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mlp141
01-24-2007, 11:23 AM
Does anyone know the link to the First Overland site that Tom B. posted on the yahoo list about a month ago?

I want to order the DVD but I cannot find that guy's site. Any help is appreciated.

--P

bens101fc
01-24-2007, 11:42 AM
www.teeafit.co.uk/firstoverland


It takes about a week or two for the DVD to arrive. I watched it last weekend. There are a lot of interviews with the 5 surviving members of the expedition along with the orginal movies.

The book is a good read too.


Ben

mlp141
01-24-2007, 12:30 PM
Thanks. I just ordered the DVD.

Speaking of which, how ****ty is the $ to £ rate. I remember when I went to the UK for the first time -- it was ~$1.40 to the pound. Now it is closer to $2!

bens101fc
01-25-2007, 03:31 PM
Thanks. I just ordered the DVD.

Speaking of which, how ****ty is the $ to £ rate. I remember when I went to the UK for the first time -- it was ~$1.40 to the pound. Now it is closer to $2!

Looking on our battle board, it's arund $1.969 to the pound.

$1.40 was the good days. For many years it sat around $1.66. I'd be happy
if it was back to $1.66.

Ben

mlp141
01-31-2007, 08:20 AM
I got the video yesterday in the mail and watched it last night.

What a great watch! I have not read the book yet (I just ordered it) but I thought that the video was fantastic. Between the original color 16mm film, the classic still photographs and the interviews with the five surviving members of the expedition the video covered just about anything.

It does make me wonder though, is it even possible to attempt an expedition like this today? Obviously, there are very few places where people have not been, but if we neglect that fact, could a few guys pull off something like this?

I read in LRM and the other mags that people make long journeys from the UK to South Africa and such, but those adventures seem to lack the level of adventure of the Oxford-Cambridge expedition.

One other point to consider -- one of the members of that expedition made a reference to how the Series I, with its simple construction and easy ability for field repair, made a great vehicle for expedition travel.

In 2007, even with the heritage of the Defender, there are not many vehicles that I can think of that don't rely on electronics -- electronics that I cannot see some blacksmith in Malaysia being able to rig together something just to enable the truck(s) to make it to a town with better service facilities.

Anyway, it's just food for though.

bens101fc
02-12-2007, 11:09 PM
It does make me wonder though, is it even possible to attempt an expedition like this today? Obviously, there are very few places where people have not been, but if we neglect that fact, could a few guys pull off something like this?

I read in LRM and the other mags that people make long journeys from the UK to South Africa and such, but those adventures seem to lack the level of adventure of the Oxford-Cambridge expedition.



You can't follow the full route of the first Overland. Iraq, Iran, Afghanistan
and Pakistan are not the most friendly of places to US citizens just now. And the Stillwell Road part of Burma is controlled by drug/war loads. I read an account of a guy the tried repeatedly to take the Stillwell road in the blast few years. He was turned back the first time when the drug lord that caught him made it very clear that he'd start executing villiagers until he left. The next time he was beaten and left for dead in the streets. Not a good place to visit.

Part of the adventure back then was that noone had done it before. Other great adventures were the exploration of the Egyption desert pre-WWII and the exploits of the Long Range Desert Group during the war. Thousands of miles behind the lines in an uncharted desert.

Now round the world trips are a dime a dozen. That doesn't stop me from wanting to drive the Sahara one of these years!

Ben

Rob P
02-13-2007, 08:39 PM
I thought it would be great to go out on the glaciers in Iceland. Four Wheeler Mag. did it a few years ago and got stuck out there in a blizzard. What a harsh and bleak environment. I would rather just head out across a field into the woods in good old Pee Yeah. (that's Pennsylvania to you other staters)

KevinNY
03-15-2007, 11:53 AM
Crossing the sahara from the Atlantic to the Red Sea would be cool and could be done. There are US tour companies offering vacation packages that go to Libya now so I imagine you could get across with some research and proper visas etc. Western Sahara, Mauritania, Morocco, Tunisia, Libya, and Egypt.