Travel writing: Silk Trail Expedition: Russia

The narrow strait of water between the Ukraine and Russia, the Straits of Kerch, can be crossed on a car-ferry in just 20 minutes – but then you drive off it, on the Russian side, straight into a compound like a prison camp where you soon fear you might be incarcerated for days. This is […]


Travel writing: Silk Trail Expedition: Uzbekistan

She had a pleasant enough face until she narrowed her eyes, fixed me with an accusing stare, then demanded: “Do you have any tablets for mental illness?” She paused almost long enough for me to give a wrong answer, then added helpfully, “Because they are illegal in this country.” An Uzbekistan customs official, she was […]


Travel writing: Silk Trail Expedition: Odessa

Waking in the Ukrainian town of Odessa to learn that you are tasked with finding seven sleeping bags, all of which must be capable of withstanding temperatures as low as minus five degrees Centigrade, and knowing that you speak no Ukrainian, speak no Russian, have no local currency, have no local knowledge, and have only […]


Travel writing: Silk Trail Expedition: Krakow

It would be easy to gloss-over my brief visit to Kraków with talk of its picture-postcard streets and majestically grand buildings. But it would also be wrong. There is a dark side to Krakow, dark and disturbing. The Polish city so popular with tourists because of its architectural beauty has a profoundly ugly history. We […]


Travel writing: Silk Trail Expedition: Berlin

Driving deep into Germany after passing through France, Belgium, and the Netherlands, we have reached Berlin – where the destruction of the Soviet-built Berlin Wall in 1989 allowed east to meet west, just as the Silk Road first connected east and west more than two thousand years ago. We entered Berlin after motoring 350 miles […]


Travel writing: Silk Trail Expedition: London

The first full day of our adventure dawned with the sun rising quickly into a silvery haze over London. Britons were still climbing from their beds as our seven expedition vehicles threaded their way through quiet city streets from a hotel in Wandsworth to a photo-shoot location near Tower Bridge. Looking out from our vehicles, […]


Travel writing: Silk Trail Expedition

Going boldly where no man has gone before is a proud tradition at Land Rover, whose four-wheel-drive vehicles have been exploring parts of the earth inaccessible to others for more than 60 years  now. Land Rover’s Silk Trail Expedition, made during the summer and autumn of 2013, was one of the most ambitious of all […]


Journalism: Night Without End

This article about the Beaujolais Rally won an annual national award in the USA as ‘Best Magazine Feature Story’. It was written for bestselling US automotive title Motor Trend, but is less about cars than travel and adventure. Racing across France to bring Beaujolais to the breakfast table THERE’S NO SENSE to any of this. […]