India Overland with Swagman Tours, London to Kathmandu.

Kyhber to Rawalpindi
The first stop is a small town at the top of the first climb that is the armament factory for the area. Landi Kotal is just a warren of small shops and factories that turn out arms of all shapes and sizes. Its claim to fame is that it is duty free, but they only sell guns, well if there's much else its hard to find. A walk round has hawkers offering small pistols to rocket launchers. They have fountain pens that fire .22 bullets and any brand of gun you can think of. They are all fake of course, made in the back streets of Landi Kotal from anything they can find. I was shown a nice looking Biretta pistol but on closer inspection parts of the handle were made from Coke Cola tins. You would have to be brave to fire most of these as they are just as likely to blow up in your face. We find a small tea shop and try to get lost down the back but it is not long before the gun sellers find us.	Gun shop Landi Kotal
Our table is turned into an arms dealers market, they even drag us out side for a demonstration and fire about 50 rounds into the air. If you have ever stood right next to a machine gun in full flight you will know how loud they are but no one else took any notice. It was as if they were showing us the signal strength on a mobile phone, just a normal occurrence. They sell old fashioned gattling guns that are first world war vintage, even a local tank that can be custom built to requirements. This whole area is controlled by the Khyber Agency, a collection of tribes known as the Afridis who have ruled for centuries. It is not hard to see why this part of the world is so lawless, even today it is the hideout for the Taliban and Mr. Bin Laden. The Pakistan Army does not enter Afridi Tirah (home land of the Afridi) unless it has to and even then it expects heavy casualties. You are not allowed to take pictures anywhere in the Khyber, the locals and the Army jump on you if they catch you. However as with most thing a little money makes people blind and if you want a picture of them they are only to pleased to pose. We collect everyone up and head of in the direction of Peshawar passing the Khyber Rifles fort which has signs everywhere saying "No Photographs". To tourist that's like saying "you can't go home without a picture of this" so we pull over and everyone one gets a picture through the back window of the bus. The run down out of the Pass brings us to the entrance which is marked by a large arch that goes over the road.	Gun Dealer
Khyber Rifles Fort	Peshawar Bab-al-Khyber
Peshawar is the Capital and the largest city of the North West Frontier Province (N.W.F.P), Peshawar, has enjoyed tremendous historical, Military and political importance because of the Khyber Pass which has been a vintage point as a gateway for invaders of the sub-continent. The city was walled until the fifties, newer parts of town have built up around the old Cantonment area (a permanent military installation ). We have a long run ahead of us today so we only stop for morning tea before head towards the Attock bridge to cross the Indus river. Attock has a rich history. The Sikhs over-ran Attock in 1819 and within a few years the British had taken control of it and built a bridge here, across the Indus. It is said that the boat pontoon bridge was deliberately disrupted during the War of Independence of 1857 and thus people from the North-West Frontier of India were prevented from playing any role in the rebellion. In 1883, the renowned builders Joseph Westwood and Robert Baillie of the Westwood Baillie & Co, London, built the iron girder bridge. Apart from having a railway line above, the bridge also has a separate route for other mechanized traffic and foot passengers underneath. And though the bridge was abandoned in the late 70s, it still is a marvellous sight to see.	Peshawar Mosque
Attock bridge built 1883	Attock - traffic below trains above
The approach to the bridge is very tight with a 90 degree turn to get onto the bridge, this was to make it hard for an army to storm the bridge. The traffic can only go one way at a time and when you reach the other side it is the same tight turn to get off the bridge. Having got across the Indus we now had an just over an hours run to Rawalpindi which was to be our lunch stop. We have been on the Grand Trunk Road since this morning and this road goes all the way to Calcutta, it is a bit rough in places and is very busy with lots of trucks and buses. The buses are brightly colored with hundreds of lights that flash on and off every time the brakes are applied and have shrill horns that have to be blown every few minutes. We had been stuck behind a slow bus for about 20 minutes when we entered a long bridge over a large dry wash away. I could see about two kilometers ahead and the bridge was clear so I pulled out to over take. We were only able to go about 5 kilometer faster than the bus so it was going to take some time to get pass him. We were about half way past when I spotted a cyclist coming towards us, he was still a long way off but we would meet before I could pull back to my side of the road. I was about to back off when Geoff said keep going he will move, as we got closer I sounded the horn till he looked up and saw us bearing down on him. He pulled over and lifted his bike onto the kerb at the side of the bridge, if he just stayed there he would be fine. He must have got nervous because just before we reached him as he left his bike climbed over the rail of the bridge and jumped. I was a bit shocked but Geoff said no worries there was water were he jumped so he will just get wet.
B Company 2nd Battion Worcestershire Regiment Inter Company athletics team Rawalpindi 17th April 1939	Rawalpindi is a large army town with extensive cantonment area, in later trips I stopped here over night and everyone was invited to the officers mesh for drinks after tea. It was a strange feeling being in an enviroment that was pure British Raj but all the officers were Pakistani with all the trappings of the British. Everyone put on their very best outfit and spent an enjoyable evening, I saw girls being shown around the grounds on the arm of an officer whilst the boys discussed cricket at the bar. On the walls were pictures of all the old British regiments that had been stationed there and cabinets full of sporting trophies. The evening went so well the CO ordered breakfast be available for everyone the next morning. I did have a similar experience in Puna near Bombay and must say the army were always polite and well behaved.
The trip continued