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Joanna Lumley’s Silk Road Tour
Starting on the 12th September you can watch Joanna Lumley's latest adventure as she begins an epic 7,000 mile journey along the ancient Silk Road, travelling east from Venice to the Chinese border.
‘Joanna’s adventure will see her travel through a breath-taking array of fabulous landscapes as she crosses continents, deserts, mountains and steppe, boldly following in the footsteps of the merchants, conquerors, kings and pilgrims who once lived and died along this route.’
Her route takes her through numerous countries including Albania, Georgia and Uzbekistan, revealing the diverse cultures, cuisines, architecture and innovations that the Silk Road helped spread across Asia and Europe.
On her travels, Joanna sees traditional skills such as silk weaving and cheese making which have remained unchanged for centuries and also visits the fabled city of Samarkand in Uzbekistan with its magnificent Islamic mosques and mausoleums.
In the second programme of the series, Joanna walks on the Transcaucasian Trail – a new trekking route that traces the ancient trading path through the beautiful and isolated Svaneti region of Georgia. If you are inspired by Joanna, take a look at our brand new trek: Svanenti & the Transcaucasian Trail, Georgia that visits several of the same villages as Joanna and also treks the most picturesque section of the new trail through Upper Svaneti.
Joanna describes her odyssey along the Silk Road as her ‘most adventurous and exotic journey yet’ and if you would like to follow in Joanna’s footsteps, take a look at our Silk Road Tour that journeys from Tashkent, across steppe and desert to visit the three great Silk Road cities of Bukhara, Khiva and Samarkand. You can also watch our new video of this superb cultural tour and see the Silk Road brought to life.
Joanna Lumley's Silk Road Adventure is a new four part series on ITV.
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One summer’s day in 1987 Steve Berry (our MD) and fellow adventurer, Steve Marriott, were standing at the foot of the cliffs in Avon gorge. Having agreed that it was too hot to climb, they had been killing time in a ‘Wouldn’t it be great if…’ competition. This was when the fantasy of listening to the epic stories of their favourite heroes became a solid plan…
Since then, the two Steves and their caving friend Dick Willis, have organised more than 400 lectures whose general theme has been ‘Worldwide Adventure’. These epic stories have taken the audiences from the deepest point of the deepest ocean to the summit of Mount Everest, and from darkest, dankest inner spaces of our planet to even darker journeys in Outer Space. There have been mountaineers, sailors, cyclists, divers, balloonists, and even a man who cycled around the world on a penny farthing, and another who flew his car from Europe over the Straights of Gibraltar to Africa. There have been world famous explorers, record breakers, and people who have headed out into the remote unknown just for the hell of it.
Having run Wilderness for 36 years the three friends have decided to step back and retire so there will be no series this winter. However, they would be really happy if a younger individual, or a group of friends, would step forward to take over Wilderness and pick up where they are leaving off. If anyone is interested contact Wilderness Lectures here.
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We've just launched new tea house trek in the heart of the Annapurna Mountains in Nepal. An exhilarating, 18-day trekking trip, the Naar Phu Circuit takes you away from the popular trails of the Annapurnas, into a genuinely remote and truly spectacular region where access remains restricted.
Take a look at the full trip details here or speak to Harry in the Mountain Kingdoms office who completed the Naar Phu Circuit Trek earlier this year and rates it as the best he's ever done.
Holidays with Festivals
If you love a festival, but hate muddy fields, tent villages and rubbish food then it may be time to look beyond Glastonbury and Reading. In our latest enews we reveal alternative festivals in the Himalaya and Mongolia that offer amazing music, unusual sports and unique cultural experiences.
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