Ever wondered what nine whole years of full-time overlanding looks like? Well read on… February 2023 is our nine year anniversary travelling. From Queretaro, Mexico we bring you our annual list of our geeky and not-so-geeky statistics, plus our latest map of 9 years overlanding route so far. Get yourself a cuppa, sit back and have a laugh at some of these little nuggets:
- Countries: 48 🌍
- Distance: 309,160km/192,103 miles
- Engine starts: 15,247 times
- Engine running: 6,703 hrs⏳
- Windscreens: 3 🪟🪟🪟
- Glow plugs on: 13,374 times = 26 hrs 8 mins 46 secs🔥
- Cooling fan on: 123,073 times = 1,559 hrs 33 mins🌀
- Coffee mugs: 6☕
- Sets of skis: 3 ⛷⛷⛷
- New tyres: 22⚙
- Tyres re-grooved: 12 🔪
- Engine running above 2,000m: 754hrs 48mins 49secs
- DPF regeneration injections: 1,628 = 14hrs 17mins 51 secs (using 33.85 ltrs diesel)
- Engine revolutions: 682,742,000
- Av speed: 52kph/32mph🏃
- Cuthbert clutches changed: 1🔧
- Border crossings: 78👮♂️
- Starlink Dishes acquired: 3📡
- Starlink registrations: 153 addresses
- Blog posts: 180 🤓
- Covid lockdown days: 80 in The Yukon, 134 in British Columbia 🗝
- Litres of diesel used: 49,382 (av 16.0 ltrs/100km, 6.3 km/ltr, 17.7 UKmpg, 14.7 USmpg)
- RORO shippings: 4 🚢
- Arctic Circle crossings: 2 🌐
- Scariest road: F25 to Cochabamba, Bolivia😳
- Coldest night: -31C, Whitehorse, The Yukon 🥶
- Visa renewals in-country: 5 (Malawi, Bolivia, Colombia, Guatemala, Canada) ️🛃
- New teeth: 2 🦷🦷
- Boats acquired: 1 Boaty McBoatface 🛶
- Guinea Pigs eaten: 1 🐹
- Panning for gold attempts: 2
- Ounces of gold found: 0 😒
- Equator crossings: 8 🧭
- Winched self recovery: 6 👍
- Winch recovery of others: lost count👎
- Strangest gift offered for recovering a vehicle: 1 baby chimp🐒
- Number of baby chimps accepted: 0 🙈
- Sets of cooking pans: 2 🍳
- Highest point driven: 4,982m/16,346ft Altiplano, Chile🔼
- Lowest point driven: 282ft/85m below sea level, Death Valley, California 🔽
- ‘First Ever’: British to enter the EU from Brazil by road
- Police bribe attempts: 3 (Zimbabwe, Perú, Mexico) 👮
- Bribes paid: 0 😇
- Fishing trips: 1 🎣
- Fish caught: 0 🙄
- Worst night-stop: 4,800m on Chimborazo Ecuador. Not our wisest decision 🤢
- Worst border: Costa Rica into Nicaragua (Uganda into Kenya a close second, and USA into Canada 2022 a close third) 😡
- Best wildlife: this is a close tie… gorillas, Rwanda 🦍; penguins, Antarctica 🐧; grizzlies & muskox, Canada 🐻; and whale-sharks, Mexico🦈
- Gas/propane used: 347kg (680 litres) 🔥
- Water filters used: 15 💧
- Geiger counters added to the dashboard: 1☢
- Deepest water crossing: a bit over 1m, Lencois Maranhenses, Brazil 🌊
- Instagram posts: 1193 💻
- Most northerly: Arctic Ocean, Prudhoe Bay, Alaska (N 70 18.853) (with Cuthbert we could only drive to Deadhorse, Alaska 8.6 km further south at N 70 14.200)⬆️
- Most southerly: Antarctic cruise (S 65 02.783) (with Cuthbert, Tierra del Fuego (S 54 58.538))⬇️
- Most easterly: S/E of Dar Es Salaam, Tanzania (E 039 21.708)➡️
- Most westerly: Anchor Point, Alaska (W 151 52.077)⬅️
What started as a round-the-world trip in 2014, after 9 years overlanding, has clearly stalled somewhat in North America. Covid, closed borders in Asia and the (hopefully, temporary) increased costs of RORO shipping around the planet in the New World Order of 2023 are mostly to blame for this. Also, still plenty to see in North America! Watch this space over the next year to see whether we make it to a new continent for the 2024 list! 🤞🌏
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