When Mumbai marathon race director Hugh Jones came from London to India by road

Hugh Jones, the Mumbai marathon race director, was a leading distance runner in the 70s and 80s. But career concerns did not stop him from undertaking an adventurous road trip from London to India in 1978.

“I hitch-hiked my way through the first part — from London to nearly as far as Iran,” Jones, 61, tells ETPanache. “After that I took buses and trains. I went through Afghanistan, through Pakistan and eventually landed up in Amritsar.” Jones was a 23-year-old student at the time. Money was low but enthusiasm was high.

“Flying was very expensive those days, and it was possible to come over land,” says the first Britisher to win the London Marathon (in 1982). The journey took three-and-a-half weeks. “It was a very different experience visiting places like Ladakh, Darjeeling, Agra and Varanasi,” Jones says.