Inveterate traveller John Pilkington talks about following the trail of Marco Polo along the ancient Silk Road to China, where he discovers a surprising link between Suzhou, the Venice of the East, and Hampshire’s Whitchurch Silk Mill.

Among the highlights of his travels, he tells Emily Briffett, are his travels among nomadic people in Afghanistan and traversing high mountain ranges between Pakistan and China along the Karakoram Highway. En route he meets many challenges, including offerings of rancid yak butter tea and battles with obstinate camels.

Click here for the transcript of this episode

Sahara, 2006

John made a 450-mile journey, partly with three camels, from Timbuktu to the salt mines of Taoudenni. He loved the desert but looks back on it as one of the most difficult journeys he's ever done. 'My Moorish companions were certainly a tough bunch,' he said afterwards.

Syria, 2009

In the heart of the legendary Fertile Crescent, John looks east across the Middle East's greatest river, the Euphrates. Despite their arid appearance, the riverside meadows are artificially irrigated to provide wheat for the bakers of Aleppo and Damascus, giving them the title of the Breadbasket of Syria.

Ukraine, 2015

On his way from Poland to the Caucasus, one of John's fondest memories is of Ukraine's Carpathian Mountains. They're part of Europe, but the European Union seems a distant vision here. 'If all else fails,' he says with a grin, 'I'll start a new career as a Carpathian farmer.'

Lebanon, 2009

Following a cliff-edge path above the famous Qadisha Gorge. A fabulous mountain range runs the length of the country, and John made the most of it as he was waiting for his Iran visa. Nearby is a forest of Cedars of Lebanon, the national tree, whose timbers were greatly valued in Marco Polo's time for shipbuilding.

Iran, 2009

We're now in the Alborz mountains of northern Iran, a country that John describes as 'in the news for all the wrong reasons'. He found Iranians among the most warm and welcoming of all the people he met on his travels.

Afghanistan, 2011

John with his horse and horsemen in Afghanistan's Wakhan Corridor. 'At first, our horses were weighed down with a month's supplies, but later the loads lightened and I was able to ride one of them, which was a nice bonus.' The Wakhan is a headwater of the Amu Darya, Central Asia's greatest river, which Europeans used to call the Oxus.

Further Information and Additional Links

To learn more about Whitchurch Silk Mill, go to their website www.whitchurchsilkmill.org.uk

You can visit John’s website to find out more about him and his many adventures, and you can contact him at John@pilk.net

Stay tuned for next week’s episode which follows John on another one of his adventures.