Well, you plan for years then Osama Bin Laden gets shot in Pakistan not 5 days after you put an application in for a visa to travel overland through there, and an already poor situation looks set to deteriorate.
Time for a Plan B.
Speaking with some other people on Horizons Unlimited, the motorcycle travellers forum, it seems the consensus is to give travel in Pakistan a wide berth. These aren't people who read the Sun and panic, but people on the road who've been there and done it. With no experience of the area, I can't justify ignoring this body of advice for the sake of making a continuous overland ride from here to India.
Added to that the stress it would cause friends, family and myself, and the known difficulty of obtaining a very expensive Iranian visa, I'm now thinking of this:
Spend a bit extra time in Turkey, fly myself and the bike from Istanbul into Kathmandu and enjoy an extra month to walk in the Himalayas at the best season weather-wise. This will also buy some time for me to visit Bangladesh, something I have wanted to do for ages, but couldnt on my previous plan because of time restraints.
On 'Plan A' I would have to enter India, exit to go to Nepal, then stay there for 2 months as you can't re-enter India within 2 months of leaving, and head back to India in January until April when my visa expires. Taking another 2 months out of the country wouldn't leave enough time to see anything in India itself. 'Plan B' means I fly straight to Nepal at least a month ahead of schedule, without incurring the mandatory 2 month wait to get into India, have time to walk in Nepal and visit both India and Bangladesh.
Thats a confusing explanation, but it reflects the situation. I'll draw a map and post it later.
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