NIGHT DRIVING ON THE OVERLAND

[SIMON ARMS]

After I read about Vicar night driving through Afghanistan I tried to recollect the attempts I made at driving at night.

We headed out from Agra towards Varanasi departing around midnight much to Tommy’s protest. The only reason I can offer for this manoeuvre could be Mr Dick’s parting comment, “please do not forget that this is an 80 day tour not an 85 day tour”. I remember very well the surprise we had at the huge number of TATAs’ on the road travelling quite slowly with hessian bags filled with chaff. These vehicles looked more like mushrooms travelling down the middle of the road and getting past them (in either direction) was very difficult. The people sleeping on or beside the road were also a concern.

We sat in Pokhara (at our fantastic hotel with the difficult entrance) for a few days while the road to the border was being repaired after a landslide (Trevor Steel was held up for over a week as I remember).  Once we heard that the road was passable we departed at midnight and went about one km before coming to a road block pole across the road which we lifted and passed through. Sometime later after making good progress I noticed a faint light very close to the road and in fact on the road being madly waved and after a severe application of the brakes we came to a stop with the front of the coach hanging over a trench being dug by two locals intending to install a pipe across the road. After getting my heart under control we negotiated (5 rupees I think) for the trench to be filled in to allow us to pass. We travelled over the landslide repair in the dark as well and arrived at the border at opening time.

I think the jury could still be out on the value of night driving on the Overland.

[Colin Davidson-2]

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[Vicar]

I think a few of us did night drives somewhere in our careers. I remember either with Kit or Chop, possibly both, doing night drives in India. Don't you just have to grab those brakes and your heart when you come over a slight rise in the road and realize you are hammering down on an ox cart?

Not us, but someone told a story where the driver got so ticked off that he grabbed the ox by its nose ring and turned it around while its driver slept. We all had visions of what it would be like on the rising of the sun. Can you imagine the driver waking up and saying F#@&&***+ or whatever the equivalent is in Hindi?

Does anyone recall who the driver was?

[Colin Davidson-2]

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[Vicar]

Not the driver of the ox cart. The driver of the coach.

[turbotom]

Hello everyone, it was a camel dray overladened with hay with a small oil lamp for a tail light. I left Varranasi in OMJ late for some reason and the coach had a broken horn as well. We were travelling OK as there was very little traffic and I was able gun the old girl. That was until I came across the camel and a very narrow bridge. (Both at the same time!)
After negotiating both and coming to screaming halt, making sure I had everyone onboad's attention, I waited patiently for the camel and it's sleeping driver to approach. I think I was going to abuse the hell out of the driver, but when I saw that he was asleep and unaware of the caos that he had caused, what was the point. I slowly turned the camel around, not to disturb the snoozing camel captain, and sent him back from whence he came, much to the delight and applause of the now wide awake punters.
Best regards to all that I had the pleasure to work with over the best years of my life.
Tom O'Shea (turbo)

[Vicar]

And then what seems to be out of nowhere, we hear from you. How good is that?

Do tell us more and any pictures will be appreciated by all.

What have you been up to post Sundowner days?

[Chop]

Vicar, I've been propmting him for a while to check out the website, eventually got him to do so on Sunday, as i had an enquiry via the website from a punter regarding TK 231 and us getting to Quetta ready to go through Southern Iran the day after Jimmy Carter sent in the paptroopers to free the American hostages in Iran. This was the first trip to go to Karachi and fly to Athens.
Turbo Tom did a solo drive from Karachi to Kavalla in Greece, in the mean time I took the punters onto athens killed afew nights on Mykonos (the only Troika ever to go to Mykonos) and I think Capt Plough had a bus parked in Athens with a group on Mykonos and he came back and drove us up to Kavalla to meet Tom

[Vicar]

Good work Chop. I hope to hear a lot more from him.