OverlandSphere
Overland Travel, Expedition & Adventure Information for 4x4, motorcycle and truck overlanders
By Paul Archer Bombay Mix I outlined in my last blog (in rather embarrassing and graphic detail) the events of one of the worst days of my life, but the next morning, as it always is with the expedition, we had to move on. So I curled up in a ball in the back of the cab underneath my…
By Paul Archer Kids in Jaipur I’m sitting in Singapore airport as a I write this, and the city’s clinical atmosphere bears stark contrast to the contents of this blog. Although muggy outside, my feet are cold thanks to the over zealous air-conditioning; next to me, a ‘Harrods’ mini-store sells over priced cookies and handbags and an attractive and well…
By Johno Following the trials of Southern Iran and Pakistan the team were looking forward to entering India and relaxing a bit… In the car we tend to read trashy Andy McNabb novels found at hostel book exchanges or old copies of The Economist brought out by visiting friends. They sound pretty dull but they actually provide a really good…
Day 15, 01.10.2011: Leh – Khardung La Khardung La on Google map and Wikipedia The highest motorable pass in the world - 5359m altitude … and the day I lost my left pannier. I meet with Simone & René for breakfast. Originally they planned to join me for the ride up to Nubra valley, but changed their plans last minute.…
Day 13+14, 29.9. + 30.9.2011 Leh Ladakh I reach Leh on the 28.9. about 5 p.m. and look for a guesthouse. I find only crappy places or they are fully booked. I was told the best place to be in Leh is around the “Main Market”. On my way there, I hear two guys calling me. I turn my head…
Day 11, 27.09.2011 Manali – Leh Highway (part 1): Keylang – Pang I take off around 10 a.m., after breakfast at the guesthouse. The condition of the road is great! There is much roadwork going on, which makes me hope that the highway up to Leh might be in excellent condition. However, it will get worse soon. Men at work.…
24.09.2011 Lossar – Kunzam Pass – Khoksar As usual by now, I get up early to capture the morning scene. This is the attached Dhaba of our guesthouse: A quick look at the dashboard of BigBertha shows 0°C temperature at 06:00 a.m. It’s freezing cold up here in 4500m altitude. I watch the happenings in the ktichen as the first…
22.09.2011 Nako – Mudh (Spiti Valley) Janine and Fabian make homemade breakfast. We make decent coffee and enjoy muesli with fruits. Indian breakfast is normally veg and paratha, eventually you can get eggs. As they have a similar route, we discuss where we potentially could meet again, maybe in Nepal? From Nako, they need to proceed to Chandigarh, as they…
21.9 Kalpa – Nako Lake We get up in time and go back to Reckong Peo for breakfast. I buy a new horn as the compressor of my Stebel Magnum horn seems to have difficulties with the thin air at this altitude. I also buy a liter of engine oil – Castrol Active 20W40 for Rp. 260 (about €4!!). Man,…
20.09.2011 Chitkul – Reckong Peo – Kalpa I wake up early, around 6 a.m. Not sure if it’s because I’m so excited to be back on the road, or if it’s the altitude, which makes me sleep bad. I step outside to see how the place looks like, where I arrived in the dark last night: This place is…
19.9.2011 Rampur – Chitkul (the last village of India – walking distance to Tibet) Let’s get up at 7:00 and have breakfast at 08:00, I’m told. Well, I got up in time, but cannot find anyone in the breakfast room. The guys must have partied a bit longer, I think. Anyway, I go ahead with breakfast. As I’m always curious,…
After more than a week in Delhi, where I stayed at a friend’s place and could prepare myself and my kit, it was about time to hit the road again! As I’m going to explore the North of India, I need to hit the highway (NH1) to Chandigarh and take the NH21 and NH22 to Shimla, a 381km ride. Not…
I brought a few replacement parts and upgrades from Vienna and was much looking forward to fix them on my bike. First, I took care of the hand protector, which broke when I dropped BigBertha in Chilas, Pakistan.I had a used protector back home with a few scratches, but it will do the job: Cleaning up my garage, I…
The moment of truth: I left my motorcycle, a BMW R1200GS Adventure a.k.a “BigBertha” in Delhi after my first overland trip from Austria to India. She was securely parked and covered in a garage. There was the monsoon season for the last few months in Delhi, so I was a bit worried if everything is OK with her and the…
I arrived sound and safe in New Delhi! Customs at the airport wanted to charge duties for my BMW spareparts and the front wheel, but after 30 min of discussions they waived the € 80 charge. Fortunately, they haven’t found the Austrian food which I brought for my friend Lavleen. ;) It feels so great to be back in Delhi!…
India Part 6 Kerala & Tamil Nadu 1st February We have a day off and spend the day relaxing in the guest house, catching up on writing and organising our plans for the next couple of weeks. Our original plan was to drive south as far as the tip of India, Cape Comorin, from where we would drive up the…
24th January Southern Goa We re-start our Overland Adventure, leaving family behind and head to Goa’s southern beaches for a few days of rest and relaxation. The journey to Agonda beach does not take long. As we arrive we head straight to the camp we had found earlier at the end of the beach. Today there is no guard on…
India Part 4 GOA 2011 Family Visits and Weddings 1st January 2011 We wake up to 2011 on a serene Goan beach. Martin wakes up with a hangover and spends the day in bed! I decide to go out for a long walk along the beach towards the centre of town and go shopping, taking advantage of being on my…
India Part 3 GOA 2010 We arrive in Goa, and drive towards Baga, the party region of Goa, where we find a small guest house in secluded woods just back from the beach between Candolim and Calangute. We go to Brittos, a well known restaurant on Baga beach, where we have fresh fish and tandoori chicken. After dinner we…
INDIA Part 2 Rajasthan 10th December 2010 We leave Agra early to start our journey to Pushkar. The road is quiet and feels more like a country road in England, flanked by green fields and small villages. The road seems to be smaller than the national highway we were expecting but we are not too fussed even if we are…
During the last four days our plans have changed at least nine different times. As I have already mentioned we cannot get a visa for Pakistan so we are going to have to ship the car to India. We met a nice Austrian fellow called Tom who is doing the same thing and as of yesterday afternoon we were going…