London - overland from Kathmandu, complete.

The Eurostar slid effortlessly into St Pancras Station, London. Suddenly our rucksacks felt weightless as we skipped down the platform. Our families were waiting for us at the exit and a group of friends who mentioned they would come along for the celebrations. There were also a few surprises. Friends who had followed the blog and taken an interest in the trip. Mark who entertained our exploits in Tajikistan and Jo who we met up with in Azerbaijan were there and Adrian and Giulia from Vienna, surprised us by flying in for our return. After a few glasses of champagne to celebrate at the Champagne Bar we headed to a more affordable venue. I asked a group of guys if one of the bar stools was a available. They joked with me about their friend needing a seat as he'd just travelled a long way......... they let me have the bar stool.

So, a final summary of the trip, overland from Kathmandu to London, via a couple of mountains:

# of metres ascended on foot     25800
# of Kilometres travelled            17000
# of days travelled                     265
# of pounds within budget          50
# of countries travelled in           20              (+3 unofficial ones, Tibet, Abkhazia, Nagorno Karabakh)
# of vehicle break downs           12              (all in Kyrgyzstan)
# of flights taken                        1
# of bribes paid                         0

Stuttgart - home of Porsche

"This is probably the best day out I've had on the trip so far," James exclaimed. We were in Stuttgart  and spending the day with friends at the Porsche Museum, an outing James had been talking about for months. The sleek museum was next to the Porsche HQ and was stuffed full of cars that would  raise even the most reluctant visitor's (me) pulse.

After nearly 9 months travelling overland from Kathmandu back to the UK, gathering visas, overcoming the complex red tape of  the ex-Soviet countries, getting through Tibet in the smallest of windows when the Chinese gatekeepers had allowed it, enduring the roughest roads, climbing the remotest mountains, gaining passage across the Caspian Sea on a cargo ship and travelling through the Southern Caucasus, misadventures and stories aplenty, but after all of that James thought the Porsche museum was the best experience. It would have been a much cheaper trip if we had just spent a weekend going to the Porsche museum instead of all the other travel.

James waiting for the train in Vienna

Our trip to Stuttgart hadn't begun with the Germanic transportation efficiency we had expected from this part of the world. The Vienna to Munich train was delayed, the Austrians blamed the Hungarians the Germans blamed the Austrains. Luckily the rail staff pulled out all the stops to make up time and we got our connection in Munich which delivered us to Stuttgart on time. There, at the station, my friends, Eloise and Philipp were waiting to welcome us off the train. Eloise and I had studied Geography together on a year abroad at McMaster University, Canada, 11 years ago. There Eloise had met Philipp from Stuttgart. Now they are married and have set up home in Philipp's home city. Philipp drove along the windy roads to their flat as if we were in the dying minutes of Le Mans.

Eloise and Philipp were perfect hosts cooking us Schnitzel and showing us around the Christmas market where we drank gluwien and ate tastey German snacks. James and Philipp spent the evening competing on Philipp's full sized seated driving console game which James thought was amazing.

A typical bus journey in Nepal

A local bus journey is a precursor to any trek in Nepal and is similar to an unpleasant vaccination before going on holiday. It involves everyone, together with belongings including the kitchen sink, cramming onto a decrepit bus. People squeeze themselves inside and when there is no more space they climb onto the roof. Our bus had the addition of a small, although highly decorative, shrine, complete with offerings, on the dashboard. James gave his seat up to an elderly monk wearing a grubby yellow fleece over his red robes. As the roller coaster ride began along the woefully inadequate, for the volume of traffic, road out of Kathmandu, the monk began to pray. The praying became more intense with every near miss.

Four hours in, and now off the paved road, the bus shuddered and bounced along next to precipitous drops. James regained his seat. Sat in the aisle next to him was a young girl who watched his every move. On her left hand she had 2 thumbs. With the ability to count to 11 she must have been getting ahead in school.

We were now stopping regularly so that the driver could realign the suspension with a sledge hammer. He'd borrow the hammer from the road labourers who were building the road we were travelling on using only hand tools. After a lot of banging we'd continue.

By the time we arrived in Arughat we were covered in dust, 3 thumbs was sitting on my lap and complete exhaustion had set in, but at least the most dangerous part of our trekking trip was over!

2 more sleeps!

Hello Mum!!

So, here is the first post for the Snow Leopards and Cossacks Expedition 2011 and I swear I never want to organise one of these again. If any of you haven't heard what we're up to, 8 trips of a life time back to back just about sums it up.

We fly to Kathmandu on Friday - April Fool’s Day - I hope this doesn't set the tone of the trip. From there we are planning to return overland through Central Asia (all the Stans), the Caucasus and then to Turkey and Europe, and home by Christmas. The general idea is to explore and mountaineer.

In order to do this we have sold, rented and ebayed everything we own. I am currently sitting surrounded by boxes. The other half of the ‘we’ I have been referring to, however, has conveniently disappeared and is currently 'delayed', leaving me to pack up and clean the entire house. After much thought I have come up with a suitable punishment, which reflects the rage I am currently feeling, a punishment so eye watering and nausea inducing, I know he will be abruptly brought back to reality; I have asked him to pay our travel insurance premium.