Claire Burges Watson

Daughter of a diplomat, graduate of Magdalen College, Oxford, high-flying trader with a leading stockbroking company in Hong Kong, Claire gave it all up to follow her dream of embarking on a solo, four-thousand mile horseback ride across Central Asia.

Funding it all herself, she raised in excess of £40,000 in aid of an orphanage she had already funded in Burma, and other charities in the area.

The story of her journey, which took her through the inhospitable terrain of Mongolia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Uzbekistan and Turkmenistan, is graphically told in her book, entitled SILK ROUTE ADVENTURE: ON HORSEBACK IN THE HEART OF ASIA, illustrated with her own photographs taken throughout her months away.

Originally published by Robert Hale, Silk Route Adventure will be reissued by Lume.