I love Pakistan and its got to be one of the most hospitable countries I have ever had the pleasure to visit. I do think we have responsibility to measure the risk not only to ourselves but to those that accompany. The comment that it would have taken place anyway and that they were just doing they jobs for me does stand up. Nor does the laying responsibility on the Pakistan governments doorstep regarding the issuing of visas. If you only listened to government warnings you would live your house.

The fact that being a foreigner does increase the risk is increase the risk, if we don't travel the soldiers would be in there barracks and you are a slower target on a bicycle! As I said before the soldiers felt more uncomfortable with a cyclist than a car due to the lack of speed.

The fact they assigned 12 armed guards would also be a warning sign, from my experience this is unusually high indicating a higher level of risk. However it can also provide a higher level of false security. Speaking only for myself I will continue to try and drive this route. Your right, there is no guarantees, but we can try and minimize the risk with sensible judgment and raining in the egos (something I know I have trouble doing myself at times) This with with collecting as much info from different sources as possible.

When there was trouble 2 years ( curfews)ago in the north we balanced medi info, with friends in Islamabad, calls to the hotels in the north along with locals on the road. I admit we did force the issue of continuing with the police at one point. We only had the confidence to do this because we continually updated ourselves with local regional info from a variety of sources. There was also a queue of cars telling check point they were being silly and we would be fine. Its a delicate balance of knowing when to push and stick to your guns and back off. It turned out the objection was from one newly appointed senior chief officer that had been appointed a day earlier and didn't want the hassle. surprisingly the British embassy was very supportive and did all they could. 2 Weeks earlier we decided not to make the same journey and waited.

Ill finish by saying its an amazing country with fabulous warm hearted people. Please don't buy into the scaremongering but do take time to make sensible judgments for yourselves and others. Sorry if this is a bit preachy its not meant to be.