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20160531-134128-Svaneti-Tom-Nexus 6P-0058
June 15, 2016

Doing It Right: The Politics Of Hiking Trail Development In The Caucasus

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 […]

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June 8, 2016

Mestia to Ushguli: Is Svaneti In Danger Of Losing Its Mysticism?

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 trails and more tourism dollars. But it is rare to come across a trailbuilding effort in this part of the world that whose primary stated aim is to improve access to the outdoors for its own sake.

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May 26, 2016

The Baghaberd Pioneers: Discovering The Lost Legacy Of The Soviet Boy Scouts

When I was a child, many of my classmates joined a mysterious organisation called the Scouts. They would return from weekends and evenings away with the most fabulous tales of camping out, cooking over fires, roaming the forests, building stuff out of wood, and generally having all sorts of excellent adventures in the great outdoors. These alluring stories […]

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May 24, 2016

Syunik Province: Southern Armenia’s Most Overlooked Hiking Destination?

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.

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May 18, 2016

Hitting The Dirt In Armenia: Where The Fun Begins

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…

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TCE Training & Preparation-1
April 26, 2016

The Transcaucasian Expedition departs today – in a Land Rover Bursary-awarded Defender!

There’s nothing like a brand spanking new Defender 110 rolling onto your driveway to tell you that things are about to get real, real serious. And I’m not much of a petrol-head, but I will admit that there is a twinge of excitement about the vehicular aspect of this expedition. It’s not just because the […]

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April 14, 2016

The Transcaucasian Expedition Begins This Month! Here’s The Plan…

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 […]

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March 10, 2016

How on Earth do you create a brand new long distance hiking trail?

More than once in recent weeks I’ve found myself lying awake at night, my mind refusing to take a break from thinking, planning, worrying. How on Earth do you create a brand new long distance hiking trail? Because I’ve committed to doing this thing. I really have. I’ve cleared my entire schedule for 2016 to […]

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© 2016 Transcaucasian Expedition. An unincorporated charitable association.
Supported by the Royal Geographical Society (with the Institute of British Geographers) with the Land Rover Bursary.