OverlandSphere
Overland Travel, Expedition & Adventure Information for 4x4, motorcycle and truck overlanders
Bundles of Russians and an English touristka trundling across industrial city sprawls that churn smoke to the skies and spew cars along straight roads that cut through the vast swathes of taiga. And we go silently through the night except for the clickety-clack of steel wheels on the rail tracks or whistle of wind as two trains pass side-by-side and…
If you only have one day in the beautiful city of Amsterdam, there are two things that you must do. First we went to the famous Rijksmuseum, recently reopened after 13 years of restoration. Even if you’re not an art connoisseur, the works of Rembrandt, Rubens, Van Gogh and other masters will astound you with their amazing detail. What…
The trip up to Rovaniemi, Finland and then down to Russia has gone well. We are a bit surprised about peoples driving skills though, heart in the throat most of the time. We have arrived in St. Petersburg, sitting in a hotel room now listening to the rain outside. Just gonna bomb with some pictures from the road so far…
So, I hopped (more like stumbled with heavy feet and loaded rucksack) onto the train in Moscow, bound for Kazan. A ‘short’ overnight train journey that saw me greet the new day to a new town. I had a good feel about this one. Smaller, more my style. Not so lost in the crowds and away from the tourists. Kazan,…
Hello, Our route over the last few days. So after a hectic ride to reach London in time and a further insane week in London, I have at last made some time to keep the blog up to date. So here is the last week in London Town! We woke to a cloudless sky, white snow capped mountains and the…
It was our last day in London. How much could we cram in? Perhaps there was a better way to see more without walking 10 miles. Historically, London was a very busy port and the center of commerce. The River Thames winds its way through the heart of the city, bordering the most important districts and crisscrossed by no…
Our time to see London was running short so we hit the pavement. Turns out walking is perhaps the best way to see many of London’s most famous attractions. Of the hundreds of monuments scattered around the city, the obelisk presented to the British Nation in 1819 by Mohammed Ali, Viceroy of Egypt, is the oldest. Nearby, who could…
as time goes by… Kati und Jens: Das Wetter meinte es nicht sonderlich gut mit uns. Die Großwetterlage im Süden Europas war nicht viel besser als hier in Deutschland und viele Tage waren verregnet. Daher näherten wir uns Deutschland schneller als wir dachten… Doch irgendwann musste DER Termin ja festgelegt werden: wann werden wir in Deutschland ankommen? // Willkommen…
Just a few more random pics from my wandering through Moscow… St Basil’s Cathedral Red Square Russian Dolls Basking in the sun Shopping Mall Backstreets Queueing for the Kremlin Alexander Gardens Kebab? Photo? Metro Subway London Grill…
The historic town of Godalming in Surrey lays on the banks of the River Wey in a hilly, heavily wooded part southwest of London. First mentioned in the will of King Alfred the Great (849 – 899) it probably existed 200 years before that during Saxon times. In the year 1300, Godalming was granted the right to hold a weekly…
And so it begins… A new journey, a new country. Russia is unlike any other place I have been. I am struggling to describe it at the moment, so I’ll save that for a proper blog post. I have mixed emotions about this new trip. Possibly for no other reason than I arrived here just under a week ago with…
So many museums. So little time. We hopped on the Hop-On-Hop-Off tour bus to save some walking and while we did get a passing glance of some of the thousands of attractions, it was still a challenge to negotiate the masses of tourists doing the same thing. Riding over the famous Tower Bridge, often mistaken for the equally famous London…
Here is part 2 of the introduction to Boris. Enjoy This short film was put together by Joby Newsom, my expedition film editor. You can follow him on twitter @Jnewson. Check it out in HD. Filed under: Central Asia, Filming, planning, Safety, Team Mates, Vehicle, Video Tagged: Boris, Overland, Poland…
High on our list of things to see in London was the famous Changing of the Guard at Buckingham Palace. Recommendations were to get there early. It looked like others had the same idea, like a couple of thousand people. Supposedly, the best location to watch the proceedings is the upper-level of the huge statue honoring Queen Victoria, but we…
Bonjour! My… Our route over the last few days! Its been an exciting week for me. Deidre arrived safely from SA and immediately took to the foreign flavours and sounds. I had to adapt however, having another person on the bike and having to show Deidre how we would survive the small space for the next couple of weeks. Deidre…
Of course we had to see in London. The problem is there is so much history and so many statues and so many buildings and monuments and fountains and museums and beautiful parks; it would take months to see everything. We really had to pick and choose. We did take a tour on one of the double-decker buses. Their advantage…
SCOTLAND 2/6/2013 Ayr A Scottish Loch Who can complain about Scottish weather? Everything else about the place is stunning! Besides we are getting used to the cold and occasional wet –and during the odd sunny breaks the scenery was magnifiscent. After great hospitality extended by Ed and Edna, we headed for Edinburgh. Which was well, Edinburgh? A lovely old city…
There has been no lack of things to do and places to see. We did take a short trip to the historic Naval town of Portsmouth where we stayed with Monika’s distant aunt and toured two of the most important restored British warships. The HMS Victory is a 104-gun first-rate battle ship of the Royal Navy. Launched in 1765, she…
Ola, My route over the last few days. I left Lagos with a farewell breakfast with my new friends Petra and Hartmut. They are from Germany and travelled to Lagos with a VW 4X4 truck. They unfortunately are only on holiday and were also leaving the same day for Germany and home. I had a superb time in Lagos, meeting…
We have crossed the big water and we are now in this strange country called Great Britain. Strange indeed. They do speak English — sort of. The steering wheels on cars are on the wrong side, and if that wasn’t enough to make you nervous, they insist on driving on the bloody wrong side of the road. It feels like…
Zurück in Europa Kati: Pleiten, Pech und Pannen beim Motorradtransport scheinen überwunden. Nachdem wir auch die fehlenden 8 Stunden irgendwie verarbeitet haben, heißt es: Ankommen in Europa. Alles ist uns fremd: die Kultur, die Sprache, das Geld. Dabei sind wir so nah am „Zuhause“ wie schon seit mehr als 2 Jahren nicht mehr. Doch statt uns auf den direkten…
You have heard about him. Now it’s time to meet him. Introducing my mate Boris. Enjoy This short film was put together by Joby Newsom, my expedition film editor. You can follow him on twitter @Jnewson. Check it out in HD. Filed under: Adventure, Filming, planning, Poland, Safety, Vehicle, Video Tagged: Boris, Landcruiser, Overland, Short film, You have heard about…
22nd May 2013 Lake District Cumbria There is a reason England is green. It rains a little from time to time. Particularly in the coldest, wettest Spring since 1979- just to welcome us. Even floods encountered across the roads in Cumbria a few days ago which even Tin Can was not eager to cross as the Floods in Cumbria water…
We arrived in Delsbo at Rebecka’s parents and will be here for the next couple of weeks, working out our route and plans for the next section of the trip. For now here is a lot of pictures.…
Right now we’re spending our time in a hotel in Odense, Denmark. We had a little stroll in the city center, it was very busy due to a concert in the towns square, so a lot of drunk kids hanging around. The trip through Germany went ok, we went to one of their beer shops that Scandinavian people like to…
So we set off on Tuesday, it was a very strange feeling but now is time for a few pictures as we’ve been on the road for a couple of days. All in all I can’t believe I’m going to be away from home for so long, it feels like I should be turning around heading home now… Firstly leaving…
The nerves start setting in about five hours before the ferry is set to depart from Palermo. For an extra €30 the hotel has let us stay in the room until 6pm which allows us some time to try and relax without having to contend with lugging bags around, storing them and hoping everything is returned just as we left…
Suddenly we were home. After slowly driving through Europe for a week, we arrived back right into a welcome-home party complete with flags, banners, loud music and lots of people. A storm of emotional reunions, congratulations, handshaking, gifts, family, friends, more congratulations and questions met us. It’s somewhat unreal to be home after spending over a year on the road.…
Our destination for the next five nights is a farm house just south of Modica. The trip should take only a few of hours but the traffic along our route is so heavy and the streets so narrow, that with an hour and a half under our belts we still have three hours to go. It’s the reality of riding…
The Russia border crossing was my first with one of my 8 visas arranged before departure. I was up early for breakfast and to check my paperwork so I could make the border by 10am. Immediately I was advised not to film or take pictures by the locals. 30 minutes later I was through the border thinking that was easy.…