Arabia's vast Rub Al Khali desert is one of the world's most extreme and inhospitable environments, and in 1930 the race was on to become the first European to cross what is the biggest sand desert on earth.

The potential hardship was not to deter Bertram Thomas, the intrepid British explorer who set out to travel from south to north in the winter of 1930-3, guided by Omani Sheikh Saleh Bin Kalut al Rashidi al Kathiri. Challenged by the unknown, they walked for nearly 1,300 kilometres from Salalah on the coast of Oman, through the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, to Doha, the capital of Qatar; it was to be the first recorded crossing, dashing the hopes of Ibn Philby.

Now, some 85 years later, leading British explorer Mark Evans has taken on the challenge again, accompanied by an equally intrepid Omani team and crossing the same stretch of desert. Pulling together extensive archive material with contemporary photography Evans presents a dramatic and highly readable account of those 49 days traversing the famous sand sea on foot and by camel - exploration in the grand tradition of the pioneers.