driver Vanessa, but that's another story.

 Pam and I realised that I really needed to get back to the UK and get employment, so in the May of 1986 I sold my camera and bought a one-way bus ticket, Pam had already made the journey by bus previously so she knew what to advise me to take, once again it was a case of grabbing shut-eye whenever possible, I found my Turkish Cypriot fellow travellers a very helpful and amiable lot, and despite a slight language problem we got along fine. There were two drivers, they took it in turns sleeping in the luggage compartment, not something I would ever fancy doing. We were held up at the crossing from Bulgaria into Yugoslavia, we arrived about 7.00 pm but for a reason that was never disclosed to us we had to wait until early evening when the new shift came on in the Border Control Centre, eventually we were allowed to pass through!        

From then on it was all straightforward, we arrived at Calais where the bus was turned around ready for its return to North Cyprus and the passengers crossed over into Dover, and here we had to wait around for a locally hired coach to appear to take us up to London. I eventually arrived in Peterborough and made my way to my daughter Sharon’s house in Bretton.

Needless to say, life didn’t end there, because in January 1987 Pam and I made our way to Hamburg, but then that’s the start of another story.
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