Overland, underprepared

Embarking on a journey often begins with a single, unexpected (and unpowered) turn. For me, that turn led to the driver’s seat of a 1985 Land Rover 90, called Blue Tit and the most exciting start to a mud-splattered, grease-coated career I could imagine.

To be clear, what follows was in no way planned. It just happened. In 2023 I was 21 and ready for a summer-long journey around Europe with a friend and his Land Rover. We’d made plans together for our own joint adventure but, unfortunately, as the best-laid plans often do, they fell through. I was left with a choice of letting it go or attempting it on my own…

One small problem: my 2006 Vauxhall Corsa wasn’t up to the task. Or almost any other for that matter.

Cars were not a central theme in my household when I was growing up. My earliest memory of an engine was steering a lawnmower perched on my father’s lap. Neither of my parents had much interest in cars, so neither did I. So you can perhaps imagine how unprepared I was for the pivotal role they’d come to play in my life.