cycle touring books

[beeb]

I have read blogs and watched you tubes about cycle touring. However I really enjoy a good cycling book.

I read Mark Beaumonts books and have read some humorous accounts of cycle tours, has anyone got any they can recommend as being a really good read.

thanks

[TrevA]

Alastair Humphreys books about his round the world ride - Moods of Future Joys and Thunder and Sunshine are worth a read. Josie Dew’s early books - Wind in my Wheels and Travels in a Strange State are also worth a read. I can’t get on with her later books, as she became too verbose for my liking. I also liked Bettina Selby’s books and some of Anne Mustoe’s, particularly the first one about riding around the world.

I’ve read several of Tim Moore’s books and they are very humorous, particularly French Revolutions.

[borisface]

+1 for Moods of future joys.

I also really enjoyed Janapar by Tom Allen.

The Hungry Cyclist by Tom Keevil-Davis was not a bad read.

A couple of 'period' pieces - Nicholas and Richard Crane Journey to the centre of the earth and Bernard Magnouloux Travels with Rosinante both from the 1980s but the changes in the last 40 years are startling.

Not a cycling book but Eric Newby's A short walk in Hindu Kush is very good.

[Jdsk]

Not a cycling book but Eric Newby's A short walk in Hindu Kush is very good.

It is. As are nearly all his others. Unfortunately I found the weakest was Round Ireland in Low Gear.

Jonathan

[Mike Sales]

A more unusual account of cycle touring is H.W.Tilman's ride of three thousand miles across Africa from Kampala to what was rhen French Cameroons on the Atlantic, in the Thirties.
It is available in his book "Snow on the Equator", mostly about climbing, including Kilimanjaro and the first ascent of Mt.Kenya.
The conditions were rather harder in those days.
There are few people who have led a more adventurous life than Tilman.

When it came time to leave Africa, Tilman was not content with merely flying home but rode a bicycle across the continent to the West Coast where he embarked for England.

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

[Galloper]

Any books by Josie Dew or Anne Mustoe. Edward Enfield's books for a very laid back approach.

[Jdsk]

Computing across America
https://microship.com/computing-across-america/

Highly Recommended

Jonathan

[simonhill]

Full Tilt by Dervla Murphy. Excellent account of cycling to India by a complete novice on a shopper.

One Foot in Lao by her is also an interesting read, but less cycling.

[pedalsheep]

I've enjoyed Chris Poultney's 3 books about his obsessive quest to cycle round the world without using any motorized assistance while on land - including escalators! When forced to travel in a truck at a Chinese border crossing he restarted his attempt from the other side so virtually went round the world twice! Obsessive but warm hearted and humorous.

Helen Lloyd 'Desert Snow' and 'A Siberian Winter's Tale'

Closer to home
Mike Carter 'One Man and his Bike' cycling the coast of Britain or Anna Hughes 'Eat, Sleep, Cycle' for another take on cycling round Britain.
Ellie Bennet 'Mud,Sweat and Gears' an extended LeJog with a lot of pub stops.

[drossall]

I enjoyed Anna Hughes, "Eat, Sleep, Cycle" about a ride around the coast of Britain. To be fair, I know her Dad and, less so, Anna, but I don't think that affected my view.

There's one by the same publisher, but a different author, on the same theme that I read just after that one and was also good. I'll have a look. Edit: It's "One Man and His Bike" by Mike Carter, and pedalsheep mentioned both books just before I did

[gbnz]

Anne Mustoe, "12000 miles around the world". Have to admit I've no interest in reading cycling literature..........but aside from the incredible bike ride, the language, composition, reflections remain incredible.

[borisface]

Not a cycling book but Eric Newby's A short walk in Hindu Kush is very good.

It is. As are nearly all his others. Unfortunately I found the weakest was Round Ireland in Low Gear.

Jonathan

I absolutely loved Love and War in the Apennines, one of my desert island books for sure. Another being Fitzroy Maclean's Eastern Approaches.

[mattsccm]

Murphy, Tilman, Newby, Crane. Excellent Drew and Mustoe. Dire. Can't give the books away at club meetings.

[tatanab]

After The Gold Rush by John Stuart Clark (a.k.a the cartoonist - Brick). Following the 49'ers trail across the USA. Back roads, small town experiences.

[Jdsk]

Not a cycling book but Eric Newby's A short walk in Hindu Kush is very good.

It is. As are nearly all his others. Unfortunately I found the weakest was Round Ireland in Low Gear.

I absolutely loved Love and War in the Apennines, one of my desert island books for sure.

Very moving. Up there with The Last Grain Race.

Jonathan