Amazon User (PhDavies)

There are many cycling books available that describe long journeys, especially “Round-the-World” adventures. Some are in danger of making the whole genre feel tired and stale and as tedious as the volume of dull “Land’s End to John O’ Groats” stories which are just poorly written, uninteresting day to day accounts.
But not in this case. Tom has produced a superbly original take on the recording of such a journey. You can find the day to day accounts on his blog; but this book is a treasure of bite-size chapters, each describing different aspects of his journey – his emotions, particular experiences, food, people, some specific places, cities, climbs, wildlife etc., etc.. Tom writes with tremendous clarity and far more wisdom at times than he gives himself credit for. In fact, his humility for a nineteen year old is remarkable. Exercising both a necessary dry wit and an exemplary tenacity, his ride and his account of it, is a fresh perspective on an adventure now frequently undertaken. I’ll be giving this book to my son when he comes to consider his gap year. In fact, I might even take a sabbatical myself and follow in Tom’s tyre-treads, so inspirational and honest did I find it.
By the way, although we share the same surname, we are not related (as far as I know!) so this is an unbiased review.