All Downhill From Here, by Paul Waters This book tries to be both a “hilarious” account of the author’s JOGLE (John O’Groats to Land’s End) ride, as well as a “How to” guide, for those aspiring to do the same. Waters’ writing style will be enjoyed by some, but I’m not in that crowd. Instead, […]
Book review – Miles From Nowhere, by Barbara Savage
Miles From Nowhere, by Barbara Savage The very short version is that this is a book about a round-the-world bike ride. That description, while true, doesn’t come remotely close to doing this book justice! Published in 1983, it tells the story of how Barbara Savage and her husband Larry Savage, set off to first ride […]
Book review: The Slow Road To Teheran
The Slow Road To Teheran, by Rebecca Lowe I’ll freely admit I absolutely love books that tell the tale of daring, long-distance cycling adventures. A good book like that tells the story of a fantastic cycling adventure. A great book like that tells the story in such a way that cycling, though central to the story […]
Book Review: Travels With Rosinante, by Bernard Magnouloux
If you cannot go on an amazing adventure, such as spending five years cycling around the world, then at least you can share in the adventure others have had, by reading a book they wrote about their adventure. This is what makes cycle touring books so brilliant to read: we get to share vicariously in […]
Book Review – Signs Of Life, by Stephen Fabes
Signs Of Life tells the story of when Stephen Fabes quit his job as a medical doctor to cycle around the world. Like any good travel journal, Fabes doesn’t simply give a blow-by-blow account of the journey, which took him six years to complete. In fact, there are entire countries he cycled through that almost don’t […]
Book review: Along The Med On A Bike Called Reggie, by Andrew P Sykes
I’ve reviewed two other books by the same author before – his 1st book, and his last book. This review is for his second book, which I only fairly recently purchased and read. Sykes is on Twitter as @CyclingEurope, so give him a follow and he has a podcast, with full details available at his […]
Book review – Full Tilt: Ireland to India with a Bicycle, by Dervla Murphy
In 1963, Europe had one of the coldest winters, and 1963, during winter, was when Dervla Murphy set off to cycle from her native Ireland to faraway India. Along the way, she kept a diary, and this book is the result of that diary. The world was a totally different place in 1963, as you’d […]
Book Review: Pedal Power, by Anna Hughes
Pedal Power is a very unusual book, from the pen of the very talented Anna Hughes. I reviewed an earlier book of hers, Eat Sleep Cycle before. What makes this book unusual? It’s non-fiction, but that’s not unusual. The unusual part is it tells the stories of over 80 people who were pedal powered, and […]
Book review: Spain To Norway On A Bike Called Reggie, by Andrew P Sykes
I’ve reviewed one of Andrew P Sykes’ books before – the first book he published, but for some reason or another didn’t get around to reading any of his other books. Since my last review, he’s published several more books. He’s on Twitter as @CyclingEurope, and he has a podcast, with full details available at […]
Book review: Eric Newby – Round Ireland in low gear
This book was recommended to me as a detailed cycle touring book, with the added bonus of being about Ireland, somewhere I know little about, but would love to go cycle touring. Eric Newby was a journalist who published several travel guides, and apparently was asked to write the book. It was first published in […]
Book review – Slow Coast Home, by Josie Dew
This book came highly recommended, and it was with much anticipation that I started reading it. What struck me immediately is that the author is the kind of person I like: she’s not overly organised, prefers wild-camping, and feels at home while cycle touring. Consistently, throughout the book, Dew’s irrepressible sense of humour shines […]
Book review – Riding In The Zone Rouge, by Tom Isitt
In 1919, some madman decided to hold a race called Circuit Des Champs De Bataille – the Tour Of The Battlefields. The battlefields in question were that of World War One, and the route was deliberately designed to run through 2 000 kilometres of carnage. This incredible book tells the story of that race. The […]
Book review – Eat, Sleep, Cycle, by Anna Hughes
If you looked at an accurate world map, or better yet, a globe, you’ll say that the UK isn’t big at all. In fact, especially when compared to a continent like Africa, you could say the UK is tiny. And you’d be correct. Until you decided to cycle the coastline of the UK. If you […]
Book review – The Man Who Cycled The World, by Mark Beaumont
Mark Beaumont set a new Guinness World Record for circumnavigating the world by bicycle in 2008, and this book tells the tale of that event. It sounds so simple, doesn’t it? “Oh, he cycled around the world, and?”. Let’s put that in perspective: have you ever cycled 100+ miles in one day? If so, how […]
Book review – Getting Hold Of A Gun Is Easy, by Alwin Wiederhold
This book hit home for me. So much so, that I had to wait quite some time after I finished reading it, before writing this review. I need to explain that: I grew up in South Africa, during the Apartheid years, and many things touched upon in this book are things I lived through. If […]
Book review – Quondam – Travels In A Once World, by John Devoy
Quondam is not your normal travel book, and you may as well know this from the start. To begin with, it only tells part of Devoy’s journey, but far more unusual than that, it was written decades after the journey. Quondam recounts Devoy’s travels from Cairo to Nairobi. In this always-connected world of ours, Quondam […]
Book review – Where There’s A Will, by Emily Chappell
A breed apart Ultra-distance cyclists are a breed apart from the rest of us, and are uniformly characterised with an almost grim determination. Emily Chappell is certainly no exception. In common with many (though certainly not all) such riders, Chappell seems to be a remarkably humble human being. Not your normal ultra-distance book I’ve read […]
Book review – Endless Perfect Circles, by Ian Walker
Dr Ian Walker is quite well known on Cycling Twitter, being an ardent advocate for cycling, and usually being the voice of reason. Though an obviously very intelligent man, the impression Ian Walker mostly creates is that of a humble and kind human being. For reasons I cannot begin to understand, these are strong characteristics […]
Book review: Crossing Europe…
No, sadly this post isn’t about a forthcoming long-distance cycling holiday. Instead, it is about a book I recently read. I’ve never done a book review before, so forgive me if this one is a tad clumsy. This book is called Crossing Europe on a bike called Reggie and tells the story of Andrew Sykes‘ cycle […]