More Border incidents!

by Phil Harley

Regarding "Border Incidents" (in the summer newsletter 2015), I too had an interesting experience in the Krkonose mountains of Czechoslovakia. This was on the 28th May 1992 with my son who was working in Kladno, when we headed north to climb Snèzka, at 1602m the highest point in Bohemia. On making the summit we were totally surprised to come across the space-age mountain hut, just a stone's throw across the border on the Polish side. Never one to miss the opportunity of refreshment, despite the possibility of an international border being in the way, my log book records imbibing a cup of tea here that cost ten Zlotys. The main point is, however, this was the day that John Major was in Warsaw signing a treaty that allowed visa#45;less access for UK citizens into Poland. So the question is, were we the first people to take advantage of this new international ruling?

In the same newsletter, in the article on the Landshuter-Europa Hut, reference was made to smuggling across borders. Back in August 1982, I decided to take an afternoon stroll up to the Pfitscherjoch from the Schlegeis Dam to take a peek into Italy. With no rucksack and, significantly, no passport, I naively set off up the track. Somewhere along the path, from nowhere, possibly hiding in the dwarf pines, out jumped a uniformed officer who demanded to know who I was, what I was doing etc. With no passport, I had a vision of nights in the lock-up until I remembered that in my back pocket I had inadvertently come on holiday with my British Gas employees' ID card. This fortunately defused the situation and a pleasant conversation followed, including advice on a delightful return path on the other side of the valley - only known to smugglers and Customs officers!