Category: Transcaucasian Expedition (2016)

When I decided last summer to build the Transcaucasian Trail, I had no idea just what kind of a political mess I was getting myself into. I don’t mean the regional geopolitics of the Caucasus, either. That’s actually pretty clear-cut. Some areas are off-limits, some borders are closed. Thankfully, none of this actually affects a…

Agendas – hidden or otherwise – seem to play a big part in trail development. Sometimes there is a peace-building motive, knitting together fragmented nations by means of a common travel corridor. More often an effort is framed in terms of the future financial benefits, which usually boils down to a simple equation between more…

Characterised by wild moorlands, terrible roads, and an unintelligible local dialect, the province of Syunik is a large but sparsely populated region at the far end of Armenia, sufficiently far from the capital to have retained its own unique cultural identity. Much like Yorkshire, in fact. Continue reading at transcaucasian.com »

I’ve been trying desperately to think of a compelling angle for a blog post about the 12 days of driving from London to Yerevan. But the truth of the matter is that a really long drive on good highways does not make for particularly interesting storytelling. This is subjective, of course… Continue reading at transcaucasian.com…

It’s with nervous trepidation that I write to you this morning. This feeling is usually a sign that something daunting is coming. That’s very true right now: today marks the ‘official’ launch of my big project for 2016, which I’ve named the Transcaucasian Expedition. (You may see it mentioned in the UK press today, but better…

I write to you today from the bottom of a very large hole. I have spent the last few months digging this hole. Sometimes I pause digging and ask myself: “Tom, if no expedition you’ve ever organised has gone to plan, nor ended in the way you intended, why are you spending so much time…