Kathmandu to London overland with About the AACCC, October-November 1979 (part 1).

	Home Page	About this site	About the AACCC	Tim Harrison
The bus	The journey	AACCC tours	Can you help?	Contact us

Details of the Kathmandu to London tour, October-November 1979 by Nick Whetstone.

Part one - Kathmandu-Lahore

This was not so much a 'tour' as a dash from Kathmandu to the UK where Tim Harrison's wife, Sylvie was due to give birth to their first child four weeks after we left Kathmandu. I don't know what the record is for that journey but anyone doing it in under four weeks was quite lucky.

Due to pressure of time, we were only able to get a handful of passengers assembled in Kathmandu although we would pick up several more in Delhi. On this trip, I was not only a passenger but co-driver as well making it all the more exciting.

	Diary (click on thumbnails for enlargement)
	October 30 Departed Kathmandu for Pokhara (Passenger list). Camped by lakeside and had supper in Snowlands.	River crossing without bridge
	October 31 Early start and drive down to cross Indian border and arrive in Ghorekpur for the night. Stayed at Hotel Ambur (bed bugs).	The road from Pokhara to the Indian border
	November 1 Drove to Lucknow where we were held up by some religious festival so stopped for lunch. Continued via Kanpur to Bognipur where we camped in the grounds of the Canal Rest House.	A common sight on Indian roads
	November 2 Reached Agra by lunchtime. Stopped for visit to Taj Mahal before continuing on to Delhi. Camped at Delhi Gate campsite.	Tombs inside the Taj Mahal
	November 3 Stopover day in Delhi to try and get Iranian visas and find more passengers.
	November 4 Second stopover day in Delhi but discovered we can't get Iranian visas. Leslie and Gilly leave us to go to Goa.
	November 5 Drive north to Amritsar stopping for lunch at Ludianha. Saw Indira Ghandi on the way campaigning for re-election as Indian Priminister. Arrived in Amritsar early evening and stayed in Youth Hostel. Evening meal at the railway station restaurant. Visited Golden Temple.	Indira Ghandi on her election campaign
	November 6 Bought bread in Amritsar for breakfast and were at Pakistan border before it opened. Got through border formalities in two and a half hours and drove into Lahore. Camped on lawns of the International Hotel. Bruce and Graham take train to Islamabad to get the visas for Iran.	The Golden Temple at Amritsar
	November 7 Stopover day in Lahore while we wait for the Iranian visas. Shopping, sightseeing, laundry etc for the rest of us. Bruce phones to say visas will only be issued to personal applicants but Tim H goes to Iranian embassy and they agree to let Bruce have ALL the visas. Bruce arrives back late evening with visas for Iran.	The Grand Mosque in Lahore