AH1 - Is driving the whole thing possible?

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WHBM
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Re: AH1 - Is driving the whole thing possible?

Post by WHBM »

I've posted this before, but here on line is an account of a trip my own aunt and uncle did in 1979 from Sri Lanka to Britain in, of all vehicles, a 1975 Austin Allegro.

http://rcdening.co.uk/overland_trip/firstleg.htm
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Re: AH1 - Is driving the whole thing possible?

Post by FosseWay »

WHBM wrote:I've posted this before, but here on line is an account of a trip my own aunt and uncle did in 1979 from Sri Lanka to Britain in, of all vehicles, a 1975 Austin Allegro.

http://rcdening.co.uk/overland_trip/firstleg.htm
That was the link I was thinking of in my post on the previous page of this topic. I misattributed the journey to your parents, apologies! :)
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Re: AH1 - Is driving the whole thing possible?

Post by Osthagen »

I wonder what percentage of the AH1 is built to D2 or higher standards? Its a safe bet that a lot of the road in Turkey, South Korea and China is of such standards.
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Re: AH1 - Is driving the whole thing possible?

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Just in case you think that 1979 journey would have torn the guts out of the Allegro, it continued in daily use and actually outlasted its driver, we sold it in 2006 after his death, when the car was 31 years old, to the Allegro Owners Club (there is still one). Not sure if its still driven or was taken for parts.
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Re: AH1 - Is driving the whole thing possible?

Post by roadtester »

WHBM wrote:Just in case you think that 1979 journey would have torn the guts out of the Allegro, it continued in daily use and actually outlasted its driver, we sold it in 2006 after his death, when the car was 31 years old, to the Allegro Owners Club (there is still one). Not sure if its still driven or was taken for parts.
You should give that a mention over on the "British Leyland at Fifty" thread. There seem to be people on there who think those seventies BL cars couldn't be trusted to make a trip to the local shops without falling apart!
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Re: AH1 - Is driving the whole thing possible?

Post by brombeer »

Osthagen wrote:I wonder what percentage of the AH1 is built to D2 or higher standards? Its a safe bet that a lot of the road in Turkey, South Korea and China is of such standards.
There are also significant sections of dual carriageway in India (the Trunk Road, not the North-Eastern part), Pakistan and Iran too. Though you're likely to encounter level crossings and lots of slow traffic there.
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Re: AH1 - Is driving the whole thing possible?

Post by Vierwielen »

Osthagen wrote:
brombeer wrote:DPRK-China are rail crossings only indeed. India-Pakistan obviously varies together with the exact tensions between the countries, but stories from overlanders found using Mr Google suggest that foreigners with foreign licence plates will typically be allowed to cross.
Oh right. I asked about the India-Pakistan border because Google won’t give any directions from Europe to India, whereas you will get directions from Europe to Pakistan. Obviously, this implies that there’s something stopping me from crossing the border from Pakistan into India…
The statement "the border is closed" has many different meanings. In the 1970's, the border between Zambia and Rhodesia (no it was Zimbabwe, no it wasn't ...) was closed. I spent an hour at the Victoria Falls Hotel watching trains cross the bridge which can just be seen here. The modus operandi was that a locomotive would push the train onto the bridge, but would not itself actually go onto the bridge. The first truck would be clear of the bridge and another locomotive would then haul the train off the bridge. For the record the bridge is 198 meters long - a little shorter than a 7+2 High Speed 125 train set.
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Re: AH1 - Is driving the whole thing possible?

Post by Sammy »

roadtester wrote:
WHBM wrote:Just in case you think that 1979 journey would have torn the guts out of the Allegro, it continued in daily use and actually outlasted its driver, we sold it in 2006 after his death, when the car was 31 years old, to the Allegro Owners Club (there is still one). Not sure if its still driven or was taken for parts.
You should give that a mention over on the "British Leyland at Fifty" thread. There seem to be people on there who think those seventies BL cars couldn't be trusted to make a trip to the local shops without falling apart!

Allegros (is that the plural?) were nowhere near as bad as some people try to make out.....
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Re: AH1 - Is driving the whole thing possible?

Post by Osthagen »

We seem not to have mentioned the rather long section in South East Asia/Indochina. Once you cross over into the likes of Malaysia and Vietnam, I can’t imagine that there are many roads that are up-to-task?
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Re: AH1 - Is driving the whole thing possible?

Post by WHBM »

Osthagen wrote:We seem not to have mentioned the rather long section in South East Asia/Indochina. Once you cross over into the likes of Malaysia and Vietnam, I can’t imagine that there are many roads that are up-to-task?
Malaysia has a substantial network of interurban and even urban motorways.
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Re: AH1 - Is driving the whole thing possible?

Post by Osthagen »

WHBM wrote:
Osthagen wrote:We seem not to have mentioned the rather long section in South East Asia/Indochina. Once you cross over into the likes of Malaysia and Vietnam, I can’t imagine that there are many roads that are up-to-task?
Malaysia has a substantial network of interurban and even urban motorways.
That’s quite interesting. Never knew that.

Presumably the AH1 through the country is built to a reasonable standard.
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Re: AH1 - Is driving the whole thing possible?

Post by WHBM »

On further examination AH1 does not enter Malaysia. In terms of much of its infrastructure (airports, motorways, electrified suburban railways, high rise buildings) you might think you were in a western country.

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/ ... te_Map.svg

It's surprising given all the Chinese roadbuilding that AH1 does not go directly from Myanmar into China.
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Re: AH1 - Is driving the whole thing possible?

Post by KeithW »

Osthagen wrote:We seem not to have mentioned the rather long section in South East Asia/Indochina. Once you cross over into the likes of Malaysia and Vietnam, I can’t imagine that there are many roads that are up-to-task?
The TopGear team seemed to have managed quite well in Vietnam but I believe the locals drive like kamikaze pilots. I believe that recent changes in their laws require foreigners to hold Vietnamese driving licenses, the IDP is no longer accepted.

Malaysia has an excellent federal road system and of course they drive on the left however like most of SE Asia hordes of kamikaze motorcyclists are apt to appear and they seem to treat traffic laws as a challenge. Here is the main highway from Kuala Lumpur to Singapore.

https://www.google.co.uk/maps/@2.444801 ... authuser=0

Of course in more remote areas such as Sarawak once you get off the main federal roads all bets are off. Roads vary from good quality S2 to dirt tracks. We used to use Toyota Landcruisers there. Driving during the monsoon can be especially challenging.
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Re: AH1 - Is driving the whole thing possible?

Post by toowise »

There is a Dutch company providing road transport to Central Asia and China from the Netherlands ...https://rynart.eu/projects/road-transport-central-asia/.
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Re: AH1 - Is driving the whole thing possible?

Post by Al__S »

Cycling across Asia seems to be surprisingly common- at the very least, there's a non-zero number of people d it every year (though probably not double figures). As far as I understand most take a route north of the Himalayas. Went to a talk last year by a couple of Australian women who had ridden to London- they didn't exactly do "racing pace" but they did make it across Iran with apparently little problem.

Is driving across Asia easier or harder than cycling? Might a motorbike be easier (in administrative and route choice terms) than a car?
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Re: AH1 - Is driving the whole thing possible?

Post by Euan »

Al__S wrote: Mon Dec 17, 2018 07:17 Is driving across Asia easier or harder than cycling? Might a motorbike be easier (in administrative and route choice terms) than a car?
Probably driving. Not everywhere in the world is as inviting towards cyclists as we are. Borders can be avoided if you were to cross Asia by sticking to Russia for the whole journey, but I think some parts of the Trans-Siberian Highway are still unpaved. Motorbikes might be better for negotiating any narrow or unpaved roads, being considerably smaller than a car.
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