Title: Along the Med on a Bike Called Reggie
Author: Sykes, Andrew P
Published by: CyclingEurope.org
Year: 2014
First published: CyclingEurope.org, 2014
Date reviewed: 01.16
ISBN: 9781849145053

This review puts me in a dilemma. How honest should I be? Let me explain.

I first came across Andrew P Sykes in the summer of 2015 while he was blogging his bike ride from Tarifa, at the southern tip of Spain, to Nordkapp (North Cape) in the far north of Norway. An epic ride! I followed him on twitter and after one or two exchanges he followed me back. We’ve had several conversations since, and I think of him as someone I ‘know’. I don’t want to upset him.

On the other hand I do feel I ought to be honest in these reviews, otherwise what’s the point? So Andrew, when you’re reading this — as I expect you will — don’t panic! I liked the book. But I think there are things about it that could have been better. Here’s my review.

How does a failed trainee accountant turned secondary school French teacher fill his summer holidays? By cycling from the south-east corner of Greece to the south-west corner of Portugal, of course. 50 days’ cycling through 10 countries, 9 rest days and over 5500 kilometres go into this book. Unlike some other writers in this genre Sykes has chosen to write a short chapter for each day of his journey. It’s a difficult self-imposed discipline: it made me think of someone walking along a pebbly beach picking up a pebble determined to find something interesting about it before dropping it and picking up the next. In this case it mostly works, but it makes the book quite long and perhaps smooths out the contrasts between the highs and lows of the journey.

What does come through is Sykes’ own personality. He had no real plan for his journey, deciding more or less day by day where to head for and where to stay, taking each day as it came. As he says, he prefers not to know too much about the road ahead; if it looks too challenging it can sometimes be hard to get motivated. He’s not quite carefree, but confident enough to cope with uncertainty and make the best of things. He gets serious about some things (the environment), flippant about others (odd place names), and takes time to give some background and history of the places he visits and people he meets. His bike, personified as Reggie, sometimes acts as the foil to Sykes’ self-deprecating humour.

It’s a shame he couldn’t find a publisher; this book is self-published. I think the book suffers a bit from not having a publisher’s editor involved. I would have welcomed some pictures and maps but presumably cost ruled them out, which is a pity because there are some great pictures on his Tarifa – Nordkapp blog.

But none of this detracts from Sykes’ achievement. It was a great ride, and an honest account of it. There’s plenty to enjoy as you share the ups and downs, meet the characters and explore the places. I want to go to Ubeda and stay in the Neuve Leyendas hotel with its delightful owners. And I want to read the Tarifa – Nordkapp book when it comes out.