Sat, Sep 10, 2011
Comedians Rhod Gilbert, who visited the country earlier, and Greg Davies, new to bad roads, cross land-locked Nepal's Himalaya from the Indian to the Chinese border via capital Kathmandu. Their bickering takes a back seat to awe at the mighty but daunting Himalaya and the importance of roads, despite the existence of ancient trade routes by tiny mountain paths mostly a neighbors-sponsored novelty since the middle of the 20th century, for the previously utterly isolated local farmers and towns.
Thu, Dec 27, 2012
Crossing the former Soviet republic of Georgia from Azerbeidjan trough capital Tiblisi, then to legendary Svanetia and the Black Sea, actor Hugh Bonneville and comedian Jessica Hynes admire the varied landscapes and mostly isolated town in idyllic valleys and daunting Caucasian mountains. They wonder if roads, however practical for the locals, and touristic infrastructure built all over the place, despite political near-encirclement by hostile neighbors, may spell the end of pristine culture and traditions.
Sat, Sep 17, 2011
From the Peruvian coast, professional adventurer Ben Fogle, who knows the country a bit, and comedian Hugh Dennis cross the Andes and follow the historic mission road through Amazonia. They continue even smaller roads all the way to the country's geographical center, where president Pasco planned a new capital, Constitucion, a project which failed so badly it doesn't even appear on recent maps.
Wed, Dec 26, 2012
Actor-presenter-comedian Angus Deayton manages to stay spotless except for one incident, unlike his BBC acquaintance, journalist Mariella Frostrup, while they travel from Madagascar's East coast to the north eastern pristine forest at the end of the rain season. The mud transforms the poor roads into slippery slopes, many of the numerous bridges are out of order, the pauper population can supply little more then experience and tenacity.
Sat, Jul 21, 2012
Writer-actor and David Baddiel and actor-writer Hugh Dennis drive the long, bumpy road van Ethiopian capital Addis Abeba to Axum, the ancient Coptic center that claims to hold the Arc of the Covenant. The Italian colonization constructed it as part of a network to enable effective control over the temporarily subdued native empire, a complex tapestry of Christian and Muslim peoples and tribes. The nation's mismanagement o-under the communists and civil war left their mark on road and areas it crosses. The poor infrastructure is part of general underdevelopment and widespread poverty, with modest tourism regardless of a rich heritage in historic and natural monuments.
Sat, Jul 7, 2012
Long-standing British buddies actor-writers Ed Byrne and Andy Parsons embark on an adventurous drive over the Kolyma tract, the world's coldest land road. It starts in Yakutsk, smack in the icy (-50 to -70 Celsius!) center of Siberia and goes to the still frozen ocean coast. dangers abound for vehicle (the motor may never be shut off) and passengers (whose urine would freeze their cocks off unless kept moving). Yet constructing the 'bones route' was far worse still, a job that cost an estimated million lives among the convicts in dozens of gulags, mostly founded for this project and abandoned except where mining remains.