By The Raven Brothers
For many years we had yearned to travel this region of the world, where Europe meets Asia, and to explore the six fascinating countries that share these colourful shores. Our eyes were drawn to the Caucasus. Naturally, we were a little dubious at first about venturing deep into what is considered to be southern Russia’s “Wild West”. This region bordering Chechnya conjured up images of war, violence and kidnapping. The thought of actually driving through the Caucasus sounded epic.
Following weeks of research, I joined Chris for a barbecue to discuss the risks of embarking on such a challenging journey.
I flipped a burger on the griddle and told him to relax. ‘Think lush green rolling hills, spa towns and traditional rural folk tending to their crops in vast open fields. There is relative peace in the region now and, besides, the Caucasus is our only way into Georgia.’
Receiving conflicting reports from the Georgian and Russian consulates in London, there appeared to be a fifty percent chance that the ‘Verkhny Lars - Darial Gorge’ border crossing between Russia and Georgia was now open to foreigners. Fellow adventurers had written on travel forums stating that this route was now indeed open, while others claimed it was only accessible to citizens of countries in the ex-Soviet grouping called the CIS (Commonwealth of Independent States). The thought of not knowing if we could make it through sounded fantastically exciting.
Overland adventure is nothing new to us both. In 2003, the year before Ewan McGregor and Charley Boorman set off on their motorcycle road trip across Russia with a film crew, we drove a Ford Sierra from the UK across Siberia to Vladivostok. Deep in the Siberian wilderness, the Zilov Gap section of the Amur highway between Chita and Khabarovsk was still being bulldozed at the time and it wasn’t fully completed until Vladimir Putin officially opened the road in 2010. We wrote a book about the journey ‘Driving the Trans-Siberian’ and Lonely Planet kindly mentioned us in their Russia travel guide. In 2007, we somehow managed to coax a rusty Ford Escort from the UK to Damascus in Syria. The elections were taking place in this turbulent country at the heart of the Middle East, and president Bashar al-Assad was soon re-elected for the second term. I will never forget that eerie moment when the border guard looked at us both just before we crossed into Syria and said, “This is not Iraq”. I often think of the many people we met along the way; the kind people who treated us like friends without asking for anything in return.
With my head buried deep in a world atlas, I looked down at the Black Sea and to the Crimean peninsula, hanging from the neck of the southern Ukraine like a sparkling diamond. Bounded by Russia, Georgia, Turkey, Bulgaria and Romania, this journey at the gateway of Eurasia had all the right ingredients for an expedition of a lifetime. Many thousands of years ago tribes of nomadic settlers born out of the Altai Mountains, Mongolia and the Central Asian steppes migrated to the Black Sea and fought great battles. Powerful civilisations have risen along these shores leaving behind ancient kurgan burial mounds brimming with gold and ruins of once great cities, opulent palaces, temples and forts. Thracians, Hittites, Scythians, Sarmatians, Greeks, Persians, Romans, Goths, Huns, Khazars, Venetians, Mongols, Genoese, Tatars, Turks and Russians, have all left their mark on the Black Sea. Enduring myths and legends inspire us to this present day, from Jason and the Argonauts to the tribe of fierce female warriors known as the Amazons. Since its transformation from a lake into a sea approximately 7,000 years ago, the Black Sea has witnessed the gravest of human misfortunes, played host to the most terrifying atrocities and suffered multiple apocalypses from the arrival of the Black Death to the near extinction of all life inside its waters.
‘So, what d’you think?’ I grinned, offering Chris a cold beer. ‘Fancy another adventure?’
What did we have to lose? Six countries, a sea and a twenty year old Volvo 440 – the plan was set. I jumped out of my foldaway chair and slammed the map shut. Our quest to drive around the Black Sea was about to begin.
Black Sea Circuit
The legends of Jason and the Argonauts, Noah’s Ark and a tribe of fierce female warriors known as the Amazons all originate from the Black Sea. Gripped by curiosity, Simon and Chris fire up their twenty year old Volvo that looks, as rustic and weather-beaten as a Cold War tank and embark on a quest to drive full circle around this ancient body of water at the birthplace of civilisation.
In the shadow of rising tension in Ukraine, the brothers get up close and personal with the fascinating people who inhabit the six nations that surround these colourful shores. Living on the road like the nomadic horse bowmen who once ruled the steppe grasslands, they explore Crimea, the Caucasus region of southern Russia’s “Wild West”, the Georgian kingdom of Colchis, Turkey’s Pontic coast, the megacity of Istanbul and complete their journey in Romania at the outfall of the mighty River Danube.
More books by The Raven Brothers
by The Raven Brothers
Out of shape and unprepared, The Raven Brothers return to the road in a collection of ten quests to travel to their dream destinations against all odds! After two decades pioneering new routes across the globe, you would expect the authors of 'Driving the Trans-Siberian' to be hotshot explorers, with a sixth sense and an ability to survive in almost any situation. Think again! With virtually zero knowledge of the workings of the internal combustion engine and very limited skills of wilderness survival, Simon and Chris struggle into their hiking boots and power across three continents by river, tarmac and trail.
Venture to the top of Norway, cruise the road to Damascus, hike the Camino trail into Spain’s Wild West, row the Ganges, explore Frida Kahlo’s world in Mexico City, hangout with the dead in Sicily’s eerie catacombs, crawl deep inside Bolivia’s notorious silver mine, seek lions in Gujarat, wellness in Berlin and journey into the Naga Hills where tribal kings still rule.
Noted by Lonely Planet for their talent to portray an “accurate view of what to expect”, 'Hike, Drive, Stayin’ Alive!' signals a return to the duo writing “buttock clenching” travel comedy with the first in a series of candid stories of adventure by The Raven Brothers.
by The Raven Brothers
On Amazon >
Ever had the desire to jump in your car and keep driving; to wave goodbye to routine and commitment, to drive into the unknown hungry for adventure? Well, that is precisely what overland travel writers, Chris Raven and Simon Raven, decided to do whilst stacking boxes of frozen oven chips in a -30 degrees freezer. Not being petrol heads and having zero knowledge of the internal combustion engine, the brothers fired up their rusty Ford Sierra Sapphire and headed east.
After clocking up over 11,000 miles, quite literally living in the car, the pioneering duo miraculously arrived in the Far Eastern city of Vladivostok in Siberia on the Sea of Japan. What they had in fact done was to drive the entire length of the new Amur Highway before it was finished, which crosses Russia and the notorious Zilov Gap in a 6,200 mile swath of cracked tarmac and potholes. Along the way our trusty heroes drink vodka with Chechen criminals, escape highway robbery, trade banana flavoured condoms with Russian cops, meet the eccentric and plain weird at truck stops in darkest Siberia, endure torturous road conditions and have a race to the finish with the Germans. Surviving this insane journey by the skin of their teeth the brothers are forced to confront their worst fears in this toe-curling comedy of extreme road trip adventure.
Ever had the desire to jump in your car and keep driving; to wave goodbye to routine and commitment, to drive into the unknown hungry for adventure? Well, that is precisely what overland travel writers, Chris Raven and Simon Raven, decided to do whilst stacking boxes of frozen oven chips in a -30 degrees freezer. Not being petrol heads and having zero knowledge of the internal combustion engine, the brothers fired up their rusty Ford Sierra Sapphire and headed east.
After clocking up over 11,000 miles, quite literally living in the car, the pioneering duo miraculously arrived in the Far Eastern city of Vladivostok in Siberia on the Sea of Japan. What they had in fact done was to drive the entire length of the new Amur Highway before it was finished, which crosses Russia and the notorious Zilov Gap in a 6,200 mile swath of cracked tarmac and potholes. Along the way our trusty heroes drink vodka with Chechen criminals, escape highway robbery, trade banana flavoured condoms with Russian cops, meet the eccentric and plain weird at truck stops in darkest Siberia, endure torturous road conditions and have a race to the finish with the Germans. Surviving this insane journey by the skin of their teeth the brothers are forced to confront their worst fears in this toe-curling comedy of extreme road trip adventure.
by The Raven Brothers
Overland travel writers, Chris Raven and Simon Raven, embark on a new comedy adventure that leads them to the wild and colourful continent of South America. From bull's testicles in Buenos Aires to bums and boobs on the beaches of Brazil, the Raven brothers put their dream plans into action and traverse the Trans-oceanic highway from the Pacific to the Atlantic Coast of South America.
Pioneering a new frontier over the Andes and through the heart of the Peruvian Amazon, the bizarre and the beautiful cross their dusty path as they seek inspiration for a new book and go in search of the ultimate carnival. Not always getting it right, Simon and Chris tango through the Argentinean vineyards, cycle to the Moon in Chile, lose themselves in the mysterious world of the Inca Empire, swim with caiman in the Madre de Dios, experience panic in the Pantanal, The Rolling Stones in Rio and conclude their journey in Olinda at the carnival of the soul.
Living the Linger
by The Raven Brothers
On Amazon >
The sudden break-up with Emily Willow finds Simon Raven, ex-amateur rock god and bored internet producer, on a Boeing 747 bound for Seattle. Led by his twin brother, Chris, who is more than happy to exchange a career in fashion photography for the open road, they embark on a buttock-clenching journey of paranoia and self-doubt, as they traverse Interstate 15 across backcountry America.
The sudden break-up with Emily Willow finds Simon Raven, ex-amateur rock god and bored internet producer, on a Boeing 747 bound for Seattle. Led by his twin brother, Chris, who is more than happy to exchange a career in fashion photography for the open road, they embark on a buttock-clenching journey of paranoia and self-doubt, as they traverse Interstate 15 across backcountry America.
Along the way the hapless duo bumble through bear infested wilderness, meet the eccentric and plain weird on the American freeway, escape a bullwhip wielding maniac in Missoula and survive the evils of Las Vegas. Testing their friendship to the limit as they battle to reach their nirvana, which exists in the form of the bikini beaches of California, the brothers find inspiration on a journey that exposes the stark truth about work and relationships and which asks the question - what do you really want to do with your life?