A few months ago I wrote about Neola, a cyclist from Halifax who is planning a trip across Europe this summer from Santander to Romania. I may well bump into her and her fellow touring cyclist as I make my way in the other direction across Europe. Neola has just reviewed Good Vibrations: Crossing Europe on a Bike Called Reggie for her own website, CycleTramps;

“This is without a doubt the best cycle-related travel book I’ve read so far! The author, Andrew Sykes, isn’t a professional cyclist, he is a seemingly laid-back high school French teacher from the South of England.  Before cycling from England to Italy and writing this book about it, he was just a humble cycle commuter, much like us.

His relaxed writing style and honesty about his own inexperience and fears for his trip make the book universally easy to relate to, whether you are a cyclist or not.  There are no sponsorship deals, no pretentious self-indulgent mumblings about ‘finding himself’, it has just the right amount of personal reflection combined with witty tales of his encounters with foreign lands and funny characters along his journey.

I love that the book includes commentary on his pre-adventure preparations, like his struggles to get his head around bike building and trying to figure out maps and routes.  At the time of reading the book, we were busy doing exactly the same thing for our trip!”

You can read the full review at CycleTramps.co.uk.