Could you DRIVE from John 'o Groats to Singapore?!

[Buffalo]

This route was first done in the 50's in a (pseudo) joint cambridge/oxford uni trip in two series1 land rovers; the journey was presented on film by a young richard attenborough.

The book of this journey is called "First Overland" and was re-printed last year or so (probably the 50th anniversary of the trip). I have a copy and it is a fascinating read. Would recommend reading it, i found it very good.

Incidently having just searched amazon for a copy of the book i see there is an identical journey done about the same time with two army dudes ina willys jeep. As far as i know of the dates the landrover expedition was the first.

Edited by Buffalo on Tuesday 4th March 00:59

[XJSJohn]

several healy's have done the trip too it would seem ....

http://www.myaustinhealey.com/2005-london-to-sydne...




and some manufacturer recomendations for suitable modifications, a sump guard, side exit exhausts some bigger springs, that should do it!!!





Genius madness!

[tinman0]

XJSJohn said:

Wow, thats a great picture. They took one hell of a detour through China though! I'm assuming that the road network didn't really exist then - or they were sightseeing

[XJSJohn]

tinman0 said:

XJSJohn said:

Wow, that’s a great picture. They took one hell of a detour through China though! I'm assuming that the road network didn't really exist then - or they were sightseeing

if you read the whole website (and its well worth it) the picture is from a 1995 (ish) trip.

The letter is from the original healey expedition of the 60's ...

From an earlier post of the 1st overland that i also referred to, they did this in the 1950's when politics (such as Israel, Iraq, Iran, Pakistan etc) were much easier. Also from the landrover overland expedition, there was a BBC doc of which i found a recent BBC4 torrent thats rather interesting, bit from what they show, and from my personal experience fo going the other way (from Singapore) the road does somewhat stop not far after the Myanmar (Burma) border

Watching stuff like this makes me think i was born a few decades too late!!! To the OP, go for it, and if nothing else, know that there will be one Pistonheader resident n Singapore that will meet you at at you finishing line with a drink and a big smile!!!

[XJSJohn]

XJSJohn said:

. Also from the landrover overland expedition, there was a BBC doc of which i found a recent BBC4 torrent thats rather interesting,

If

And if anyone wants this torrent file, please PM me

as long as you know how to use a bittorrent thingumy

[Burgmeister]

www.ambulancetomongolia.com - almost

[Twit]

XJSJohn said:

Watching stuff like this makes me think i was born a few decades too late!!! To the OP, go for it, and if nothing else, know that there will be one Pistonheader resident n Singapore that will meet you at at you finishing line with a drink and a big smile!!!

No you are not. Most of that route is still doable pretty easily, China and Myanmar excepted - I did it 2 years ago. The politics of most countries operates at a very high level, certainly not one that you will see day to day too much.

Iran is the most amazing country I have ever been to. Awesome place, the friendliest people I have ever met and some of the greatest sites. I'm constantly urging people to go as once you are passed the madness of the government its a great place. In fact if our 'leaders' actually bothered to go and visit places like Iran, most of the world problems would disappear. People are people the world over, same issues, same hopes, same desires.

To the OP, have a brilliant time - I'm jealous!

[flattotheboards]

Sounds like a great idea for a mega roadtrip!

[drewsonne]

Howdy y'all,

Passing poster. We're redoing this trip again in June. We're going through pakistan, india and burma though. This is a shameless plug. =)

Come check it out, and if anyone has any suggestions re vehicles, we'd love to hear them. =)

Drew Sonne.

http://www.fareasternexpedition.com/

[jamoor]

drewsonne said:

Howdy y'all,

Passing poster. We're redoing this trip again in June. We're going through pakistan, india and burma though. This is a shameless plug. =)

Come check it out, and if anyone has any suggestions re vehicles, we'd love to hear them. =)

Drew Sonne.

http://www.fareasternexpedition.com/

Toyota Landcruiser, can I come?

[Stu R]

Nissan Patrol, I've got one and would also like to come

[jamoor]

Stu R said:

Nissan Patrol, I've got one and would also like to come

Great, I will ride with you

[dxb335d]

Good luck and i hope you do it. Id love to take the time out to do such a trip!


Carlos

[jamoor]

I am *kind of* starting to consider this

I think it will take 2 months to complete, ideally I would like to go through Iran, Pakistan and China, then through Thailand etc.

Seems like it may be difficult to do, but there's the fun.

Those guys that did it in a 316, their website is down

[mat205125]

Gizmo535 said:

I tried to plan a road trip to Bangalore in India a few years back when we opened our office out there.

Gave up the idea because there weren't any reliable routemaps between, well... Moscow and the tip of India. The middle of Russia really does have sod-all in it.

Why were you planning to go through Russia? Just for kicks?

I've been to Bangalore in business class and cattle class .... I'd rather drive a Smart car there than make that flight with the cattle again

[mechsympathy]

As Twit has said most of it is pretty simple. The issue is Myanmar or China.

Getting to the Myanmar border in India is tricky enough as there are various independence issues so travel is by permit only. Myanmar itself is clearly a very big problem and as AFAIK the only land border that is open is with Thailand.

China wants you to travel with an escort, and is reluctant to allow foreigners to drive at all.

Physically it's perfectly doable, and you don't even need 4wd if you time it right (avoiding the wet season). Politically is a whole different ball game.

mat205125 said:

I've been to Bangalore in business class and cattle class .... I'd rather drive a Smart car there than make that flight with the cattle again

It's that sort of logic that got me driving to Nepal in a 2CV

[dcb]

belleair302 said:

Look on the Long Way Round website, they took their bikes across Russia to Magadan, possibly the coldest city in Russia's far east.

Nah. Verkhoyansk is way colder.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/weather/world/city_guides/res...

It's only above 0C for three months of the year, and it's -40C and below for four
months of the year.

-40 C and below you'd have trouble getting diesel to work, never mind petrol.

Compare with Magadan

http://www.worldweather.org/107/c00918.htm

It seems to rarely get below -20C - I think I won't need my coat ;->

[jamoor]

mechsympathy said:

As Twit has said most of it is pretty simple. The issue is Myanmar or China.

Getting to the Myanmar border in India is tricky enough as there are various independence issues so travel is by permit only. Myanmar itself is clearly a very big problem and as AFAIK the only land border that is open is with Thailand.

China wants you to travel with an escort, and is reluctant to allow foreigners to drive at all.

Physically it's perfectly doable, and you don't even need 4wd if you time it right (avoiding the wet season). Politically is a whole different ball game.

mat205125 said:

I've been to Bangalore in business class and cattle class .... I'd rather drive a Smart car there than make that flight with the cattle again

It's that sort of logic that got me driving to Nepal in a 2CV

I think China will be easy enough as long as you go through a travel agent in China, meaning you dont need to worry about myanmar,

[XJSJohn]

mechsympathy said:

As Twit has said most of it is pretty simple. The issue is Myanmar or China.

Getting to the Myanmar border in India is tricky enough as there are various independence issues so travel is by permit only. Myanmar itself is clearly a very big problem and as AFAIK the only land border that is open is with Thailand.

China wants you to travel with an escort, and is reluctant to allow foreigners to drive at all.

Physically it's perfectly doable, and you don't even need 4wd if you time it right (avoiding the wet season). Politically is a whole different ball game.

mat205125 said:

I've been to Bangalore in business class and cattle class .... I'd rather drive a Smart car there than make that flight with the cattle again

It's that sort of logic that got me driving to Nepal in a 2CV

If you want to do SE Asia, Mynmar is your issue (as mentioned before) there is no road network that connects the north and south .. and any cart track that does is buggered up by politics,

The other alternatives are China - one big assed can of worms, or boat from India

Been there, done that ... perhaps not always by car.

[jamoor]

I would prefer to go via Iran instead of Kazhakstan as I see it being a better experience, crossing into pakistan and then india and into China, but there is some harsh terrain encountered using that route.