The Road to Ruins

'Young man required to drive overland to Australia.' In October 1963, the 22-year-old Robert Grant, recently invalided out of the army and demoralised by the stifling conformity of postwar Britain, responded to this advertisement in The Times. It had been placed by another young Englishman, Gordon Lindsay, who needed a second driver for an ambitious land journey as far as South Asia, before a planned final leg to Australia by sea. The following year, after meticulous preparation, the two of them would embark on an extraordinary expedition in their customised Land Rover, taking them across Western Europe, North Africa, the Middle East and the Indian subcontinent - a world of ancient wonders and modern challenges. The Road to Ruins chronicles their odyssey through some of history's most significant cultural sites, from Chartres and Granada to the Taj Mahal and the Ganges. They navigated through sandstorms, passed through perilous border crossings, and encountered both danger and extraordinary kindness. Their story encompasses the great archaeological treasures of Giza, Timgad, Leptis Magna, Palmyra, Babylon and Persepolis, many of which have since been damaged or destroyed by conflict. Illustrated with some two hundred colour photographs taken during this journey, The Road to Ruins captures a moment in time when these ancient sites still stood in splendid isolation, waiting to be discovered by two young adventurers armed with curiosity and courage.