Wednesday 27 May 2015

Summer begins with a road trip odyssey

Samosir Books announce the launch of their latest travel odyssey, BLACK SEA CIRCUIT, by UK authors and road trip travel writers, The Raven Brothers.

Georgia border with Azerbaijan. Photo by Simon Raven.

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.

A career in overland adventure travel was launched when Simon Raven and Chris Raven drove across Siberia from the UK to Vladivostok at the dawn of a new millennium. An account of their journey ‘Driving the Trans-Siberian’ was first published by Samosir Books in 2003 and became the second book in the ‘Linger Series' travel trilogy. Over the past fifteen years the brothers have traversed the Trans-oceanic highway from the Pacific to the Atlantic coast of South America, travelled the road to Damascus and explored multiple destinations across the globe including China’s deep south, tribal India and the Balkan peninsula. Priding themselves in going it alone, Simon and Chris have been noted by Lonely Planet for their talent to portray an “accurate view of what to expect”.

BLACK SEA CIRCUIT
by Chris Raven & Simon Raven

Order your copy online from Amazon and all major book retailers. ISBN 9780954884284.