Product Description

When ex-headmistress Anne Mustoe gave up her job, bought a bike and took to the road, she couldn't even mend a puncture. 12,000 miles and 15 months later, she was home. Her epic solo journey took her around the world, through Europe, India, the Far East and the United States. From Thessaloniki to Uttar Pradesh, from Chumphon to Singapore, she faced downpours, blizzards and blistering deserts, political turmoil and amorous waiters - alternated with great kindness from strangers along the way. "A Bike Ride" is the first in the series of Anne Mustoe's successful and inspiring travelogues.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #6080 in Books
• Published on: 1992-05-21
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 304 pages

From the Back Cover
I was 54, overweight, out of condition and I wobbled slightly on my unfamiliar bicycle.'
When ex-headmistress Anne Mustoe gave up her job, bought a bike and took to the road, she couldn’t even mend a puncture. 12,000 miles and 15 months later, she was home.
Her epic solo journey took her around the world, through Europe, India, the Far East and the United States. From Thessaloniki to Uttar Pradesh, from Chumphon to Singapore, she faced downpours, blizzards and blistering deserts, political turmoil and amorous waiters – alternated with great kindness from strangers along the way.
Told with humour, keen observation and supreme relish for every chance encounter, this is the unique and inspiring story of one woman’s journey of personal discovery.
Praise for Anne Mustoe
‘Evocative reading’ Observer
‘Her wry sense of humour is one of the great charms of Lone Traveller’ Daily Telegraph
‘A book about the true spirit found in real travellers, written by a real traveller’ Wanderlust

About the Author
Anne Mustoe read Classics at Cambridge and was the headmistress of a girls' school in Suffolk until 1987, when she left her job and embarked on her first solo journey around the world by bicycle. She is an established travel writer with a substantial following who lectures regularly on her adventures.

Customer Reviews

Hope on wheels
I have lived with this book ever since it came out in paperback in 1992. I have read it now seven times, and I never weary of it. It is a wonderful book, to inspire, occasionally to sadden, but most of all to inspire with the idea of a shared humanity. I have read the other reviews with genuine interest, and the one area where, as someone who has read a great deal of travel writing, I want to take issue is with the suggestion either that there is too much history, or not enough personal material. Anne Mustoe gets the balance exactly right. We are always with her as she cycles into town, usually thanking our lucky stars that we don't have cockroaches or other unmentionables under OUR beds. Incidentally, the original Virgin paperback did have a photo of Anne on the cover; and there are photos of her in the other books. She is a handsome woman; but she is also a wise woman, and a writer of great skill.

Buy and cherish this book. It took me a few years after reading it to pluck up courage to organise a solo holiday (in Japan) without going down the package route. We all have our levels of bravery, I guess; and Anne Mustoe's is exponentially higher than mine. But without her book, I don't think I'd have even done that!

Amazing Feat, But Disappointing Read
What an amazing feat. A cyclists dream, but one which is getting more and more difficult to attempt due to all the world unrest.

Unfortunately the book doesn't quite live up to the feat itself. The book tells much of the history of the places visited. I would have preferred more narrative on the people met, and the emotions of Anne herself. I must admit I skipped a few chapters because I got bored.

Well done on the cycle, but a disappointing book in which I wanted to know more about the author, and was left wanting.

54-Year Old Historian Cycles Around the World
This was an inspirational book, written by a historian. I enjoyed the book.

However, I was disappointed with the book in one way. The author speaks mainly as a historian, taking the reader on a historical tour of all of the places she visted on her bike. Even by the end of the book, we know very little about the author herself, or her personal feelings. There are several very poor, black-and-white photos of places she visited, but there is not even one photo of her! I would have preferred one photo of her, with her bicycle, anywhere, than all of the other photos she included in the book. I would also have liked her to share more of her personal life with the reader, which she seems to have purposely avoided (In the chapter where she travels through the American Midwest, she comments that Americans seem to discuss their personal problems even with strangers, but indicates that she feels that is an oddity. I found that an interesting comment on American culture, and probably very true, when compared with other cultures, especially the British culture.)

This one issue aside, I found the book inspiring, for a woman of her age, and poor physical condition (at the outset) to have cycled around the world. I read with great interest her descriptions of the people's behavior (both toward her and toward each other) in various places. I was quite surprised by her descriptions of Pakistanis, Indians, and various Americans (as an American myself). I was both surprised and not surprised by her travels across America--it being the hardest place because of the vast, empty distances (particularly in the West).

Disappointingly, the author shared only a few minor details of her life. I am quite a history buff myself, but this book rather overdosed on history. Nevertheless, I did pick up a few interesting historical tidbits. For example, I found it quite interesting that her cycling through Italy was far easier than many other places (in spite of the mountains) because the Romans constructed their roads in such a way as to try to never give up height before reaching the highest point. Therefore, the route gradually climbed, whereas in newer areas (such as America), modern roads repeatedly climb and fall, making it much harder on a cyclist.