Afghan traveller

In 2009 John will complete a vital part of the Silk Road journey that he was previously forced to skip. Starting in Beirut, he’ll hike the length of Lebanon before continuing through Syria, Iraq, Iran and Afghanistan as far as the Little Pamir mountains in Afghanistan’s far north-east, where he’ll finish by crossing the historic Boroghil Pass into Pakistan.

“Think of the top ten countries most feared by Western politicians, and all six above would be on the list,” he says. “They’re at the heart of the so-called Axis of Evil. They’re in the headlines for all the wrong reasons. Yet each has millions of ordinary people pursuing their lives in villages and the countryside (often against heavy odds) in much the same way as they’ve done for a thousand years.”

Leaving behind his preconceived ideas, he’ll spend four months travelling 3,000 miles through little-visited regions by train, bus, hitch-hiking and on foot, joining local people in their day-to-day challenges and listening to their hopes and dreams.

“On my previous trip Iran and Afghanistan wouldn’t give me visas. But that’s now changed and I can’t think of a better time to go. All the countries I’ll be visiting are brimming with interest at the moment. As a bonus, when I step onto Pakistan’s Karakoram Highway at the end of the expedition I’ll have closed the last gap in a journey that I started more than 20 years ago.”