As inveterate walkers Collins and his partner Flic decided to continue to travel 'close to the land' post diagnosis, leaving the tourist trails and visiting places of extremes: the Himalayas, rainforests, deserts. The difficulties of rough terrain, altitude, extremes of climate for a person with Collins' condition are an ongoing strand of his narrative; occasionally they cannot be overcome and Collins is forced to consider the frailties of the human body in passages of moving contemplation.

The Road to Zagora also includes an element of memoir, as Parkinson's Disease also causes
Collins to reflect on his life, and in particular on his relationship with Flic. There are moments of great charm as their relationship evolves, and also the drama of previous serious illnesses.

Yet any sentiment or self-pity is denied through Collins's resolute and independentmindedness and the quality of writing. In the travel passages the readers experiences the sheer physicality of Collins' expeditions, along with his novelist's eye for telling local detail. In the sequences of memoir the writing is humane, compassionate and quite often comic.