Jude Brosnan | 13 July 2021
10 books to inspire cycling adventures
With the Tour de France in full force and more people appreciating the benefits of slow travel, Jude Brosnan from Stanfords recommends 10 books to inspire you to pump up your tyres
With the Tour de France in full force and more people appreciating the benefits of slow travel, Jude Brosnan from Stanfords recommends 10 books to inspire you to pump up your tyres
The recipient of the 2021 Edward Stanford Award for Outstanding Contribution to Travel Writing, Dervla Murphy is a cycling icon and I am in constant awe of her strength and determination. As if being a ten year-old girl in 1940s Lismore, County Waterford with dreams of cycling to India wasn’t bold enough, actually executing the trip 21 years later as a lone woman on her bicycle in 1963 was beyond bold. This book gives a great insight into the political state of affairs in the 1960s and shows what an adventurous life can result from giving a ten-year-old child a bicycle and an atlas.
Full Tilt: Ireland to India with a Bicycle by Dervla Murphy
In 1921, Britain’s most illustrious highway, the Great North Road, ceased to exist - on paper at least. Stretching from London to Edinburgh, the old road was largely replaced by the A1 as the era of cars took hold. A century later, journalist and cyclist Steve Silk set off on an adventure across 11 days and 644km. Travelling by bike at a stately 23km per hour, he heads north, searching out milestones and memories, coaching inns and coffee shops. Seen from a saddle rather than a car seat, the towns and the countryside of England and Scotland reveal traces of Britain’s remarkable past and glimpses of its future. Instead of the familiar service stations and tourist hotspots, Steve tracks down the forgotten treasures of this ancient highway between the two capitals.
The Great North Road by Steve Silk
When Stephen Fabes left his job as a junior doctor and set out to cycle around the world, frontline medicine quickly faded from his mind. Of more pressing concern were the daily challenges of life as an unfit rider on an overloaded bike. But leaving medicine behind is not as easy as it seems. On the road he finds people whose health has suffered through exile, stigma or circumstance, and others, whose lives have been saved through kindness and community. After encountering a frozen body of a monk in the Himalayas, he is drawn ever more to healthcare at the margins of the world, to crumbling sanitoriums and refugee camps, to city dumps and war-torn hospital wards. And as he learns the value of listening to people – not just solving diagnostic puzzles – Stephen challenges us to see caring for the sick as a duty born from humanity and compassion.
Signs of Life by Stephen Fabes
Jools Walker rediscovered cycling aged 28 after a ten-year absence from the saddle. When she started blogging about her cycle adventures under the alias Lady Velo, a whole world was opened up to her. But it’s hard to find space in an industry not traditionally open to women – especially women of colour. Shortly after getting back on two wheels, Jools was diagnosed with depression and then, in her early 30s, had a mini-stroke. Throughout these trials Jools’ love of cycling remained a constant anchor in her life. Jools talks to the other female trailblazers who are disrupting the cycling narrative as well as telling the story of how she overcame her health problems, learned how to cycle her own path and even found a love of padded Lycra shorts along the way.
Back in the Frame by Jools Walker
The Transcontinental is an unassisted 4,000km bike race across Europe. In 2015, Emily Chappell made her first attempt and made it halfway. The next year she entered the race again – and won. Where there’s a Will takes us into Emily Chappell’s race, grinding up mountain passes and charging down the other side; snatching 20 minutes’ sleep on the outskirts of a village before jumping back on the bike to surge ahead for another day; feeding in bursts and navigating on the go. We experience the crippling self-doubt of the ultra distance racer, the confusing intensity of winning and the desperation of losing a dear friend who understood all of this.
Where there’s a Will by Emily Chappell
For Anna, a cycling enthusiast, the decision to ride 6,437km solo around the coast of the UK wasn’t that hard. Following the river from London until it became the sea, then following the sea until it reached the mouth of the Thames again was a beautifully simple idea. But after epic highs, incredible lows, unforgettable scenery and unpronounceable place names – as well as a hearty battle with some good old British weather – her simple idea turns into a compelling journey of self-discovery, and an eye-opening insight into what makes the island where she lives so special.
Eat, Sleep, Cycle by Anna Hughes
Ten years after breaking a world record for cycling around the world, writer Julian Sayarer – winner of the Edward Stanford Travel Writing Award – returns to two wheels on the roads of Israel and occupied Palestine. His route weaves from the ancient hills of Galilee, along the blockaded walls of the Gaza Strip and down to the Bedouin villages of the Naqab Desert. He speaks with Palestinian hip-hop artists who wonder if music can change their world, Israelis hoping that kibbutz life can, and Palestinian cycling clubs determined to keep on riding despite the army checkpoints and settlers that bar their way. Pedalling through a military occupation, in the chance encounters of the roadside, a bicycle becomes a vehicle of more than just travel, and cuts through the tension to find a few simple truths, and some hope.
Fifty Miles Wide by Julian Sayarer
Cavendish, Froome, Wiggins, Merckx – we know the winners of the Tour de France, but here, Max Leonard tells the forgotten, often inspirational and occasionally absurd stories of the last-placed rider. The title Lanterne Rouge, which is derived from the red lantern that hangs on the rear of a train, flips the Tour de France on its head and examines what these stories tell us about ourselves, the 99% who don’t win the trophy, and forces us to re-examine the meaning of success, failure and the nature of sport.
Lanterne Rouge by Max Leonard
Ishbel Holmes – known online as World Bike Girl – was determined to cycle the world but her journey took an unexpected turn when, despite her initial instincts not to, she rescued a street dog in Turkey. This heart-rending tale is about more than just the relationship between a woman and her dog. It is a testimony to the human spirit, overcoming present-day challenges and churning up long-buried and painful memories from Ishbel’s earlier life. It is a tale of adventure, one person’s determination to cross an unfamiliar country by bike and the unforgettable scenes that greet her on the Turkey-Syria border and into Syria itself.
Me, My Bike and a Street Dog Called Lucy by Ishbel Holmes
In 2009 Oli Broom left his nine-to-five job in London and set off to cycle 25,750km to Brisbane for the Ashes. Along the way he played cricket in the shadow of Turkey’s Blue Mosque, slept in a goat pen in Sudan, dodged a five-metre crocodile in the outback, battled mountains in sub-zero temperatures in Bulgaria and negotiated the treacherous highways of India. Starring the colourful characters he met on his travels, this is a funny and poignant tale for anyone who’s ever dreamt of quitting their day job to embark on an adventure.
Cycling to the Ashes by Oli Broom
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