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In every atlas there is a country missing from the maps of South America: the Andean nation. For five months John Harrison journeys through this secret country, walking alone into remote villages where he is the first gringo the inhabitants have ever seen, and where life continues as if Columbus had never sailed. He lives at over 10,000 feet for most of the trip, following the great road of the Incas: the Camino Real, or Royal Road. Hand built over 500 years ago, it crosses the most difficult and dangerous mountains in all the Americas, diving into sweltering canyons and soaring up into the snows. 1500 miles, half of it on foot, take him from the Equator to Cuzco and the most magical city of all: Machu Picchu. He is attacked, gets lost and is trapped by floods, but when he went home he discovered he had lost what he cared for most.

 

John Harrison is a writer and adventurer  whose last travel book Where the Earth Ends was a Sunday Times Book of the Week and was praised by Jan Morris and many others.  Articles by John have twice won the Alexander Cordell national travel-writing competition.  He spends much of the year driving small boats in Polar regions and guiding and lecturing on small expedition vessels.  His short stories are widely published and he reviews for a variety of publications as well as critiqueing manuscripts for Britain’s premier literary advice agency: TLC.

February
John will be boarding a square rigged sailing vessel the Sea Cloud in Antigua, and lecturing and boat-driving for a week's cruise round the Caribbean. Talks include the economics of slavery, Columbus re-draws he world, the real pirates of the Caribbean, and the impact of the the conquest on the Native peoples.
He then travels on to Colombia to do research for his next major travel book about Cortes, following the conqueror's bloody route to Mexico City.
March
John returns to Antarctica to work on a small expedition cruise ship for the last two cruises of the Antarctic season. He hopes to repeat the rare experience of camping out overnight on the continent.
In April he heads for a short cruise in the Azores before the launch of his new travel book Cloud Road in May.