Tregaron’s Ian Tillotson has released another book.

The author of Any Bus in a Storm, Between High Water and Perdition and Paradise Mislaid – 280 Signals Unit, Cape Gata is back with Ten Thousand Miles for Rosy, From Minsk to the Sea of Japan. All are available from Amazon.

Ian writes: “For almost 20 years, a small but intrepid group of wanderers had sought some of the more hidden corners of Africa, of South America, of Australia, and of south-east Asia. For most of that time, I had been filling in an annual application to the Winston Churchill Memorial Trust in the hope of securing one of their coveted Travelling Fellowships.

“Most outcomes fell into the ‘not quite’ category, just a few into ‘so near and yet so far,’ until application, short list, interview, and eager anticipation all fell into the same slot.

“The long-awaited letter of success and approbation initiated a brief warm glow of satisfaction, though this became quickly replaced by a much more prolonged awareness of the magnitude of the necessary preparations.

“My several weeks of journeying were unlikely to fall into the ‘holiday’ bracket. This was to be a study tour that would find its starting location in Belarus, and which would traverse Siberia to a conclusion in Vladivostok.

“Several years earlier, my discovery of an exceedingly rare moth, formerly considered long extinct in Britain, had created something of a ripple of doubt in entomological circles. No food plant existed at its discovery location.

“The entomological wisdom of the day had prospected the location and had found no sign of it. Little was known of the details of its biology. Doubts were being cast until a specimen from that location was taken and Rosy was revealed.

“Years of trapping, attempted captive breeding, release, and study had failed to reveal the identity of Rosy’s preferred diet. Study tours to locations in eastern Europe found healthy populations, but did little more than reveal prospective but unproven alternatives. Rosy’s kitchen was proving elusive.

“Finally, a couple of visits to northern Japan revealed an alternative to Rosy’s staple diet, and a portion of the mystery had become resolved. But how had this evolutionary conundrum materialised? So far as was known, Rosy’s diet comprised a different food plant at only two locations in the world. It was the same diet on each, and each location was ten thousand miles from the other.

“Perhaps my fellowship award, and my long, long transect across Siberia might throw some light on this biological mystery. It was to be an adventurous undertaking.

“My luggage, contained in a single huge rucksack, included scientific, trapping, and electrical equipment, and not a single customs or security location would permit passage before the entire contents of my travelling impedimenta had been spread across a floor, had been minutely scrutinised, and had been demonstrated. Smiling compliance became a regular habit. A journey of this magnitude would surely find companionship among a host of unanticipated problems. It did!

“The accumulated scientific data is not contained in this volume.”

Ten Thousand Miles for Rosy, From Minsk to the Sea of Japan is out now.