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tonyzale's review
2.0
I’ve read several books in the genre of “Adventurous Spirit Takes on an Ill-Advised, Self-Powered Journey”. Many of these stories focus on the hijinks of the poorly-prepared traveller, but this one skews toward well-researched historical anecdotes and journal-like descriptions of the trip. Eric and Wandy Newby decide to bike around Ireland; unfortunately they plan their journey for December and are met with the inhospitable combination of bad weather and severely limited out-of-season tourist infrastructure. The pair soldier on through endless rain and occasional snow. You can almost picture their soaked reflections in the windows of the closed-for-season pubs and B+Bs.
Much of the book is comprised of seemingly random historical anecdotes about sites along their route. These can occasionally be interesting. There are some good details about the English/Irish conflicts, medieval celts, and multiple tales of Catholic apparitions that appeared before locals in recent times. Nothing ties these anecdotes together beyond the author’s interest in them, though. I found myself skimming through passages providing exhaustive information about the design of different fishing boats or the lineage of local monarchs. In some cases I tried using Google to follow up on obscure references and couldn’t even find relevant material in the first couple pages of search results.
Somewhat more successful are the author’s descriptions of his personal interactions with bartenders and innkeepers, even if these often devolve into an exercise of phonetically capturing the Irish accent. He laments the disappearing “old ways” of Ireland. The book was written in 1987 and it’s possible that the details he’s captured about peat cutters and thatched roof cottages have completely eroded from view.
This book is not a compelling page-turner, but it does capture the experience of touring outside the confines of the typical vacation experience.
Much of the book is comprised of seemingly random historical anecdotes about sites along their route. These can occasionally be interesting. There are some good details about the English/Irish conflicts, medieval celts, and multiple tales of Catholic apparitions that appeared before locals in recent times. Nothing ties these anecdotes together beyond the author’s interest in them, though. I found myself skimming through passages providing exhaustive information about the design of different fishing boats or the lineage of local monarchs. In some cases I tried using Google to follow up on obscure references and couldn’t even find relevant material in the first couple pages of search results.
Somewhat more successful are the author’s descriptions of his personal interactions with bartenders and innkeepers, even if these often devolve into an exercise of phonetically capturing the Irish accent. He laments the disappearing “old ways” of Ireland. The book was written in 1987 and it’s possible that the details he’s captured about peat cutters and thatched roof cottages have completely eroded from view.
This book is not a compelling page-turner, but it does capture the experience of touring outside the confines of the typical vacation experience.
smemmott's review
3.0
Interesting travelogue, combining stories of the pleasures and perils of biking through Ireland with sharp but affectionate descriptions of people and places. Sometimes a bit heavy on history.
sheilabookworm3369's review
3.0
I laughed, I cringed, and I confirmed & reconfirmed the car rental three or four times through the course of this book. :-)
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