The First Overland driven in reverse: Oxford, the surviving 1955 Series I of the Oxford & Cambridge Far Eastern Expedition, restored after sixty years on St Helena, left Singapore on 25 August 2019 and reached Folkestone and London on 14 December 2019 — 111 days through Malaysia, Thailand, Myanmar, China, Central Asia, Iran, Turkey and Europe, led by Alex Bescoby with Tim Slessor's grandson Nat George in the seat Slessor's health kept him from taking.
COUNTRIES AND THE PRINCIPAL CITIES ARE DOCUMENTED; THE LINE BETWEEN THEM FOLLOWS THE EXPEDITION'S GENERAL COURSE, NOT A GPS TRACK.
THE JOURNEY IN FIVE MOMENTS
25 August 2019SingaporeOxford leaves for home, 64 years after arriving.September 2019Myanmar into ChinaNorth through Mandalay to Kunming; the Stilwell Road and Afghanistan both closed to the expedition.October 2019The Silk RoadKashgar, Bishkek, Tashkent, Samarkand and Ashgabat.November 2019Iran into TurkeyTehran and Tabriz, then Istanbul and the Balkans.14 December 2019Folkestone and London111 days; Tim Slessor on the quay to meet the car.
22 WAYPOINTS · 17 COUNTRIES
DEPARTED25 August 2019 SingaporeARRIVED14 December 2019 Folkestone and LondonDISTANCERoughly 12,000 miles; the route avoided Afghanistan and northern Burma
Adam Bennett, who had recovered and restored Oxford in 2017, gave the car in 2018 to Tim Slessor and the historian and film-maker Alex Bescoby for one last adventure: to drive it home from Singapore. Slessor, 87, meant to go and fell ill days before the start; his 21-year-old grandson Nathan George took his place, and Slessor was on the quay at Folkestone to meet the car on 14 December 2019.
The modern route could not follow 1955's. Burma's Stilwell Road and the Afghanistan crossing were closed to the expedition, so from Singapore the team drove up through Malaysia and Thailand into Myanmar, then north into China and along the old Silk Road through Kyrgyzstan, Uzbekistan and Turkmenistan, before cutting through Iran into Turkey and across Europe. Two Defenders in support carried the crew — Bescoby, George, Larry Leong from Singapore, Marcus Alleander, Dr Silverius Purba, David Israeli and the French mechanics Léopold and 'TB' — and the film crew whose footage became the Channel 4 series and Bescoby's book.
Alex BescobyExpedition leader, historian and film-makerNathan 'Nat' GeorgeTim Slessor's grandson, in his placeLarry LeongSingapore; navigation and logisticsMarcus AlleanderTeamDr Silverius PurbaExpedition doctorDavid IsraeliTeamLéopold and 'TB'Mechanics
Organised by Grammar Productions (Alex Bescoby). Supported by Bremont and Land Rover.
Online
The expedition's own presence on the web, checked when the record was last updated.
