Levison travels 700 miles along Russia's militarised southern border, enjoying the legendary hospitality of the Caucasian people while trying to avoid the close attentions of the Russian police.

Levison and Rasheed head into the remote mountains on the journey to Ingushetia, accompanied by a government minder as the area has had problems with Islamist terrorist attacks. Walking through what feels like an unknown paradise untouched for hundreds of years, Levison finds piles of bones - the remnants of ancient Ingush burial ceremonies - in centuries old fortified towers. Later, in the old capital of Nazran, they attend a sacred Sufi ceremony in honour of a young boy who has recently died.

In Dagestan - which the Foreign Office warns against visiting - Levison experiences warrior clans' hospitality, stunning beauty and ancient cities. Then it's on to country-of-contrasts Azerbaijan.

Levison meets nomadic shepherds and dangerous dogs in the Gobustan desert, climbs to a castle halfway up a cliff, visits Stalin's birthplace and meets a hermit monk who lives atop a 45-metre monolith.

Levison travels through Armenia and Europe's forgotten warzone Nagorno-Karabakh, before heading into Iran towards Tehran, the Caspian Sea and the journey's end.