Round Ireland in Low Gear

“Eric Newby is one of the world’s great travel writers, a man who has explored the steppes of Russia, the heights of the Hindu Kush, the high seas (by windjammer), the Ganges (by rowing boat) – all with humor, curiosity, and aplomb. But he faced a stern challenge when he decided to explore Ireland by mountain bike (or boike, as the Irish call it). Quixotically, the Newbys (he was sustained in this enterprise by his wife Wanda, who agreed to accompany him in order ‘to keep him out of trobble’) chose to begin their tour in December, an set off wearing thermal underwear, their bikes laden with maps, spare parts, and a portable library of books on Irish architecture and folklore. Lashed by winter storms an dfuelled by a diet of Guineness, port and Spam, the Newbys nevetheless found Irland as rich and romantic a place as legend and history suggest.

They visited the haunts of saints and hermits, the sites of lost cities and Armada wrecks, the ruins of castles and the remain s of follies. They were chased by ferocious dogs, and expelled from an Irish castle by formidable ladies: but they found a warmer welcome among the splendors of the great country houses. As spring gave way to summer, they discussed poetry on the banks of the Grand Canal and peat-cutting with master of the art in the great Bog of Allen. They visited the great horse fair of Spancil Hill and climbed the holy mountain of Crough Patrick.

Eric Newby here captures the very essence of Ireland – including the most esoteric corners of its history and the eccentricities of the Irish character. Infused with all of his characteristic wit and erudition, Newby’s account of his odyssey is a treat any traveler, armchair or otherwise, deserve: for this transatlantic bestseller is, as the London Sunday Times put it, ‘great travel writing.'”