Born in Scotland and raised in Switzerland, Helen Watson (helenwatsontravelwriting.blogspot.com) is addicted to travel that is both physically and culturally challenging. In 2010, she cycled 15,000 km from Scotland to China, inspired by the hospitality of people along the Silk Road - and later dismayed by the subsequent refugee crisis following the Arab Spring. Watson has captured the experiences in her first book: Tea and Grit: a Bicycle Journey along the Silk Road. She has previously won travel-writing competitions in the Telegraph, twice been shortlisted for the Bradt Guides/Independent on Sunday New Travel Writer of the Year Award and contributed to Bradt's Tajikistan guidebook. Living in the Scottish Highlands with her travel companion and husband, Ed, she works in wildlife conservation.

• Prologue1 Honoured GuestsPART 1: SYRIA2 Your Crazy Choice3 Three Men of Aleppo4 Off the Map5 Yelen, Daoud, Fantastico6 Waterwheels and a Crusader's Castle7 The Desert, the Sown and the High Retreat8 Blown Loose9 Earthly and Heavenly Pleasures in Damascus10 The Value of Water11 The Children of Palmyra12 To RaqqaPART 2: EASTERN TURKEY13 Eastwards14 Bandit Country15 Prepare to FightPART 3: IRAN16 All that Downhill Wasted17 Freedom to Ride18 Tell them about the Real Iran19 Meetings in Leopard Country20 Money Laundering21 Woman, Life, FreedomPART 4: TURKMENISTAN22 Turkmenitransit: across the Karakum DesertUZBEKISTAN 23 Under the Shade of a Mulberry Tree24 The Road to Samarkand25 Stalin's Map26 Once bitten.PART 5: TAJIKSTAN: THE PAMIRS27 Pamir Preamble28 Goodnight from Afghanistan29 No Room at the Inn30 Minefields in the Garden of Paradise31 Praise Be for a Comfortable Bed31 A Maze of Dashed Lines33 Just Keep PedallingPART 6: THE LONG RETURN34 Adrift West of East35 The Moving Ground36 HomecomingNotes on the Chapter Epigraphs and their AuthorsSelected BibliographyGlossaryThanks

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Born in Scotland and raised in Switzerland, Helen Watson (helenwatsontravelwriting.blogspot.com) is addicted to travel that is both physically and culturally challenging. In 2010, she cycled 15,000 km from Scotland to China, inspired by the hospitality of people along the Silk Road - and later dismayed by the subsequent refugee crisis following the Arab Spring. Watson has captured the experiences in her first book: Tea and Grit: a Bicycle Journey along the Silk Road. She has previously won travel-writing competitions in the Telegraph, twice been shortlisted for the Bradt Guides/Independent on Sunday New Travel Writer of the Year Award and contributed to Bradt's Tajikistan guidebook. Living in the Scottish Highlands with her travel companion and husband, Ed, she works in wildlife conservation.

• Prologue1 Honoured GuestsPART 1: SYRIA2 Your Crazy Choice3 Three Men of Aleppo4 Off the Map5 Yelen, Daoud, Fantastico6 Waterwheels and a Crusader's Castle7 The Desert, the Sown and the High Retreat8 Blown Loose9 Earthly and Heavenly Pleasures in Damascus10 The Value of Water11 The Children of Palmyra12 To RaqqaPART 2: EASTERN TURKEY13 Eastwards14 Bandit Country15 Prepare to FightPART 3: IRAN16 All that Downhill Wasted17 Freedom to Ride18 Tell them about the Real Iran19 Meetings in Leopard Country20 Money Laundering21 Woman, Life, FreedomPART 4: TURKMENISTAN22 Turkmenitransit: across the Karakum DesertUZBEKISTAN 23 Under the Shade of a Mulberry Tree24 The Road to Samarkand25 Stalin's Map26 Once bitten.PART 5: TAJIKSTAN: THE PAMIRS27 Pamir Preamble28 Goodnight from Afghanistan29 No Room at the Inn30 Minefields in the Garden of Paradise31 Praise Be for a Comfortable Bed31 A Maze of Dashed Lines33 Just Keep PedallingPART 6: THE LONG RETURN34 Adrift West of East35 The Moving Ground36 HomecomingNotes on the Chapter Epigraphs and their AuthorsSelected BibliographyGlossaryThanks

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Born in Scotland and raised in Switzerland, Helen Watson (helenwatsontravelwriting.blogspot.com) is addicted to travel that is both physically and culturally challenging. In 2010, she cycled 15,000 km from Scotland to China, inspired by the hospitality of people along the Silk Road - and later dismayed by the subsequent refugee crisis following the Arab Spring. Watson has captured the experiences in her first book: Tea and Grit: a Bicycle Journey along the Silk Road. She has previously won travel-writing competitions in the Telegraph, twice been shortlisted for the Bradt Guides/Independent on Sunday New Travel Writer of the Year Award and contributed to Bradt's Tajikistan guidebook. Living in the Scottish Highlands with her travel companion and husband, Ed, she works in wildlife conservation.

• Prologue1 Honoured GuestsPART 1: SYRIA2 Your Crazy Choice3 Three Men of Aleppo4 Off the Map5 Yelen, Daoud, Fantastico6 Waterwheels and a Crusader's Castle7 The Desert, the Sown and the High Retreat8 Blown Loose9 Earthly and Heavenly Pleasures in Damascus10 The Value of Water11 The Children of Palmyra12 To RaqqaPART 2: EASTERN TURKEY13 Eastwards14 Bandit Country15 Prepare to FightPART 3: IRAN16 All that Downhill Wasted17 Freedom to Ride18 Tell them about the Real Iran19 Meetings in Leopard Country20 Money Laundering21 Woman, Life, FreedomPART 4: TURKMENISTAN22 Turkmenitransit: across the Karakum DesertUZBEKISTAN 23 Under the Shade of a Mulberry Tree24 The Road to Samarkand25 Stalin's Map26 Once bitten.PART 5: TAJIKSTAN: THE PAMIRS27 Pamir Preamble28 Goodnight from Afghanistan29 No Room at the Inn30 Minefields in the Garden of Paradise31 Praise Be for a Comfortable Bed31 A Maze of Dashed Lines33 Just Keep PedallingPART 6: THE LONG RETURN34 Adrift West of East35 The Moving Ground36 HomecomingNotes on the Chapter Epigraphs and their AuthorsSelected BibliographyGlossaryThanks

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