Lost Time Regained During the North Sea night crossing— while
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the drivers and myself enjoyed the comforts provided aboard the "Empire Celtic "—the ship's master made such good time 'that, despite a delayed departure from Tilbury, we arrived in the Belgian port only a little behind schedulew By early Tuesday afternoon we had disembarked, our vehicles bad rolled down the landing ramp, through die bow doors, and Petersset course for Mechelen, Leuven, Tienen and St. Truiden, to the warscarred city of Liege. Between 1.40 p.m. and 4.35 p.m. we had made good progress on Belgium's cobbled roads and wound our way through the crowded streets of Liege, and the frontier, just west of Aachen, was reached at 5.30 p.m. A distance of 182 kiloms. (115 miles) had been covered in just under four hours.
At the German border we met with typical Teutonic . thoroughness. So meticulous was the Customs examination of all our documents, plus the actual work involved in checking and taxing our load, that it was exactly four hours later that we were permitted to roll away on the next stage of our journey. In all fairness, however, I must add that this was to be the only serious delay suffered throughout the trip.