First Overland by Slessor Tim

Author:Slessor, Tim
Language: eng, eng
Format: epub
Tags: Travel. Adventure, Asia, Overland travel, Photography, Attenborough, Landrover, Mission, Long Way Down, Journey, Rally, 80 Days, Hindu, Dakar, Junket, Year Off, Gap Year, Student, Discovery, Defender, LWB, SWB, Off Road, Gumball, Thailand, Persia, Middle East, Rally Raid, Baja
ISBN: 9781908493200
Publisher: Andrews UK
Published: 2012-02-08T16:00:00+00:00

We are told the plane flies lower,

Across the rugged Mahabharat range,

But to have one’s feet on terra firma,

This height now gained is not so strange.

We estimated that there were still some forty miles to go, and, rather than spend the night in the snow, we went on. The road had been climbing so long that, now it was over the top, it seemed reluctant to go down; it fell only slowly, and appeared to climb again almost as much. As the car crawled round each successive bend the searchlight beam swung over the edge and flashed out into the night. There was nothing to stop us going over the edge, which might have been thousands of feet below for all we knew. In fact, as we were later told, it was.

Once, on a particularly narrow section, there was a small landslide which we had to clear before going on. But gradually the road made up its mind, and the descent became continuous. Odd lights from sapper camps or Nepali villages swung vaguely in the darkness like uncertain stars; so constantly were we turning, always spinning the wheel hard over one way or the other, that we lost all sense of direction and just followed the never-ending curves as they slowly unwound in the swinging beams of the head-lights. Then, though it was quite dark, we were conscious of being in a deep valley. An hour or two later a barrier appeared ahead and a soldier, shivering in his overcoat, came forward to examine our pass. He swung the gate open and told us that there were only another ten miles to Kathmandu. We were rather excited.

The road levelled out and, almost before we knew it, we were running between low stone walls, temples, and half-timbered houses. The streets were empty, there were no lights, the houses were shuttered and still; we might have come to a deserted city. This was hardly surprising, for, as we later learnt, there has been a curfew in Kathmandu for the past two hundred years. It was mainly by intuition that we eventually found the British Embassy on the farther outskirts; no lights showed, and a dozing sentry told us that His Excellency had already long gone to bed. We were preparing to put our beds down on the office veranda when the Second Secretary, hearing our motor, hove up, rather surprised at our arrival. We had been given up for the night, and, due to the curfew, every one was in the habit of going to sleep early.

A room had been booked for us at the little Snowview Hotel, and, being led to our room, we wondered how the expense would later be justified to the Business Manager; it had always been agreed that hotels should be avoided, but we could hardly cancel the booking and start looking for a camp-site at that late hour.

Next morning we turned up at the Embassy to pay our respects, and to thank every one for the trouble they had taken on our behalf.

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