London to Shanghai overland
In June 2006, Iain and I left England for China, armed with all the money we’d saved running a pub in the English countryside. Eighteen months and eighteen countries later, we arrived in Shanghai, where we started another overland journey, to Cape Town, in January 2011.
Our journey to Shanghai began in London. From there we travelled north through England and Scotland, then west by ferry to Ireland. After a few weeks, we took another ferry to France. Western Europe’s railways helped us to wind our way through the continent, and a train that departed from Thessaloniki carried us into Istanbul, where we first saw Asia across the Bosphorus.
In Turkey we rode buses, and buses eventually carried us south through Syria into Jordan. We chugged into Egypt on another ferry, and left on a bus to Israel. Then, after hurrying back to Amman, with plane tickets to Mumbai tucked away in my money belt, we flew – over Iran and Pakistan, slicing 4000 kilometres off an otherwise uninterrupted 39,000 travelled by land and sea.
After arriving in Mumbai, we imagined we’d spend about three months travelling around the subcontinent before being ready to move on to China, via Nepal and Tibet. We also expected that our money would soon run out. India surprised us: nine months later we’d spent less money than we did during three months in Europe, and we’d soaked up about as much as we could – in one visit – of a fascinating but exhausting country. We headed north to the Himalayan Plateau, took a jeep from Kathmandu through Tibet to Lhasa, where we connected with the world’s highest railway line and set off for Chengdu, in China proper. We took our second-last train to Xi’an then our last to Shanghai, where we stopped, in December 2007, and began our lives in China.
Our Route
British Isles – 1 Month
Scotland
Glasgow
Aberdeen
Ballater
Isle of Skye
Northern Ireland
Belfast
Republic of Ireland
Dublin (Photos)
Doolin (Photos)
Kenmare
The Continent – 3 Months
France
Bayeux (Photos)
St Malo (Photos)
Paris (Photos)
Provence (Photos)
Spain
Barcelona (Photos)
Madrid (Photos)
Pontevedra (Photos)
Santiago de Compostela (Photos)
Portugal
Lisbon (Photos)
Lagos (Photos)
The Netherlands
Amsterdam (Photos)
Germany
Berlin (Photos)
Black Forest
Munich (Photos)
Austria
Vienna (Photos)
Innsbruck
Italy
Venice
Bologna
Cinque Terre
Florence
Rome (Photos)
Naples
Near and Middle East – 3 months
Turkey
Istanbul (Photos)
Ankara (Photos)
Canakkale (Photos)
Behramkale (Photos)
Selcuk (Photos)
Afyon (Photos)
Capadoccia (Photos)
Syria
Aleppo (Photos)
Hama (Crac de Chevaliers)
Palmyra
Damascus (Photos)
Jordan
Amman (Photos)
Dead Sea (Photos)
Petra (Photos)
Egypt
Cairo (Photos)
Aswan (Photos)
Luxor (Photos)
Indian Subcontinent – 9 months
India
Mumbai (Photos)
Matheran (Photos)
Goa (Photos)
Madikeri
Galibeedu (Photos)
Mysore (Photos)
Wyanad
Cochin (Photos)
Alleppi
Sivananda Ashram, Neyyar Dam
Trivandrum
Chennai
Mamallapuram
Bangalore
Hampi
Hyderabad (Photos)
Junagadh
Jamnagar
Dwarka
Udaipur
Jaisalmer
Delhi
Nepal
Lumbini
Kathmandu
Pokhara
Trek (An Improvised Ghorepani to Ghandruk Loop)
India
Darjeeling
Sikkim
Calcutta
Bodghaya
Varanasi
Delhi
Sivananda Ashram, Netala
Rishikesh
McLeod Ganj
Delhi
Nepal
Lumbini (Vipassana Silent Meditation)
Kathmandu
Far East – 2 months
Tibet
Zhangmu
Shigatse
Gyantse
Lhasa
China
Chengdu
Xi’an
Shanghai
