The Plan
I've said the plan but there really isn't much of one. I need to be in Istanbul by May 20th to pick up the visa for Iran, but other than that the sky is the limit.
Actually the sky is the point.
The Karakoram Highway in Pakistan is sometimes described as the 9th wonder of the world. It's the highest international paved road in the world reaching a height of 4,693m, linking Pakistan with China. It took 20 years to build and cost almost 900 lives to do so, actually it was probably more as the count on the Chinese side is suspiciously low. To get to this road will be a bit tricky as it passes through one of the turbulent areas in Pakistan, but hopefully i can make it through, possibly by disguising the bike as a camel, and on up to China.
If I can't make it along this road I still intend to head for the mountains in India if the roads are open. Rivalry being what it is between India and Pakistan, the Indians claim the highest motorable road in the world at Khardung La with a height of 5,602m. The Guiness Book of Records states the height is actually 5,682m but that's probably a typo. Modern surveys however show the height as being 5,359m, which actually makes it lower than Suge La, west of Lhasa at 5,430m and Semo La in Tibet at 5,582m.
Leaving that debate aside all i'm aining for on this trip is the Karakorum and Khardung La. Once that is conquered i'll trundle on to Nepal where the roads are lower and the mountains are higher, but i'll hopefully still have some altitude sickness pills left over just in case.
They say that a journey of around 9,000 miles starts with a single press of the starter button and since it's about 6,500 miles to the Karakoram Highway the route rolls out as:
Home (Scotland) > Dover (England) > Calais (France) > Frankfurt (Germany) > Linz (Austria) > Budapest (Hungary) > Bucharest (Romania) > Harmanli (Bulgaria) > Istanbul (Turkey) > Ankara > Erzurum > Tabriz (Iran) > Esfahan > Yazd > Bam > Zahedan > Taftan (Pakistan) > Quetta > Lahore > Islamabad > Karakoram Highway (finally) > Islamabad > Lahore > Armritsar (India) > Srinagar > Leh > Khardung La > Nubra Valley > Leh > Shimla > Delhi > Agra > Lucknow > Varanasi > Kathmandu (Nepal) > Pokhara> Kathmandu.
Sounds easy. We'll see.
Actually the sky is the point.
The Karakoram Highway in Pakistan is sometimes described as the 9th wonder of the world. It's the highest international paved road in the world reaching a height of 4,693m, linking Pakistan with China. It took 20 years to build and cost almost 900 lives to do so, actually it was probably more as the count on the Chinese side is suspiciously low. To get to this road will be a bit tricky as it passes through one of the turbulent areas in Pakistan, but hopefully i can make it through, possibly by disguising the bike as a camel, and on up to China.
If I can't make it along this road I still intend to head for the mountains in India if the roads are open. Rivalry being what it is between India and Pakistan, the Indians claim the highest motorable road in the world at Khardung La with a height of 5,602m. The Guiness Book of Records states the height is actually 5,682m but that's probably a typo. Modern surveys however show the height as being 5,359m, which actually makes it lower than Suge La, west of Lhasa at 5,430m and Semo La in Tibet at 5,582m.
Leaving that debate aside all i'm aining for on this trip is the Karakorum and Khardung La. Once that is conquered i'll trundle on to Nepal where the roads are lower and the mountains are higher, but i'll hopefully still have some altitude sickness pills left over just in case.
They say that a journey of around 9,000 miles starts with a single press of the starter button and since it's about 6,500 miles to the Karakoram Highway the route rolls out as:
Home (Scotland) > Dover (England) > Calais (France) > Frankfurt (Germany) > Linz (Austria) > Budapest (Hungary) > Bucharest (Romania) > Harmanli (Bulgaria) > Istanbul (Turkey) > Ankara > Erzurum > Tabriz (Iran) > Esfahan > Yazd > Bam > Zahedan > Taftan (Pakistan) > Quetta > Lahore > Islamabad > Karakoram Highway (finally) > Islamabad > Lahore > Armritsar (India) > Srinagar > Leh > Khardung La > Nubra Valley > Leh > Shimla > Delhi > Agra > Lucknow > Varanasi > Kathmandu (Nepal) > Pokhara> Kathmandu.
Sounds easy. We'll see.
posted by Euan at
22:30
1 Comments:
Hope everything goes well mate, I look forward to updates .
Good Luck & Best Wishes
CF
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