The western world is in panic at the invisible enemy out there, holidays are being cancelled and people are being forced to stay home in self quarantine. And so I thought it would be the perfect time to head off on holiday.
It's Soviet adventurising time again and we are in a new republic for this episode: the ancient mountainous land of Armenia where I heard some stories from the past and up in the mountains discovered the holy grail for Soviet explorers.
With my flight out of Armenia cancelled and finding myself with an unexpected extra few hours left in the city of Yerevan I jumped in a taxi and headed to the centre to look at some sights and try some local wine and food.
The whole world is taking precautions, keeping people safely inside, practicing social distancing, right? Well no...In Belarus they do things differently.
There are six towns in Belarus which have their own breweries. They are Brest, Lida, Vitebsk, Rechitsa, Bobruisk and Minsk. And so I decided to go on a grand tour and try them all...in the cities where they are brewed.
Allow me to share with you some of Belarus' history; Khatin and the story of the village the invaders wiped off the map, Studenka where Napoleon's Grande Armee met a watery end.
Whilst wandering through a remote forest in Belarus and crossing knee deep swamps I stumbled upon an abandoned cottage where the inhabitants had seemingly left in a hurry leaving their belongings behind.
