Hi there!

Hope it's not too rude that my first post is an obvious ask for help...BUT....

I'm looking at a motorcycle trip from India to the UK, I'll spare you the romanticised reasoning. I'm trying to figure out the best route..

Through Pakistan and up....Russia...etc.

Or

Into China...Mongolia... Russia...etc.

Or

Is there another option I've not seen.

It seems that China is a nightmare if you want ride without a guide.

Then there's the worries of travelling through Pakistan and Afghanistan, with the way things are nowadays ( maybe how they're portrayed in the media)

Is this sort of trip feasible anymore with out huge amounts of cash or shipping the bike at any stage?

Thanks in advance!

Mishi mushki

Are you thinking of riding an Enfield back to England?

Mezo.

How'd you guess that!!?

Harv

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Westward is from Vladivostok to uk....fly to Vladivostok...best

'Bike on a Hike'. Available at WWW.Amazon.com

When are you starting? I'm doing the sam rthing next year.

No set dates yet, me and a couple friends have been discussing the idea and I was curious about the logistics of it all.

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Hi there,

I'm planning this for next year,

Through Pakistan and up....Russia...etc. This is certainly an option and my second choice.

Or

Into China...Mongolia... Russia...etc. Very expensive and long but doable

Or

Is there another option I've not seen. Yes, Pakistan, Iran Turkey etc. My preferred route

When are you thinking of going? I'm looking at summer next year. Message me if you're interested.

If you need a carnet (required for at least Pakistan, Iran) then

it may not be possible to get one for an Indian Registered Enfield.

I came the opposite way last/this year, from the UK to Sydney. My route was through the Kyrgyzstan into China then down into Pakistan and then into India via Wagah, the only land border crossing you can get through between Pakistan and India.

Reversing the direction for your trip, if you're wanting to avoid or reduce the cost of the Chinese guide then either this route or going through Iran is a good option; we went through Western China in 72 hours - we could have done it in 48 hours if needed be.

When I was researching my route I couldn't find a Chinese/Indian border crossing (guessing you're thinking Sikkim here?) that we could use. An alternative would mean crossing Nepal to enter China that way and then exiting China into either Kyrgyzstan through one of the two passes or heading a bit further north and exiting into Kazakhstan. The flip side is that you're going to have to pay more for a Chinese guide as you're spending more time there.

I don't know your Pakistan visa situation but going via Nepal clearly gets you around this problem. One word of advice - if you need a Pakistan visa, then don't mention that you're travelling overland; from what I heard it makes it more likely for your application to be rejected.

Finally, Pakistan, Nepal and Iran are carnet countries - all equal in the second % band, so that'll add to the cost and is worth considering when weighing up the options.

Hope this helps - good luck!

Ed

P.S. Don't be put off by Pakistan because what you see in the media. There are security concerns yes, but given the kind of events we've seen here in Europe over the last 12-18 months I do wonder whether they are any worse then what we now face here!

Monitor posts here and track who is going through there in the weeks and months ahead. If there any other overlanders blogging or Facebooking their route, keep an eye on them.

It can be tough nut to crack in terms of getting a visa, but once you're in the security services will either escort you or turn you away from any particularly bad area.

You may want to read the threads on this topic, you're not the first to think of it.

Those are individual threads & the search has delivered ten pages, so many many pages with all the info you need to know.

Mezo.

So start your own thread/topic rather than hijacking Harv`s post.

Mezo.