The World According to Duncan Falconer

Mountain/desert/jungle/ocean which are you.

All I’m afraid. You missed out the Arctic which is possibly my favourite.

First travel experience?

Hadrian’s Wall when I was 12 or 13. I did that in a VW Beetle with a teacher and three other boys. It must’ve been good because I still remember so much of it whereas I remember little form those days. Or a school day trip to Boulogne if you mean going abroad. Very forgettable. I think I was there for a couple of hours then back on the ferry.

Favourite journey?

I have two lives really. One as an adventurer through hostile regions, the other as a normal person who likes to travel. I have many memorable journeys in both lives.

Re: the hostile journeys, I suppose the one from the Turkish border in Kurdistan, south through Mosal and into Baghdad just as the last Gulf War was winding up was quite interesting – before the insurgents took over.

As a normal person, my favourite journey was when my girlfriend at the time (now my wife) and I were smuggled by three old ladies from the Greek island of Kastellorizo into Kas in Turkey by fishing boat early one morning. One of the old ladies was going to see her boyfriend in Kas although her husband was the captain of the small fishing boat we used – I know – we were very confused at the time as we never found that out until she didn’t turn up to return with us. We were stopped by the Turkish police on leaving who were very charming and accepted only a token bribe since we were not particularly threatening.

Top five places worldwide?

The Glittertin in winter

The Khyber Pass in winter

Ballito, Durban, SA

Prats de Mollo, Pyrenees

Burnham Market, Norfolk