Explorer, author, trail prospector & travel writer

Iโ€™m Tom, an explorer, trail prospector & travel writer, working between the UK and the South Caucasus.

Profile photo of explorer, author, trail prospector and travel writer Tom Allen.

I currently hold the post of Expeditions & Fieldwork Manager at the Royal Geographical Society (with IBG), where I’m helping the organisation serve those who want to inject purpose into their travels and explorations.

My long-term passion project remains the Transcaucasianย Trail (TCT), a 3,000km-long hiking route in development across Georgia, Armenia & Azerbaijan, which I co-founded in 2015 and continue to support in collaboration with the Transcaucasian Trail Association.

As a trail prospector I’ve also conceived & designed the Armenian National Trail, a new 1,000km village-to-village hiking route currently under construction, as well as new regional trail networks in the Debed Canyon (2021/2022), Dilijan National Park (2016/2017), the Vorotan Canyon (2019), and Arevik National Park (2022/2023), among other locations for trail tourism in Armenia.

As a region-specific travel writer I co-author Armenia: The Bradt Travel Guide, publish a hiking map-guide to the Legends Trail with Cartisan.org, maintain the CyclingArmenia.com bike route collection, and am currently writing Hiking The Transcaucasian Trail Across Armenia for publication in 2025.

Beyond the Caucasus, since 2006 I’ve published more than half a million words on my cycle touring and bikepacking blog TomsBikeTrip.com, made several award-winning feature-length documentary films including Janapar and Karun, and published several other travel books.

My wide-ranging personal blog lives here at tomallen.info, and I keep a Patreon page for long-term supporters of my work.