The author is well-known and successful in the world of endurance cycling – people who cycle 200 or more kilometres a day, day after day, across continents, grabbing a few hours sleep here and there, eating what and when they … Continue reading →
It’s 2015 and Mark Beaumont’s back on his bike. Round the World – done it. North and South America – done it. Then a break from the bike to attempt the transatlantic rowing record – not done it because the … Continue reading →
“A wonderful, gritty expedition book”, writes Chris Bonington on the cover of Andrew Greig’s “Summit Fever”. Much as I like that book I don’t agree with Sir Chris’s use of ‘gritty’ to describe it. But “Walking the Amazon” is a wonderful, gritty … Continue reading →
It’s probably a safe bet that not many people outside the USA have heard of John Wesley Powell, but he and a motley assortment of backwoodsmen and adventurers made one of the great exploration journeys that helped open up the … Continue reading →
Subtitled "Up the Yukon Without a Paddle" this book is one of those "We wanted to get away from it all and although we hadn’t a clue what we were doing we somehow managed to survive" stories. And frankly it’s … Continue reading →
A journey is not always a challenge, nor is a challenge always an adventure. An episode in a life can be none, one, two, or all three of these things. In his previous book “The Man Who Cycled The World” … Continue reading →
This was my second long-distance cycling book in three months: partly co-incidence and partly because the author, Mark Beaumont, had been on television with a three-part series about cycling the length of the Americas* and this book was on prominent … Continue reading →
What a pleasant surprise this book was! Despite its messy and rather old-fashioned cover I picked it up in the bookshop because I like cycling and I like food, the two topics which are its raison d’être. Expecting another read … Continue reading →
For many British people there is a blank period of history covering the decade and a half from the end of the Second World War. In south-east Asia the Federation of Malaya, as it was then, gained independence in 1957; … Continue reading →
What do you know about Bhutan? Probably not very much, apart perhaps from it being a Himalayan kingdom somewhere up around Nepal and Tibet. Even now Bhutan is a remote and inaccessible corner of the world. There is no British … Continue reading →