‘Whether it is on 4 wheels or 2, I have always designed a journey with a clearly defined start and end point’.  So it was in 1975 when I drove from London to Singapore and then again, to mark the 30th anniversary, when I rode a motorbike 8,000 miles across Russia from London to Vladivostok in 2005.

Just 6 years ago and yet at the time no one could give us any information on road conditions or what we would encounter. No information on the internet, no Russian friends who had made the journey and dire warnings of brigands ready to pounce on unsuspecting travellers. The two of us left London in April.......

Nick Laing began his career in the Scots Guards which was followed by a 10 year stint of farming. In 1989 he founded Steppes Travel, but has now stepped back from everyday management to allow more time for travel and in particular motor biking.