Aime Tschiffely

Round and about Spain Aime Tschiffely

The Second World War had recently concluded, and life in England was still full of hardship and rationing. Is it any wonder then that when a visiting Spanish professor urged Aimé to explore his sunny country, the ever-wandering Tschiffely jumped at the chance? The only problem was that the English government prohibited any of its citizens to depart overseas with more than £50. Such a paltry amount would barely allow Tschiffely to stay alive and it immediately ruled out the idea of him buying and riding horses in search of Spanish adventure. Yet just when things look as bleak as a foggy London morning, a British motorcycle company offered to donate one of their new machines to the stranded traveller. The resulting trip saw Tschiffely joyfully roaming five thousand miles during a four month exploration through the country he labelled "the land of the unexpected." From Finisterre to Gibraltar, the fluent Spanish speaking Aimé chatted to everyone including bootblacks, beggars and Benedictines. In a country which abounds in poetry and history he tracked down Phoenician legends, then danced till dawn with Gypsies. Someone once said, if Spain didn't exist, someone would have to invent it. Likewise we would feel the need to invent Aimé Tschiffely, that literary angel of the Long Rider's world, who wandered across the globe and through our hearts