9 November                         John Pilkington

“A Stroll Through the Axis of Evil”

Lebanon, Syria, Iraq and Iran are in the news for all the wrong reasons. Starting in Beirut, John unravelled a picture quite different from the news stories as he followed a winding route from the Euphrates, the Caucasus and the Valleys of the Assassins to finish on the Persian Gulf. He enjoyed unbridled hospitality from a spectacular variety of people: Druze, Maronites, Arabs, Kurds, Armenians, Azeris and both Shi’ite and Sunni Iranians – and found families and whole communities working together to survive the harsh climate and political strife.