Time of year for UK to Pak, tour India and return?
 

What are the timing considerations for transit to India and touring India? September seems to be the date most people choose for the outward journey - is this because of the weather in eastern Turkey and Iran?

The Indian weather systems sound chaotic, is there a simplistic way of explaining a suitable route/timings that avoids getting into monsoons and extremes of temperature?

And what about the timings for the return trip?

Tim

When I came upon this a while ago, I thought it to be a good start point for such considerations:-

http://www.horizonsunlimited.com/tripplan/routeweather

Got to admit I don't know if it is accurate about the weather, but what is?

UK-India-UK
 

Hope this thread develops as I'm planning to leave Oslo in Sept. '08 and drive to India, via Poland, eastern europe, Turkey, Iran and Pakistan, and back home again in the spring. One thing is the weather, but now Turkey, Iran and Pak seem to be competing for "most impassable country" awards.
I would appreciate any advice, both from those who've done all, or part of, the trip and those in the planning stage.
I'm working on my bike, insurance and luggage. I'm leaving visas and carnet for later-might even have to head in another direction. A lot can happen in ten months, but my proposed route doesn't look too cheerful.
Good luck everyone
GSPeter

The 'weather' shown is a mean (or average) ... and it does vary. And it is country wide .. and that changes .. Sri Lanka moonsoon season .. well when it rains on the east coast the west coast is dry .. and visa versa ..

A human with one hand in a furnace and the other in an ice bucket would be perfectly happy if the mean was taken as the measured temperature .. it is just the extrems that upset the grin.


What I'd like is a world map .. that showes rain fall and temperature .. month by month in a movie format ... so you can see the weather changes and pick a route through the maze .. without frying, freezing, or soaking ..

---- India it self is variable top to bottom .. the north is quite high .. so cold and snowy in winter .. and you'd want to do the hwy in Pakistan too .. so avoid winter there (bike tours groups in Dec/Jan?) .. In the south you have the moonsoons .. Rajistan (sp?) is desert .. so at least it will be dry .. think the bike tours got there in Feb/April .. cheat a bit and look at when the comercial operators go there ..

I remember reading somewhere that you need to wait until the autumn for the temperatures to become more reasonable for Iran, but not to wait too long as the snows in eastern Turkey start in late autumn. So that I guess is why September is popular, but is it the only time to leave? Could it be done in the spring?

Tim

Hi Tim,

I was talking to a buddy who lived in Darjeeling in the north east for a year and a half. She was saying it the monsoon started in about june and stopped in early Sept. The weather was quite pleasant (mid twenties) for a good while after that. She has an Indian boyfriend so i'll try and email him to get a more general view. As said already India is a big country and it would vary a fair bit i'd say.

I'm planning on doing a 4 month trip next august/sept myself (was hoping for Jan/Feb but work got in the way). Drive there from Ireland and ship the bike back.

At GSPeter: They say a week is a long time in politics. Hopefully things will stabilise a bit over the next few months. A fall back plan i'm thinking of is to fly to India and rent/buy a bike there. Not the same though......

I don't mind temperatures of say 35C .. but with low humidity .. and I'd think you 'd have heat but not much humidity in Iran ... Of course you'd not want to be doing much work .. like picking the bike up at 35C .. but riding is fine. So for transport without adventure (but seeing the sights) I'd think it would be doable?

So add humidity to my wanted weather chart/s..