Farewell to Dervla Murphy

Cycle-touring, Expeditions, Adventures, Major cycle routes NOT LeJoG (see other special board)
pwa
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Farewell to Dervla Murphy

Post by pwa »

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-61555159
A traveller and writer who sparked the desire to roam on a bicycle in many of us.
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simonineaston
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Re: Farewell to Dervla Murphy

Post by simonineaston »

Oh, sad. What an adventurer!
see books here on Amazon. Loads more than just the trip to India I knew about.
S
(on the look out for Armageddon, on board a Brompton nano & ever-changing Moultons)
Stradageek
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Re: Farewell to Dervla Murphy

Post by Stradageek »

I'm in the middle of 'The Waiting Land' having just picked up six of her books in a recent second hand book buying frenzy.

I read 'Full Tilt'some years ago and would highly recommend 'The Island that Dared' if you want to know how the US has destroyed Cuba or 'Between River ans Sea' to understand the apartheid system and ethnic cleansing that continues unabated in Palestine.

And that's what she was all about. She traveled with purpose, and fearlessly embraced and immersed herself in every culture she encountered.

A very unique lady who will be sadly missed :( .
simonhill
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Re: Farewell to Dervla Murphy

Post by simonhill »

Yes, she wrote some excellent books but more importantly she was a great traveller.

I have travelled for many years and often read her books for information and inspiration.

Full Tilt was wonderful and showed what could be done. Also a sad reflection on more innocent days and on the road hospitality, before the mass overland travel to India.

One Foot in Lao was a very early cycle tour in Lao. In her usual style she just bought a cheapo bike (shopper?) and off she went. I cycled there many times in the early 2000s but never matched her low key style of travel.

Also vaguely remember reading Six Feet In The Andes (her and a donkey) before one of my S American trips.

A spunky woman whose 'attitude' certainly hardened as time went on and nothing wrong with that.

I don't think rest in peace is appropriate for such a restless person. So maybe just thanks.
roberts8
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Re: Farewell to Dervla Murphy

Post by roberts8 »

How sad, what an inspirational traveller who showed what you don't need to travel by bike.
Along with Laurie Lee, Bettina Selby, Josie Dew and others they encouraged me to try local rides and travel near and far.
Truly missed.
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simonineaston
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Re: Farewell to Dervla Murphy

Post by simonineaston »

There's an obit in the Graun today here.
Dervla Murphy, with bike c. 1965
Dervla Murphy, with bike c. 1965
Last edited by simonineaston on 25 May 2022, 7:18pm, edited 1 time in total.
S
(on the look out for Armageddon, on board a Brompton nano & ever-changing Moultons)
Tiggertoo
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Re: Farewell to Dervla Murphy

Post by Tiggertoo »

I read 'Full Tilt'some years ago and would highly recommend 'The Island that Dared' if you want to know how the US has destroyed Cuba or 'Between River ans Sea' to understand the apartheid system and ethnic cleansing that continues unabated in Palestine.
I've neither heard of her nor read any of her books - my loss :cry: ! - but is this all a bit preachy? I can get a bit tired of people telling how we should react to events, I'd much rather read the kind of travel books that tell me how much the writer enjoyed the travel.
pwa
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Re: Farewell to Dervla Murphy

Post by pwa »

Tiggertoo wrote: 25 May 2022, 7:10pm
I read 'Full Tilt'some years ago and would highly recommend 'The Island that Dared' if you want to know how the US has destroyed Cuba or 'Between River ans Sea' to understand the apartheid system and ethnic cleansing that continues unabated in Palestine.
I've neither heard of her nor read any of her books - my loss :cry: ! - but is this all a bit preachy? I can get a bit tired of people telling how we should react to events, I'd much rather read the kind of travel books that tell me how much the writer enjoyed the travel.
But there's also something a bit creepy about people who visit troubled parts of the world as tourists and don't take any interest in the problems of the people around them.
Stradageek
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Re: Farewell to Dervla Murphy

Post by Stradageek »

pwa wrote: 26 May 2022, 3:48pm
Tiggertoo wrote: 25 May 2022, 7:10pm
I read 'Full Tilt'some years ago and would highly recommend 'The Island that Dared' if you want to know how the US has destroyed Cuba or 'Between River ans Sea' to understand the apartheid system and ethnic cleansing that continues unabated in Palestine.
I've neither heard of her nor read any of her books - my loss :cry: ! - but is this all a bit preachy? I can get a bit tired of people telling how we should react to events, I'd much rather read the kind of travel books that tell me how much the writer enjoyed the travel.
But there's also something a bit creepy about people who visit troubled parts of the world as tourists and don't take any interest in the problems of the people around them.
To quote Dervla from the obituary:

On that first journey through Afghanistan on her bike, Dervla was appalled to meet foreigners who never talked to an Afghan, let alone entered their homes: “All they had done was photograph them.” In Full Tilt, she describes meeting a 25-year-old American boy, typical of those she met on the trip: “For them, travel is more a going away from rather than going towards, and they seem empty and unhappy and bewildered and pathetically anxious for companionship, yet are afraid to commit themselves to any ideal or cause or other individual.”
Ben@Forest
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Re: Farewell to Dervla Murphy

Post by Ben@Forest »

Tiggertoo wrote: 25 May 2022, 7:10pm I've neither heard of her nor read any of her books - my loss :cry: ! - but is this all a bit preachy? I can get a bit tired of people telling how we should react to events, I'd much rather read the kind of travel books that tell me how much the writer enjoyed the travel.
Frankly I'd agree she was 'preachy'. I wrote this about her books on the forum a few months ago:

Years ago I read Dervla Murphy's book 'Through Siberia by Accident'. She is /was a long-term cyclist tourist and author, though in that book she spent almost no time cycling because of injury. Though I quite liked her books they always told a similar story about the people she met - so nice, so hospitable, really friendly, somehow better than westerners and in this particular book lots of excuses for Russians, Russia, the Soviet Union etc. What she wrote was good but I often felt faintly anti-west, definitely anti-Israel but determined to see the best in other cultures and sometimes that actually not being much deserved.
briansnail
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Dervla Murphy 90 RIP

Post by briansnail »

Murphy, born in Lismore, Co Waterford, was best known for her book Full Tilt: Ireland to India with a Bicycle about cycling through Europe, Iran, Afghanistan, Pakistan and India. She published 26 books about her adventures on cycling (Source:Times)
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Paulatic
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Re: Dervla Murphy 90 RIP

Post by Paulatic »

Discussed here [topics merged by moderator]
Whatever I am, wherever I am, this is me. This is my life

https://stcleve.wordpress.com/category/lejog/
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briansnail
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Re: Dervla Murphy 90 RIP

Post by briansnail »

Apologies did not see that one
djnotts
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Re: Farewell to Dervla Murphy

Post by djnotts »

"And that's what she was all about. She traveled with purpose, and fearlessly embraced and immersed herself in every culture she encountered.

A very unique lady who will be sadly missed :( ."

Just so. A good person as well as brave and adventurous. Very few like her.

Travel in Peace.
Tiggertoo
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Re: Farewell to Dervla Murphy

Post by Tiggertoo »

I'm going to respond to this and make a statement:

Following the reference to her on this forum I got three of her books from the library:
Cameroon with Egbert
Muddling through Madagascar
South from Limpopo

What could have been tales of discovery to wet the appetite of any who might chose to follow after her was in fact in all of these books a diatribe of all the ills white man had visited upon these poor unfortunate peoples. Each descriptive passage became a nauseating litany of everything white men have done every where she had been.

In truth she established herself as a white hating racist. I gave up and returned the books.
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