Wow!!! How the bejeezus did we get here???? 10 years overlanding!!!
Setting off
Had you just happened to bump into us back in February 2014, you’d have met two newbie overlanders in a brand new, super-shiny Cuthbert expedition truck, excited to be setting off to drive the world. We had absolutely no idea how long we’d last. All we knew is that Africa was to be our first destination. But had you suggested to us that ten years later we might still be going, in the same lovely Cuthbert camper-truck… we might have had you certified.
But here we are. Sat in Cuthbert in beautiful, wintery Stockholm, Sweden bringing you our annual list of geeky and not-so-geeky statistics from the trip. Get yourself a cuppa, sit back and have a laugh at some of these little nuggets from our 10 years overlanding.
The Geeky and Not-so-geeky Stats
- Countries: 51 🌍
- Distance: 339,280 km/210,819 miles
- Highest point driven: 4,982m/16,346ft Altiplano, Chile🔼
- Lowest point driven: 282ft/85m below sea level, Death Valley, California 🔽
- RORO shippings: 5 🚢
- Rocket launches watched live: 1 Starship from Boca Chica, Texas
- Engine starts: 16,547 times⚡
- Engine running: 7,281 hrs⏳
- Glow plugs on: 14,578 times = 30 hrs 21 mins 34 secs🔥
- Cooling fan on: 131,832 times = 1,631 hrs 31 mins🌀
- Border crossings: 93👮♂️
- Worst border: Costa Rica into Nicaragua (Uganda into Kenya a close second, and USA into Canada 2022 a close third) 😡
- Sets of skis: 3 ⛷⛷⛷
- New tyres: 24 ⚙
- Tyres re-grooved: 12 🔪
- Tyre studs: 600
- Engine running above 2,000m: 780hrs 40mins 23secs
- DPF regeneration injections: 1,775 = 15hrs 40mins 41 secs (using 37.47 ltrs diesel)
- Engine revolutions: 743,184,000
- Av speed: 54kph/34mph🏃
- Cuthbert clutches changed: 1🔧
- Cuthbert MOTs passed: 1 (yes… he had his first ever MOT just 6 months ago!)
- Starlink Dishes acquired: 5📡
- Starlink registrations: 156 addresses
- Blog posts: 187 🤓
- Coffee mugs: 6☕
- Covid lockdown days: 80 in The Yukon, 134 in British Columbia 🗝
- Litres of diesel used: 54,068 (av 15.9 ltrs/100km, 6.3 km/ltr, 17.7 UKmpg, 14.8 USmpg)
- Windscreens: 3 🪟🪟🪟
- Arctic Circle crossings: 2 🌐 (another in the next two weeks hopefully!)
- Scariest road: F25 to Cochabamba, Bolivia😳
- Coldest night: -31C, Whitehorse, The Yukon 🥶
- Visa renewals in-country: 5 (Malawi, Bolivia, Colombia, Guatemala, Canada) ️🛃
- Instagram posts: 1281 💻
- 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 🍳
- ‘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 🤢
- Best wildlife: this is a close tie… gorillas, Rwanda 🦍; penguins, Antarctica 🐧; grizzlies & muskox, Canada 🐻; whale-sharks, Mexico🦈 and puffins, Ireland 🐦)
- Gas/propane used: 429kg (842 litres) 🔥
- Water filters used: 16 💧
- Geiger counters added to the dashboard: 1☢
- Deepest water crossing: a bit over 1m, Lencois Maranhenses, Brazil 🌊
- 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 next?
Well, we guess we’re a glutton for punishment. After spending two winters in Canada during covid, we’ve decided to ‘do cold’ again. Back in 2022 we reached the most northerly point it’s possible to drive to in North America (Deadhorse, Alaska). But in Europe, the road to Nordkapp (Norway) is the most northerly road in the world. It’s there to be done, so watch this space!