Product Description

Alastair Humphreys' round the world journey of 46,000 miles was an old-fashioned adventure: long, lonely, low-budget and spontaneous. Cycling across five continents and sailing over the oceans, his ride took four years to complete, on a tiny budget of hoarded student loans. "Thunder and Sunshine" is the final part of the remarkable expedition. Having pedalled through the Middle East and Africa and to Cape Town. He still had to cross to South America and ride upto Canada across Siberia and back through Europe to finish his journey. In many ways, this was only the beginning. "Thunder and Sunshine" recounts an epic journey that succeeded through Humphreys' trust in the kindness of strangers, at a time where the interactions of our global community are more confused and troubled than ever.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #2465 in Books
• Published on: 2008-06-01
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 350 pages

Customer Reviews

Adventure, thriller, crime, romance ... and excellent bike touring insights
Alastair's first book was great: ordinary Yorkshire lad toughens up in the crucible of Africa and triumphs. In his second and much better book, Alastair pushes himself even harder and becomes a Nietzschean superman, riding the Road of Bones in Siberia in winter in temperatures of minus 40 degrees. It's quite incredible how tough a man can become and still remain human, literate and sensitive, as Alastair does.

This book has it all, it's a great travel read, a look into the human soul and how most people, given enough determination, could attempt something like this and grow massively in the process. For bikers, it's something special, as he has some great insights and tips for world bike touring and camping. Of all the world cycling books, this one is most relevant and useful for anyone thinking of or planning an adventure like this.

Not just a list of places passed through...
Enjoyed the first book. Good that this follows on (although it stands alone as a book - you don't have to have read the first volume). It is easy to care for the writer, so its nice to find out what happened to him next.

Once again there is expression of emotion, confidence, doubt etc which is so much better than the boring travelogs of some, who mistakenly think just listing places visited is a story. I hope to read more from this author in the future.

the best book about a big long bike trip on the market
I have read an awful lot of books about people making big long bike trips, and in my view this one is the best of the lot. It charts the second half of Alasdair Humphreys' round the world cycle trip and is a continuation of his first book, Moods of future joys. In this book he travels by boat from Cape town to Rio, and then by bus to very southern tip of the Americas. From there he cycles up the west coast of south America through to Columbia, where he then hops on a boat for a while, before continuing by bicycle up through the western seaboard of the States and Canada. Another boat trip, Alaska and he reaches the top of the Americas. All that in 161 pages. There is adventure, humour, thrills and spills throughout. Sometimes he cycles alone, sometimes with others, sometimes naked. The momentum never stops. This is so much more than a travelog. But if that wasnt enough he then gets another boat, crosses the icy depths of Siberia, Japan, China, the `stans' and back through Europe. The second half if anything is better than the first. I don't know if he was a writer before he set out, but he certainly was one by the time he got back. This is so much more than a story about a bloke from yorkshire on a bike. It is a journey of self discovery that you can share and learn from. Inspiring and entertaining at the same time.