The Overlanding Podcast #14
A few months ago we were lucky enough to be invited to attend a podcast recording with Andrew from The Overlanding Podcast. It was great to sit around his virtual campfire and chat about all of our overland travels from Morocco through to our big trip getting to Australia. I had to dig deep into the memory to recall some of the details but it was great to discuss all things overlanding. If you have a spare hour, pop the kettle on, plug in the headphones and give it a listen. Apologies for the sniffles, I was quite ill the day of recording.
Click here to go to The Overlanding Podcast website
Off The Road – Our Story
If you have been following along on Facebook or Instagram recently you might have heard that our story has been published in a book by Gestalten (yes, a real paper, hold in your hand, book!). But it is not just us, there a several other travellers stories filling this book with great adventures from around the world. We were however lucky enough to score the front cover.
Many people have been asking where to buy the book from. I am not really best placed to answer this question as we really have no input on the book or its publishing, we have merely contributed our story and photos.
You could always support your local book store and go directly there. The ISBN is: 978-3-89955-594-3 which should make finding it a whole lot easier.
For those in Europe you could buy it online direct from Gestalten:
http://shop.gestalten.com/books/off-the-road.html
For those in Australia you could buy online from Langsom:
Off the Road – Explorers, Vans, and Life off the Beaten Track
To find a store in your Country/State/City have a look on Gestaltens site here:
http://news.gestalten.com/community/recommendedshops/
The 2013 Acknowledgement Post
It’s long overdue. Some people would have forgotten, but we haven’t. Many, many people contributed to our trip in a plethora of ways before, during and after. It’s taken a lot of drafts and few months to get it right, but hopefully this published version is it… Complete, in its entirety.
The seed for this post was planted three nights after leaving the UK. Already we had experienced overwhelming hospitality from Kurt and Mel in Bremen, and it was while staying in Copenhagen with Sara, Kim, Peter and Mela that we realised that the heart of our journey would be the people we met along the way.
So here you go, the list, in order of appearance and a huge thanks from both of us.
Photo of the Week: Siberian river – September 2013
This was a typical view for much of our journey from Yakutsk to Magadan; crystal clear rivers, beautiful autumnal forest and piercing blue skies. Camping here was a dream come true. The only thing missing from the picture? We never glimpsed a single wild bear, so synonymous with Siberian wilderness.
Photo of the Week: Kyrgyz horses – June 2013
Within hours of crossing into Kyrgyzstan, we came across this brilliant sight. A herd of Kyrgyz horses, galloping across the road, with the stunning Alay mountains in the background. What better introduction to a beautiful country?
Photo of the Week: Landshut in the snow, Germany – February 2013
I rejoined Griff in Munich after a week in the UK, but camp sites are hard to find in the Bavarian capital, especially in winter. He had discovered the town of Landshut just outside Munich, and it had everything we needed – an open campsite, good pubs and good beer! We had fantastic food in front of a cosy fire before walking home through the snow. The peaceful walk back to our tent was just what I needed after a busy day’s travel.
Photo of the Week: Kyrgyz farm life, Kyrgyzstan – June 2013
On our way to Bishkek from Osh, we pulled over on a disused road to set up camp for the night. Just as we were about to start dinner, a man appeared seemingly from nowhere. He invited us to join him and his wife for dinner, so we followed him back to his small farm, tucked away in a dip on the hill. His wife appeared from a small hut, no more than a wooden frame covered in cloth and plastic. She was unfazed by her unexpected dinner guests; she just cleared a space for us in the hut and laid out tender cooked beef, homemade yoghurt, bread and honey. After food and lots of tea, it was time to milk the cows. It was fascinating to watch, having never witnessed it before. The milk was warm, and didn’t taste like the pasteurised stuff we get in the shop, but I was glad to try some. It would be left in the roof overnight to settle, and the cream would be skimmed off in the morning and made into yoghurt, which was just amazing with honey and warm bread! We camped in their yard overnight, soothed by the sounds of thunder and murmuring cattle. Simple pleasures with a lovely family.
Sirocco Overland Interview Part 2 by Expedition Portal
Camping with Adam Lewis in Tajikistan (www.shortwayround.co.uk)
Just a quick post to let you all know that the second part of our interview with Christophe over at Expedition Portal is up and live on their website. You can read all about it here: www.expeditionportal.com
Credit to Adam Lewis (www.shortwayround.co.uk) as they used his image of us as the opener again! Nice one Ad.
Sirocco Overland 2013 Trip In Motion Picture
We have been working on this little project for sometime now. Compiling all our time-lapsed footage from the GoPro, video from Lisa’s camera and also the DSLR. We have put together the best bits that represent the 10 month trip we undertook last year. There was a big learning curve with the GoPro, a lot of the time-lapse stuff we tried didn’t really work, some were better than others and often when times got tough we simply didn’t film (like the time we tipped the truck into a snowdrift at night in Finland and had to winch ourselves out of 5 feet of snow).
It is a short little ensemble and we hope you enjoy it.
Don’t forget to watch it in HD and full screen. Let us know what you think below.
Photo of the Week: Permafrost Institute, Yakutsk, Russia – August 2013
Yakutsk in Russia has the coldest winter climate of any city in the world, and is built on ground that is permanently frozen all year round. It is the biggest city to be built on permafrost which obviously (more…)
Photo of the Week: Camping 4000m up in the Pamirs – June 2013
4000m up in the Pamir Mountains
What was to be the last night camping with Adam Lewis in Tajikistan, in a narrow valley near Rang Kul, approximately 50km from the Chinese border sheltering from the wind behind a rocky outcrop. Crystal clear sky gave way to a star filled night hundreds of kilometres from any source of light pollution. A top place to camp and take photos of the night sky.
If you want to know where in the world this is, click here: 38°26’10.0″N 74°10’52.6″E
Photo of the Week: Bishkek watercolours, June 2013
On our journey last year we spent a good deal of time in the Kyrgyz capital of Bishkek. While staying at the extremely friendly and comfortable Nomads Home, we met a group of French street artists (more…)
Sirocco Overland Interview Part 1 by Expedition Portal
Over the pass – Tajikistan
Just a quick post to let you all know that our interview with Christophe over at Expedition Portal is up and live on their website. You can read all about it here: www.expeditionportal.com
Credit to Adam Lewis (www.shortwayround.co.uk) as they used his image of us as the opener! Nice one Ad.
Photo of the week: Russian Altai, July 2013
We left Kazakhstan and crossed into the Russian Altai region on our way to Mongolia. Rather than head north to Barnaul and following the main road, we decided to cut east across the mountains by Sentelek and join the road south of Gorno-Altaysk. (more…)
Photo of the week: Cornwall, UK – July 2010
In the summer of 2010 we took a week off to walk along part of the 630-mile South West Coast Path, which runs along the entire coastline from Minehead in Somerset to Poole Harbour in Dorset. We took the train to St Ives in Cornwall and walked the 40 miles to Penzance and the mystical St Michael’s Mount. (more…)
Photo of the Week: Siberian seasons – September 2013
Autumnal Landscape, Siberia – Russia
On our way from Yakutsk to Magadan, we crossed several degrees of latitude. This meant we left summer and crossed into autumn/winter rapidly within a week. One day we would be among Birch trees in their full green and silver dress, the next we would be in awe of the many shades of red and gold shining out from amongst the endless pines. We would move north east, leaving (more…)
Photo of the Week: Fire Poi Performer, Gili Trawangan, Indonesia – November 2013
Fire Poi – Indo
We decided to stop in Indonesia for a much-needed rest while waiting for the rig to make it’s way to Australia. While in Bali, we were persuaded to visit the Gili Islands, a triplet of idyllic tropical islands and the epitome of paradise. One evening after a relaxing sunset stroll along the beach of Gili Trawangan, we walked past a restaurant with a resident fire poi performer. In between beers he wowed the diners with his moves and fascinated passers-by such as ourselves, all the while maintaining a quiet composure. It was not showy or over the top, just a silent yet dramatic backdrop to gourmet seafood and coconut drinks. We soaked up the serenity, before moving on to a much cheaper place for dinner!
Photo of the Week: Mirny Bison, Siberia – August 2013
Mirny Bison
On our way from Lensk to Yakutsk, we stopped in Mirny after an unfortunate event with our car window. What was meant to be an overnight stop turned into a five day sightseeing spree when we were invited to stay with a local policeman, Andrey (more about that in our next blog post). He took us to see the local ‘zoo’, which (more…)
Photo of the Week: Hammer & Sickle, Siberia – 2013
Yukutia Village, Siberia – Russia
You see a lot of ‘Hammer and Sickle’ symbolism around Russia, especially in Siberia where whole communities, towns and even cities formed under communist leadership. This one was probably the biggest one we saw outside of cities. Usually they are tied in with town or city names as you enter the outskirts but this one was in a small town with very few people present. I like it because it is simple and stands bold. For me, in a town like this in deepest Siberia it no longer represents communism but the unification of industry and agriculture and people working together to better their future.
Lisa
Griff
Sirocco Overland | Сирокко Оверленд 