The Amur River is almost unknown. Yet it is the tenth longest river in the world, rising in the Mongolian mountains and flowing through Siberia to the Pacific to form the tense, highly fortified border between Russia and China.
In his eightieth year, Colin Thubron takes a 3,000-mile long journey from the Amur’s secret source to its giant mouth. Harassed by injury and temporarily arrested by the local police, he makes his way along both the Russian and Chinese shores on horseback, on foot, by boat and via the Trans-Siberian Railway, talking to everyone he meets.
‘Thubron on top form. Richly detailed, immaculately written and full of insights and encounters that bring a complex corner of the world to life.’ Michael Palin
Travelling Fearlessly
In 1992, I started working for a strange but beguiling organization. The Royal Society of Literature was, in those days, housed in a huge, dilapidated mansion in Bayswater, and it was there that its...
Read moreT is for Thubron, Colin | From the Slightly Foxed archives
‘The love of words came before the love of travel.’ Colin Thubron Warm wishes from Slightly Foxed, where we’re dipping into the archives to provide you with a free article to read this...
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