Customer Reviews

Lone Traveller: One Woman, Two Wheels and the World

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3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(1)
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When I heard that Anne Mustoe had written a second book on her travels, I just had to have it. Her first book "A Bike Ride" is one of my favourite travel books, read and re-read over the years.

At age 54, she left her job and set out alone to circle the globe on her bicycle (as detailed in "A Bike Ride"). Once was not enough for the intrepid Mustoe, however, and at 60 she embarked on a second world cycle tour which she describes in "Lone Traveller". Starting from the Colosseum in Rome, she followed Roman Roads to Lisbon. From there she travelled the routes of the Conquitadores across South America, followed in the footsteps of Austrailan explorers through the Outback and embarked on the fabled Silk Road from China to the Mediterranean.

Anne Mustoe is intelligent, articulate and literate. A scholar and former headmistress, her expolits are told in an engaging and delightful fashion. She brings a freshness and immediacey to her writing, unlike the cynical observations of many world-weary travel writers. Mustoe is delighted to immerse herself in new countries and cultures, but without sugar-coating the difficulties met and sumounted along the way. Her amazing joureys make for a breathtaking read -- I had great difficulty in putting this book down.

I had the great opportunity to meet Anne Mustoe on my recent travels in Mali, West Africa. She is a great lady and I could hardly wait to get home and read her 2 books. I couldn't put them down. Her descriptions are animated, entertaining and humorous. They are filled with lots of great advice for any traveller who wants to go everywhere, whether on bike or not. She provides an insight into cultures that only a traveller going through many different countries in succession can provide. It is not hard for me to imagine her in Italy or the Gobi desert pedalling along. I anxiously look forward to her next book 2 Wheels in the Dust.

I picked up this book about a year ago because it was unique. It was about cycle touring and written by a woman. As I read I became more and more impressed with Anne Mustoe's travel accomplishments and hope to be able to emulate these in my own travels.

This book does not discuss a particular journey, rather it talks about different types of things that she encountered on multiple trips and the people she encountered along the way. She acknowledged in the beginning of the book that another book about scenery would not be appreciated and that it is, as much as we don't want to admit, not fun reading for those who didn't go on the journey. I appreciated the insight on situations and the story-telling aspect.

This book should inspire people to take their own trips, especially women who think "I could never do that, I don't know how to fix a bike" or "I'm too old" or "I can't find anyone to go with". Anne has defied all of the misconceptions of what it takes to travel adventurously.

I found this book to be a bit dry reading - not enough pictures and she gets bogged down in boring details. I do admire the author for bicycling, for the most part, on her own, and in dealing with the people of the land, without incident.