The journey described here was unremarkable for its time, as many others had already done the same and in even stranger vehicles than our little Fiat 600 Multipla. However, it followed in a great tradition of overland motoring which was almost as old as the automobile itself. As early as 1905, Dr Robert Jefferson had driven a small 8 hp Rover motor car from London to Istanbul, then called Constantinople. An even more intrepid group of five vehicles set out from Peking to race to Paris in 1907. Much of their route through Asia lacked any roads yet four of the cars finally arrived in Paris. The winner was Prince Scipione Borghese in his massive Itala. Even more ambitious was the New York to Paris Motor Race of 1908, with six entrants, which added a crossing of North America to the route across Asia and Europe. Three cars finished, the winning team driving an American vehicle, the Thomas Flyer. The popular 1965 comedy movie The Great Race was very loosely based on this event.
The first recorded journey by car from the United Kingdom to India was in 1924, when a Major Forbes-Leith drove a 14 hp Wolseley as far as Quetta in Baluchistan, which is now in southwest Pakistan. Their journey of 8527 miles included 2850 miles across the desert without roads of any kind.
An Australian, Francis Birtles, together with two colleagues drove a prototype Bean Imperial Six motor car from London to Delhi in 1927. They had to abandon their plan to continue on to Singapore due to terminal mechanical problems. Birtles tried again later the same year in an older but more robust four cylinder Bean model that he had used successfully in transcontinental record attempts in Australia. He literally had to build his own road through the Naga Hills in western Burma as no route existed at that time. Birtles reached Singapore but fell short of his aim to the extent that, due to monsoon conditions, he had to ship his vehicle from Mergui in southeastern Burma to Penang in Malaya. From Singapore he shipped the Bean to Darwin and then motored across Australia to Melbourne, arriving in July 1928.
Soon after in 1929, Walter Gideon and colleague G. Raju motored from Singapore to London in a small Riley 9 vehicle. Although they bypassed Burma and Turkey by ship, they still covered a remarkable 11,650 miles with the only mechanical problem being several broken springs.
In 1931, the elaborately equipped Citroen-Haardt Trans-Asiatic Expedition drove a fleet of specialised half track vehicles, which had previously been used in Africa, from Beirut to Kashmir. Simultaneously another team of similar vehicles travelled from Peking to Kashgar in western China to rendezvous with the western group, who had to abandon their vehicles in the high Karakoram Mountains. They continued on using horses and camels to Kashgar. The combined group then returned to Peking.
Private individuals driving overland to India before World War II included colonial army officers and civil servants returning to the subcontinent after spending home leave in United Kingdom. Another group consisted of Australians and New Zealanders travelling to or from the UK for the traditional visit to the ‘Old Country’. One notable occasion was when six Australians, including four ladies, drove three Riley motor vehicles from India to Europe in 1931 and then competed in the 1932 Monte Carlo rally.
Overlanding, as it was called, became increasingly popular in the 1950s. However, it was not until 1955 that a completely uninterrupted crossing from London to Singapore was made for the first time by six students of the Oxford and Cambridge Far Eastern Expedition, travelling in two Land Rovers provided by the manufacturer. In northern Burma they were able to take advantage of the remains of the wartime Ledo/Stillwell Road. Subsequently in 1956, Group Captain Peter Townsend repeated the same journey, also in a Land Rover, on his way around the world. Others followed. Between 1957 and 1959, Eric Edis, with various companions, made an extraordinary 40,000 mile London-Singapore-Australia and return journey by Land Rover. He traversed Burma twice and, like the others, used the rapidly deteriorating Ledo /Stillwell Road. Finally, Roy Follows and Noel Dudgeon drove a 1943 ex-army Jeep from Singapore to the UK in 1958 using the same route through Burma. Then, unfortunately, the accession to power of General Ne Win in 1962 led to the complete closure of Burma to any more intrepid motorists. Only very recently have there been indications that the land borders of the country might now be somewhat open again.
A significant event in the history of the Asian Overland route occurred in 1957 when Paddy Garrow Fisher established the first commercial bus service from the United Kingdom to India, which he called the ‘Indiaman’. Others quickly followed, including Penn Overland which commenced its first tour to India in 1959. Many of these early bus services ended in ports in India or Ceylon, timed to link them with ships going to Australia. During the 1960s and 1970s there was a proliferation of bus companies of varying quality, many short lived, which carried large numbers of aspiring overlanders to India and back again. It was the easiest way to make the journey and particularly popular with females as it offered them a degree of security in the strange foreign lands they would visit.
Travel on the Asian Overland route came to an abrupt end after 1979 when first the Shah of Iran was deposed and then the Soviet army invaded Afghanistan. The route was no longer viable and, unfortunately, it has never really been restored since. Even if peaceful conditions were to return to the region, it is unlikely that travellers would ever come back to the trail in the same numbers. The introduction of the Boeing 747 Jumbo Jet in the 1970s led to lower cost air fares and changed the nature of international travel entirely.
We are left with only our memories and photographs of a truly wonderful era. Thank you for sharing some of mine.
Bruce Thomas, 5 June 2018
REFERENCES
Brown, Warren, 2012 – Francis Birtles, Australian Adventurer, Hachette Australia, Sydney, 382 p
Davis, Gerald, 2013 – Faraway Places with Strange Sounding Names, The Penn Overland Story, Halsted Press, 176 p
Dutton, Geoffrey, 1953 - A Long Way South, Chapman & Hall, 287 p
Edis, Eric, 2008 – The Impossible Takes a Little Longer, self published, 360 p
Follows, Roy, 2005 – Four Wheels & Frontiers, Ulric Publishing, 209 p
Forbes-Leith, F.A.C., 1925 - From England to India by Automobile, National Geographic Magazine, August 1925.
Gideon, Walter and Raju, G, 1929 – Malaya to London on a Riley 9, The Riley Record, September 1929
McKay, David, 1960 – Behind the Wheel, Ure Smith, Sydney, 222 p
Morice, Patrick, 1932 – Riding Rileys to the Rally, The Riley Record, February and March 1932
Nicholson, T.R., 1957 – Adventurer’s Road, The Story of Pekin-Paris, 1907 and New York-Paris, 1908, Cassell & Company, 235 p
Riviere, Peter, 1962 - Ways of the World. In: Harding, Anthony - The Motorist's Bedside Book, B. T. Batsford, 264 p
Slessor, Tim, 1957 – First Overland, The Story of the Oxford and Cambridge Far Eastern Expedition, Harrap, London, 287 p
Townsend, Peter, 1959 – Earth, My Friend, Hodder & Stoughton, London, 351 p
White, Don, 1959 - Get up and Go: Round the World on Twenty Five Pounds, Allan Wingate, London, 303 p
Williams, Maynard Owen, 1931 - The Citroen-Haardt Trans-Asiatic Expedition Reaches Kashmir, National Geographic Magazine, October 1931, and subsequent articles in March and November 1932.
Wright, O.D. & White, E.L.D., 1988 – London to Calcutta 1938, Little Hills Press, 128 p
Overland and Hippie Trail Bibliography
Added 5 June 2021 for those with a broader interest in the subject, based on my research over the past 15 years
Anonymous, 1929 – From Malaya to London on a Riley 9, The Riley Record, April 1929, plus several subsequent articles in July and August as the journey progressed
Aspinall, Richard, 1954 – We Drove to England, Modern Motor, June 1954, with seven subsequent monthly installments
Ball, Clive, 1974 – Seven Years with Samantha: Around the World in a Vintage Austin Seven, Patrick Stephens, 247 p (Second edition 2014, Brynypia Publications, 280 p)
Baudot, J-C & Seguela, J, 1962 – Drive Around the World, MacDonald, 222 p
Bell, Robert, 1958 – By Road to Turkey, Alvin Redman, 221 p
Bolingbroke-Kent, Antonia & Huxter, Jo, 2007 – Tuk Tuk to the Road, Friday Press, 262 p
Bouvier, Nicolas, 2007 – The Way of the World: Two Men in a Car from Serbia to Afghanistan, Eland & Sickle Moon Books, 326 p (first published 1963)
Brown, Warren, 2012 – Francis Birtles, Australian Adventurer, Hachette Australia, Sydney, 382 p
Byron, R, 1937 – Road to Oxiana, Macmillan & Co, 341 p
Carlin, Ben, 1989 – The Other Half of Half Safe, Guildford Grammar School Foundation, 400 p
Carnegie, Wendy, 1964 – Gypsy Doctor, The Adventurers Club, 190 p
Davis, Gerald, 2013 – Faraway Places with Strange Sounding Names: The Penn Overland Story, Halsted Press, 176 p
Deacock, Antonia, 1960 – No Purdah in Padam, George G Harrap and Co, 207 p
De Baer, Oliver Rudston, 1957 – Afghan Interlude, Chatto & Windus, 223 p
Dutton, Geoffrey, 1953 - A Long Way South, Chapman & Hall, 287 p
Edis, Eric, 2008 – The Impossible Takes a Little Longer, self published, 360 p
Ellis, M H, 1929 – Express to Hindustan, Dodd, Mead & Company
Follows, Roy, 2005 – Four Wheels & Frontiers, Ulric Publishing, 209 p
Forbes-Leith, F.A.C., 1925 - From England to India by Automobile, National Geographic Magazine, August 1925.
Gage, Mary, 1976 – The Overlander's Handbook, Id Publications, 77 p.
Gemie, Sharif & Ireland, Brian, 2017 – The Hippie Trail: A History, 1957-78, Manchester University Press, 246 p
Gideon, Walter & Raju, G, 1929 – Malaya to London on a Riley 9, The Riley Record, September 1929
Harding, Paul & Richmond, Simon, 2001 – Istanbul to Kathmandu: A Classic Overland Route, Lonely Planet Publications, 608 p
Hodge, Ivan, 1999 – For Love and a Beetle: A Tale of Two Journeys, New Holland Publishers, 296 p
Jeans, Peter, 1998 – Long Road to London, Rawlhouse Publishing, 279 p
Lange, Eitel & Rolf, 1957 – Around the World with Motorcycle and Camera, Floyd Clymer, 232 p
Liechty, Mark, 2017 – Far Out: Countercultural Seekers and the Tourist Encounter in Nepal, University of Chicago Press, 387 p
MacLean, Rory, 2006 – Magic Bus: On the Hippie Trail from Istanbul to India, Penguin, 280 p
Macquarrie, Hector, 1933 – Round the World in a Baby Austin, Hodder & Stoughton, 384 p
McKay, David, 1960 – Behind the Wheel, Ure Smith, Sydney, 222 p
Maillart, Ella K, 1947 – The Cruel Way: Switzerland to Afghanistan in a Ford 1939, William Heinemann
Marnham, Patrick, 1971 – Road to Kathmandu, Macmillan (Taurus Parke Paperbacks, 2005)
Marriot, Michael, 1960 – 'Two Up': By Scooter to Australia, Longman, Green & Co, 214 p
Moore, Peter, 2005 – The Wrong Way Home: London to Sydney the Hard Way, Bantam UK, 400 p
Morice, Patrick, 1932 – Riding Rileys to the Rally, The Riley Record, February and March 1932
Murphy, Dervla, 1965 – Full Tilt: Ireland to India with a Bicycle, John Murray, 235 p
Newcombe, Elsie M, 2006 – Overland by Bus: Perth to London on a Shoestring, self published, 228 p
Pinney, Peter, 1952 – Dust on My Shoes, Angus & Robertson, 312 p
Raj, Prakash A, 1980 – Kathmandu & the Kingdom of Nepal, Lonely Planet, 160 p
Rankin, Graham & Boag, Martin, 1970 – A Case of VAT69, self published, 70 p
Richmond, Joan & Price, David, 2011 – The Remarkable Previously Untold Story from Melbourne to Monte Carlo and Beyond, JR Publishing, 255 p
Ronson, Mavis, 1964 – We Never Meant to Go So Far, Andre Deutsch, 160 p
Simpson, Colin, 1967 – Katmandu, Angus & Robertson, 104 p
Slessor, Tim, 1957 – First Overland: The Story of the Oxford and Cambridge Far Eastern Expedition, Harrap, London, 287 p (Reprinted by Signal Books 2015)
Sobocinska, Agnieszka, 2014 – Visiting the Neighbours: Australians in Asia, NewSouth Publishing, 266 p
Theroux, Paul, 1975 – The Great Railway Bazaar: By Train through Asia, Hamilton, 342 p
Tomory, David, 1998 – A Season in Heaven: True Tales from the Road to Kathmandu, Lonely Planet Publications, 255 p
Townsend, Peter, 1959 – Earth, My Friend, Hodder & Stoughton, 351 p
Wheeler, Tony, 1973 – Across Asia on the Cheap: A Complete Guide to Making the Overland Trip, Lonely Planet, 94 p
Wheeler, Tony & Maureen, 2005 – Once While Travelling: The Lonely Planet Story, Penguin, 392 p
Wherrett, Peter, 2005 – Grit: An Epic Journey Across the World, Ibis Publishing, 192 p
White, Don, 1959 - Get up and Go: Round the World on Twenty Five Pounds, Allan Wingate, 303 p
Williams, Maynard Owen, 1931 - The Citroen-Haardt Trans-Asiatic Expedition Reaches Kashmir, National Geographic Magazine, October 1931, and subsequent articles in March and November 1932.
Wright, O.D. & White, E.L.D., 1988 – London to Calcutta 1938, Little Hills Press, 128 p
The website www.abebooks.com is often useful for locating used copies of out of print books.
Some Useful Links
COPYRIGHT: Please note that both the text and photographs in this article are copyright and may not be reproduced or used in any form without the prior written permission of the author.
Thanks for a very entertaining read!
Wolfgang from Germany