Dave Tapsell
Overland Buses (iii)
London: 24 July 1971
The Safaris Overland bus (YRC 45) about to leave Clapham Common for Dover. This was to be a longer tour-type trip instead of a direct drive to India: the route was across Belgium, Germany, Austria, Yugoslavia to Greece – with a diversion down to Athens and Delphi, before driving back up to northern Greece and the Turkish border. First stop in Turkey was Istanbul for a few days, then back to the ferry at Gallipoli to cross from Europe to Asia. Then drive along the Mediterranean coast before heading north to join the main road across Turkey to Iran. Across Iran, via Tehran, the Caspian Sea and on to the Afghan border. Three stops in Afghanistan: Herat, Kandahar and Kabul before the Khyber Pass and crossing into Pakistan; after a few days in Lahore it was cross into India and stop at Amritsar before heading north for Kashmir. The last leg was back down to India and pick up the Grand Trunk Road and drive to Delhi. An optional extra was a 2-day trip from Delhi down to Agra and the Taj Mahal.
When I first went overland to India in the late 1960s, there were about a total of two thousand miles to be driven on dirt roads; the first section was south of Belgrade, down to Skopje; a short distance in Greece, and a long stretch across central and north-eastern Turkey and six hundred miles across Iran. Each year the roads were improved; I last drove the route in early 1977 and by then less than two hundred miles of dirt road remained – and that was in eastern Turkey.
Overland Buses (iii)
London: 24 July 1971
The Safaris Overland bus (YRC 45) about to leave Clapham Common for Dover. This was to be a longer tour-type trip instead of a direct drive to India: the route was across Belgium, Germany, Austria, Yugoslavia to Greece – with a diversion down to Athens and Delphi, before driving back up to northern Greece and the Turkish border. First stop in Turkey was Istanbul for a few days, then back to the ferry at Gallipoli to cross from Europe to Asia. Then drive along the Mediterranean coast before heading north to join the main road across Turkey to Iran. Across Iran, via Tehran, the Caspian Sea and on to the Afghan border. Three stops in Afghanistan: Herat, Kandahar and Kabul before the Khyber Pass and crossing into Pakistan; after a few days in Lahore it was cross into India and stop at Amritsar before heading north for Kashmir. The last leg was back down to India and pick up the Grand Trunk Road and drive to Delhi. An optional extra was a 2-day trip from Delhi down to Agra and the Taj Mahal.
When I first went overland to India in the late 1960s, there were about a total of two thousand miles to be driven on dirt roads; the first section was south of Belgrade, down to Skopje; a short distance in Greece, and a long stretch across central and north-eastern Turkey and six hundred miles across Iran. Each year the roads were improved; I last drove the route in early 1977 and by then less than two hundred miles of dirt road remained – and that was in eastern Turkey.