In contrast to the modern day political animal, here was a real politician who got things done and held real beliefs while not being afraid to express them; not a Thesiger certainly, but living her life fully.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gertrude_Bell

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Dave

Not dead yet 2nd edition by Oisin Hughes dropped on my doorstep Friday.
Only brought this after seeing his RTW trip on Youtube. Will let you know how it pans out but if his videos are anything to go by then it should be a 9 or 10 out of 10.

Thanks for the heads-up.

I've just hooked-into the first of his video series. Looks like a fab story to follow. Six minutes into Part 1 of 52 .. and I've already subscribed!

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Right Way Round ...

I'm a Dan Walsh fan as well. Dan was on HUBB years ago and is mentioned in several posts over the years. And you might even find his posts here under Dan23.
http://www.horizonsunlimited.com/hub...ays-must-36591
You can buy his book on Amazon, also sold under title of "Endless Horizons".
https://www.amazon.com/These-Days-Th.../dp/1846053102

I liked the book but for me his best were articles he wrote for UK's
BIKE magazine. He worked for them for years, goes even further than his book does. Africa, UsA, Latin America and more.

I had mentioned Dan to some Motojourno friends I knew at US Motorcyclist magazine. They ended up sponsoring Dan after reading his BIKE pieces. They got him a new BMW F650 and some up front cash and he did a few installments for the magazine.

So off he went, writing pieces for both BIKE and Motorcyclist ... but something happened in Buenos Aires and Dan kind of went into a self described drunken spiral. He finally pulled out and managed to get the book done.

But as I've said, IMO, Dan's best work were his articles from the road.

Dan is a Manchester, UK native. Not sure where he is now.

Seven Ages of Parisb - by Alistair Horne

One of my very favorites <3

I'd add "A Fortune-Teller Told Me", by Tiziano Terzani.
Not so much to do with fortune tellers, to be honest, just a Dude who made up an excuse to go to some pretty interesting places, and talk to some interesting people. A very engaging writer, I thought.

The Alchemist, by Paulo Coelho, is a short, but powerful book about life and travel, that feels like it's so much longer, in a good way.

I also had problems, at first, with "Zen and the art of.......".
After finding the right time, and forcing myself through it, I've now read it multiple times.
It's one of those book that doesn't actually seem to say a lot in itself, but sends me off down another rabbit hole, that I'd not even thought of before.

Another one, that is nothing to do with travel or motorcycles, but it kind of makes me want to travel, just in the grasp the moment, you only have one life kind of a way, is "As a man thinketh" by James Allen. Another thin book, short book, that feels like an epic, and a multiple reader for me.

Big thumbs up for Joshua Slocum too. If you liked that, try "Ocean Crossing Wayfarer", by Frank and Margret Dye. Not quite the epic of Slocums tale, but a similar spirit of adventure, and gets the travel/adventure juices flowing.

Good suggestions. I've read The Alchemist and As a Man Thinketh. I enjoyed both, although they did not stir me as much as I had expected. Perhaps their reputations led to greater expectations.

Everything I've read by Paul Theroux has been good. Also Graham Greene - Journey Without Maps, Wilfred Thesiger - Arabian Sands, Peter Mathiessen - The Snow Leopard and Eric Newby - A Short Walk in the Hindu Kush.

Two great books instantly spring to mind:

10 years on Two wheels by Helge Pedersen

These are the days that must happen to you by Dan Walsh

Also great books and very popular:
Adventure Motorcycling Handbook by Chris Scott and Jupiter's Travels by Ted Simon.

For Me Ted Simons books
then
The Jungle is Neutral by by Freddie Spencer Chapman, not a travel book per se, but one that puts your odd little incidents into perspective

Stolen Journey, by Oliver Philpot, a journey though occupied Europe
again thought provoking

War Walks by by Professor Richard Holmes, shows the interlinking of history over thousands of years, and renewed my interest in the Great War, by showing how history keeps criss crossing the same arteries of trade

With a machine Gun to Cambrai by George Coppard
an ordinary soldiers account of the Great War, and his Return many years ago to lay the ghosts to rest

Round the World A Wheel by John Foster Fraser
an uninspiring cycle ride around the world with 2 friends in July 1896
so typical of the Victorian generation he made light of his problems
I have a first edition, its rare but worth seeking out or borrowing

and finally, Two Wheel to War by Martin and Nick Shelly
A book I reviewed a few years ago see below

First let me lay my cards on the table !

I have long had a keen interest in motorcycles, and from a very early age I was dreaming about riding and touring on one, later on against parental wishes I took to the road, and still today at my advanced age continue to ride and explore the world around me, viewing it in wonderment and awe

Many of the places mentioned in this book are familiar to me from reading about the Great War, and motorcycling along many of the same roads and villages. My wife's family have always been confused by my love of motorcycles, (they being simple country folk, grew up with cars and tractors) but recently it emerged that her grandfather, was a despatch rider in the Great War and rode a triumph Model H (a picture found on the wall of a relative long forgotten about, brought this fact to life and jogged a few memories).

Now the title of this book may lead one to believe that it is all about motorcycles, and that could make for boring and mundane reading for those of you not afflicted with my passion. Worry not, this is a story of the Great War, young men from all social classes coming together, and growing up quickly and learning to cope, while the world changed around them, and staying sane amidst the horror and destruction for which their generation were ill prepared.

This comprehensive book written by Martin and Nick Shelly, who are both motorcyclists and restorers of Vintage motorcycles, and Marque experts for the V.M.C.C., and highly respected amongst the motorcycling fraternity, is a labour of love, and well worth reading.

The book is based upon the diary and letters home of W.H.L. Watson, one of the intelligent and articulate young men of his day, of whom so many were slaughtered in the Mud of the Somme.So many of these Bright young men were lost that universities had to open up to a wider range of students (one of those being the son of a mill worker, J.B. Priestley)

W.H.L Watson wrote about his life, from joining up with the R.E and taking his motorcycle along to qualify (it is likely that he purchased his machine solely to join up) he writes with great skill of his friends and comrades, the experiences and the horrors, and yet makes light of his suffering. His book, published in 1915 was based upon letters that he wrote home, and that his family loaned to his old school to publish, the Censors initially missed this out, the book being heavily censored, the censored paragraph's are all included and highlighted in this book.

To add to this fine work, Martin and Nick have managed to locate many of the pictures taken at that time by Watson and his comrades, and to decipher their real names from the nicknames used in the stories.

Also letters home from from other members of his regiment are included and nicely cross reference the various scenes so vividly illustrated by him.

Many of these articles have not been seen since 1916 , and appear fresh and new to our modern eye.

Also included is an entire chapter devoted to the types and makes of motorcycles used in the Great War, and to the tools and spares that these men carried on their motorcycles, and to the riding and maintenance of them.

Now reading about their trips, often in darkness, on poor roads (long before tarmac), with the risk of enemy action, mechanical failures, friendly fire, and just the physical damage done by riding in such awful conditions, one is filled with respect for their actions; more so when you consider the fact that the motorcycle as a form of transport was still in its infancy and not considered much more than a rich man's toy!

The motorcycles of this Great War generation, share about as much in common with modern motorcycles as do the Wright Brothers flyer and the Boeing 737. They both have engines and they both fly, but their the similarity ends. (I purposely rode one yesterday to make a full comparison)

These machines, jokingly referred to as gas pipes, were little more than a conventional bicycle to which a crude and often unreliable stationery engine had been affixed, lights were either oil or acetylene, punctures common, as were bent and fractured fork blades, broken spokes, bent rims and snapped frames, broken drive belts, or snapped valves, or just mysterious faults beyond comprehension.

Added to this fact was the lack of petrol and oil available and the lack of skill mechanical engineers well versed in motorcycles to assist the riders.

Many human stories of triumph over adversity are in this fine book, of course the heroism and danger is downplayed as was common with that generation.

The story of them getting behind the lines and stealing a car under the noses of the enemy is real boys own stuff.

Upon first joining the Royal Engineers, Watson's opinion of the Regular soldier is not one of praise or respect, but then the different social stratas that they inhabit would explain that.

However given time, his experiences of the British Army, turn his opinions around, and I find he has a fair old judgement of the system before long, balanced and fair, and heaps praise gently upon the men serving under him and of those he serves and works under.

This book ties in well if you are studying the Great War, so many stories of this period were written by the leaders and decision makers, often some time afterwards and with little personal criticism or explanation of their actions.

The battles of Le Cateu, Mons, The Aisne, and the Retreats, the panics, and some terrible actions are well recorded, you will learn much about how the ordinary soldier lived and eat, their opinions of senior officers, the fear as they went out into the night

This is a very comprehensive book, and even those who know little or nothing about motorcycles will learn from it, all the complexities of the machines are explained in simple terms and with great accuracy, without glorifying the technical details. It runs to 302 pages, well printed and easy to read, 100 black and white photographs and 8 maps.

It is a book well worth reading on a dark evening with the window open and the smell of the French countryside wafting in, if only to remind you how lucky you are, and reading it made me wonder how I could have coped under those conditions ?

Jupiter's Travels by Ted Simon. Stunning read at the time

Another case of a good author with a very good command of the use of English who happened to also have an interest in travelling by motorcycle.


It's easier that way round; some motorcyclists wouldn't know how to construct a coherent sentence.
But ghost writers and youtube will deal with that.

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Dave

Fixed

Agreed. I like Ted Simon for the quality of writing. I had heard an interview with him and he is particularly proud of Jupiter's Travels for this very reason. It may sound a little boastful, but I can't argue that it is very well written and I will give credit where credit is due.

One title missing from the discussion is
Last Hurrah! : From Beijing to Arnhem 2005
(author) Des Molloy


An incident-packed three-month trek from Beijing to Arnhem on 'Penelope', a 1965 Yorkshire-made 650cc Panther, and 'Dutch Courage', a 1954 Norton 600. The route took them across the Northern-most of the Old Silk Roads over the roof of the world through China, Mongolia, Kazakhstan, Pakistan, the burning deserts in Iran, Turkey, Greece, Italy, Germany and finally to Arnhem in Holland.

Jupiter's Travels was, for me, a landmark read in the late 1970's.
Nothing was the same after reading it.
Now, at the age of 63, I am finally able to make plans to ride from Cape Town to Nordkapp.
It's going to be interesting.

Not sure its been mentioned but 'Running with the moon' by Jonny Bealby. Great book with lots of adventure and some romance (traveling down Africa) I've lent it to plenty of non bikers and they really enjoyed it as well.

Anything written by Austin Vince or his wife Louis. Likewise Nathan Millward and Chris scott.

So many great books out there.

Riding with the wind, about the iron butt rides.