I have been an avid desert traveller since 2001. My first experience of desert travel was a 26,000km journey, which I organized and led, from London to Beijing, which crossed the Dasht-e-Kavir and Dasht-e Lut deserts in Iran, as well as the Kharan Desert in Balochistan, Pakistan, and parts of the Thar in both Pakistan and India. But my most memorable journey across the desert was when I took part in the Marathon Des Sables, in 2003. This is a six-day ultra-marathon which is held in the south of Morocco, in the Sahara Desert - Discovery Channel describes it as the "Toughest Footrace on Earth". I recently got to go to Saudi Arabia on work, and was fascinated by the Sarawat mountain range between Jeddah and Taif. This is a range which rises out of the desert - the mountains here are very young, and jagged and arid. I've also had several fun trips to Dubai where I've indulged in some wadi bashing .