Carrying frankincense and myrrh, spices from India, gold and exotic African animal skins, the Incense Route was the lifeblood of the countries through which it passed. Barbara Toy set out to travel the length of this long-forgotten route, which once rivaled the Silk Road, at a time of particular turbulence in the region and became the first western woman to have made the journey. Beginning in Bir Ali, Can’a of ancient times, she passed through war zones in Yemen, joined a band of pilgrims as far as Mecca, forged on to Jeddah and Medina, explored the breathtaking Nabataean city of Madain Saleh and then turned north, to Midian, Aqaba, Petra, Amman and finally Damascus. Travelling the Incense Route is both a gripping account of intrepid travel and a portrait of Arabia unlike any other.