Sunday, January 3, 2010

London to Singapore Overland 2010

As all of you know one of my biggest dreams is to ship Grover to Africa and go on a nice long trek.

Late in 1955 a group of 6 undergraduates from Oxford and Cambridge Universities did something similar but far more spectacular - they drove 32,000 miles from the UK to Singapore overland.

This was the first time something like this had ever been accomplished.

Now, 55 years later, another intrepid team of explorers have decided to follow those same tire tracks.

In their own words:

Our aim is to re-trace the original route to Singapore, in two original Land Rover series 1 Station Wagons, faithfully prepared as replicas of the original vehicles.

We propose to film and produce a series for the BBC of our epic trip, just as the 1955 team did for Sir David Attenborough and show it in contrast to the original, still watched by thousands today, thanks to Graeme Aldous, of Teeafit Sound & Vision who edited the original footage onto DVD.

In 1950’s style we intend to camp by the roadside and prepare all our own meals on petrol stoves, using locally sourced produce.


To learn more pay a visit to the London to Singapore Overland 2010 site.

This is the original team and their SI Land Rovers.











These are the recreated SI Land Rovers that are going on the trip.





Original rout from 1955


If you go to the 2010 Overland site you will find a detailed 'out bound rout' there.

The original Rovers hard at work...











...and the recreated Rovers on the trail.









The Rovers to be used are SI Rovers that were meticulously restored to recreate the original Rovers that went the distance.

Here's wishing them the best of luck!!

I wish I were going with you.

Thanks Tom R. for telling me about this!

Till next time...

Cheers!
Larry ~

2 comments:

michael said...

Hi, Interesting to see you have found our website.

Michael Geary

First Overland Blog said...

Hi,

Great to see you've posted about our expedition.
At the moment, we're working on developing charity projects and a documentary thesis to undertake whilst on the long road to Singapore.
You can visit our blog as well as our website if you'd like to keep updated: http://firstoverland.blogspot.com/

Thanks,

Rhian.