Tony de Saulle, husband, father of two, children's illustrator and old hand at hitch-hiking, recently felt the call of the open road once more. Pausing only to arrange to meet up with a friend at a campsite on the coast, he set off into the kind of adventure most people would rather not have...

Arriving at the small coastal town mid-afternoon, Tony did a bit of food shopping and had a pint. Towards evening he walked along the coastal path out of the town to a remote, idyllic cove. He pitched his tent, and settled in for a peaceful night, "I was was woken by shouting and a bright circle of torchlight on my tent," he says. Sticking his head out, Tony was told that a girl had gone missing; had he seen her? It was difficult for Tony to sleep after that. The following morning, a dense sea mist had descended, "I could hear but not see helicopters and inflatable boats searching the coast line - it was surreal."

Tony left the cliff top and made his way to the campsite where he'd arranged to meet his friend. Calling in at a local pub, Tony ordered lunch. As he waited for his meal to arrive, a police man and police woman appeared, "They wanted to take me in for questioning at the local police station in connection with the missing girl. I heard later that her body had been found." Tony was questioned for an hour, and his rucksack searched, "I was frightened," he says, "I was on my own, and I must have looked like a prime suspect... I think the people who woke me on the cliffs had reported a lone man, and the shop maybe. I hadn't shaved for a few days, either." Eventually the police released Tony but wanted to take him back to the camp site to search through his tent. By this time, Simon, Tony's friend had arrived, "It was a sad thing, but it was amusing to me that I stepped out of a police car to say that I'd just been held as a murder suspect!"

The police searched through Tony's few posssessions, then left, telling him that they may be in touch with him in the furture. Fortunately, Simon and his wife and family were there for Tony to talk the incident over with, "But in the bus station on the way home, I felt everyone was looking at me," he says "I couldn't get out of the town quick enough! I'll give hitch-hiking a miss for a while."

The police did get in touch again, but it was Tony's wife they contacted to check that her husband had told her about the incident, which of course he had, and to see whether he'd returned home. The murderer was found; he had hanged himself, leaving a note about the girl's murder. Tony admits to a feeling of distinct relief.