Moods of future Joy by Alastair Humphreys

This book is pretty incredible. It’s only the first part of Alastair’s around the world journey, I haven’t sat down to read the second half yet. The crazy part is that two weeks into his trip the september 11th attacks on the US occur making his planned trek through the middle east and into india and china nearly impossible. I’m really impressed with his commitment in deciding to head south and through africa without any preparations. Two weeks into a tour is normally the time when I’m just looking for an excuse to throw in the towel and head home and I think a major terrorist attack that changes the entire world would be a forgivable excuse.

This portion of his journey starts at his home in Yorkshire, winds through France, Germany, Hungry, Turkey, and into the middle east taking a turn south towards Lebanon and into Egypt following the east coast of Africa all the way to Cape town. It’s an inspirational read and written very well but in matter of fact normal language that’s easily relatable. As I’ve mentioned before there seem to be more and more books about cycle touring coming around and I’m trying to make it a point to stay on top of them but a lot aren’t too great. I’d put this one in the top 5. This includes not only the book but the adventure that’s within the book.