What makes an Overlander

[snaphappy]

We've exhausted the question about what defines an Adventure so what in your opinion defines an Overlander, I travel overland internationally but have never been in deep jungle or desert sands on my bike.
I can strap everything to my bike for six month adventure even if I'm only camping for the weekend. I've travelled about with spare tyres strapped to my gear but I still feel as though I'm not worthy of classing myself as an Overlander.

Is there a line we have to cross, I've done the Arctic circle, (I've driven over the Equator)what else should an Overlander have under his / her belt to qualify into the prestigious club of Overlanders

[davsato]

i think you are being a bit hard on yourself there? youve done loads more than i have, i dont really know what 'overlander' means but to me it could mean something as simple as if you could easily fly or train or ferry somewhere on your hols you choose to ride your bike there instead. that could be from home to edinburgh, or it could mean round the globe. the furthest ive ever been on my bike is valencia and back, in august im taking the family in the car round brittany. both those trips are not exactly a hardship, but we could easily fly to those places (southampton airport on our doorstep). i think "overlanding" is a frame of mind, its the sudden realisation that the travel is part of the holiday so why walk into a cigar tube with everyone elses germs and step out at your destination? at 30,000feet you miss seeing an awful lot.
its like "what is an adventure"? you dont have to squeeze water out of elephant poo and sleep in a tree with bear grylls, to some people being away from home for the first time is an adventure.

[Gas_Up_Lets_Go]

Overland - Adjective & Adverb ; to travel by land.

Simple, if you travel to places overland (difficult when you are on an Island!) then you are an overlander (someone who travels by land). I guess I would define it as taking a car/truck/bike to any far off place (That a whole new item to define) rather than, as Dave has pointed out, taking the plane.

I've crossed timezones, lines of lattitude, seas, rivers, borders, so I would consider myself an overlander

[VR_Rider]

I think an overlander is more an state of mind than a tick box of things you've done. The aim isn't the main focus of the trip, it is merely the machine that allows you to get off the beaten track. To put it simply I think Ewan and Charley are adventure riders, and Sam Manicom and Austin are overlanders!

[900Fantrider]

Great question.

Since the 80`s I have ridden and driven nearly all of Europe but no further yet in my head just class this as touring and sometimes Ive gone off road in both 4x4 and bike so in my head its turned into adventure touring! When I see the term overlander being used I always think of the next Continent. Maybe I`m reading it wrong but that is just how I see it potrayed. But maybe someone who has just driven in the UK all there life & then rides accross Europe will see it totally in a different way.

Given me something to think about today though!

[snaphappy]

Yes frame of mind, but when does a traveller become an overlander, I don't really class some of my touring to be adventurous or some of my adventures to warrant the Overlander title.
Its the whole overlander mystique that appeals to me I want to see more and not just what you find in Google, Do I need to cross deserts and hack through jungles to class myself as an Overlander.
Next weekend there is a meeting and trade show for "adventure and all wheel drive" vehicles, by all accounts the biggest for Europe (although the website is only in German :whistle: ), this is where the snobbery starts where the biggest most farkled competes with the most battle scars. Imagine the scene on Jaws, "this is from a bull shark, almost had my arm off". If I get the chance I want to go.
Here's the link for anyone thats curious

If I make it then I'll do report from the otherside
Wonder what they'll think of a tramp kipping in a bivvy bag by the side of his bike and cooking breakfast on a trangia :whistle:

[CRAIGREVO]

I think its just a term created by someone who thinks they are better than others.
eg: "Everybody is an adventure rider these days, and my sh*ts more John blaze than that." :sick:

I'm a bike rider nothing more.

[Francis Begbie]

Nothing wrong with cooking breakfast on a trangia i've been doing it for 20 years on the same one and will probably still be doing it in 20 years.

[snaphappy]

Maybe I'm just trying to have a dig at the labelling

who has the right to say your not
a biker
an adventurer
an overlander
and who has the right to question those who class themselves as
a biker
an adventurer
an overlander

I can only class myself as a biker, I dont feel like an adventurer or an overlander,

[Paul]

This has got me thinking, I guess all of the "overlanders" in my mind are Authors, Lois, Ted Simon etc. People who have had fantastic adventures worthy of a publication.
I have done a few trips but all sensible and safe. My biggest was 6000 miles. When I think of an overlander it conjours up images of lands away from our western civilisation with mystery and danger around every corner, and away from our European comfort zone.

Having said that, if you have never been out of the country then a trip to the Pyrenesse is a massive overland adventure.

I live in a very rural area and our neigbour a farmer and his family had until a couple of years ago never been on holiday, never even left Cumbria, honestly.
They booked a package holiday to Spain and this caused a massive stir and loads of gossip for weeks around here. Other farmers were speculating on whether they would return in one piece, I am not kidding.
I guess they had an adventure into mystery and danger.