Twenty years ago, Bill Bryson went on a trip around Britain to celebrate the green & kindly island that had become his adopted country. The hilarious book that resulted, Notes from a Small Isl&, was taken to the nation`s heart & became the bestselling travel book ever, & was also voted in a BBC poll the book that best represents Britain. Now, to mark the twentieth anniversary of that modern classic, Bryson makes a br&-new journey round Britain to see what has changed. Following (but not too closely) a route he dubs the Bryson Line, from Bognor Regis to Cape Wrath, by way of places that many people never get to at all, Bryson sets out to rediscover the wondrously beautiful, magnificently eccentric, endearingly unique country that he thought he knew but doesn`t altogether recognize any more. Yet, despite Britain`s occasional failings & more or less eternal bewilderments, Bill Bryson is still pleased to call our rainy island home. & not just because of the cream teas, a noble history, & an extra day off at Christmas. Once again, with his matchless homing instinct for the funniest & quirkiest, his unerring eye for the idiotic, the endearing, the ridiculous & the scandalous, Bryson gives us an acute & perceptive insight into all that is best & worst about Britain today. ...

Twenty years ago, Bill Bryson went on a trip around Britain to celebrate the green & kindly island that had become his adopted country. The hilarious book that resulted, Notes from a Small Isl&, was taken to the nation`s heart & became the best-selling travel book ever, & was also voted in a BBC poll the book that best represents Britain. Now, to mark the twentieth anniversary of that modern classic, Bryson makes a br&-new journey around Britain to see what has changed. Following (but not too closely) a route he dubs the Bryson Line, from Bognor Regis to Cape Wrath, by way of places that many people never get to at all, Bryson sets out to rediscover the wondrously beautiful, magnificently eccentric, endearingly unique country that he thought he knew but doesn`t altogether recognize any more. Yet, despite Britain`s occasional failings & more or less eternal bewilderments, Bill Bryson is still pleased to call our rainy island home. & not just because of the cream teas, a noble history, & an extra day off at Christmas. Once again, with his matchless homing instinct for the funniest & quirkiest, his unerring eye for the idiotic, the endearing, the ridiculous & the scandalous, Bryson gives us an acute & perceptive insight into all that is best & worst about Britain today. Music written & performed by Richard Digance, inspired by The Road to Little Dribbling ...

Setting off from Irel&, Pete Mc Carthy takes us on a wonderful journey around the weird & wonderful Irish communities of the world. In his own inimitable style, Pete recounts his adventures & escapades as, in Morocco he meets the head of Clan Mc Carthy, & then goes on to visit the renowned Irish peoples of New York. He journeys to the southern hemisphere & then back again to the United States before ending up in a small town called Mc Carthy in Alaska. Will he encounter enough Mc Carthy`s Bars, as he continues to obey the eighth rule of travel: `never pass a pub with your name on it`? This is a funny, affectionate look at the Irish communities of the world. ...

Beautifully written & full of wonderful descriptions & intriguing tales, In Patagonia is an account of Bruce Chatwin`s travels to a remote country in search of a strange beast & his encounters with the people whose fascinating stories delay him on the road. ...

A real-life adventure that inspired countless travellers in fact & fiction, the ” Penguin Classics” edition of Robert Byron`s ” The Road to Oxiana”

Includes:: an introduction by Colin Thubron. In 1933 Robert Byron began a journey through the Middle East via Beirut, Jerusalem, Baghdad, & Teheran to Oxiana
- the country of the Oxus, the ancient name for the river Amu Darya which forms part of the border between Afghanistan & the Soviet Union. ” The Road to Oxiana” offers not only a wonderful record of his adventures, but also a rare account of the architectural treasures of a region now inaccessible to most Western travelers. Robert Byron (1905-41) was born in 1905, & educated at Eton & Merton College, Oxford. He died during the Second World War, when the ship he was serving on was torpedoed by a U-Boat off Cape Wrath. Byron`s ” The Road to Oxiana” is considered by many modern travel writers to be the first example of great travel writing. If you enjoyed ” The Road to Oxiana” you might like Charles Darwin`s ” The Voyage of the Beagle”, also available in ” Penguin Classics”. ” The greatest of all pre-war travel books”. (William Dalrymple).” What ” Ulysses” is to the novel between the wars, & what ” The Waste Land” is to poetry, ” The Road to Oxiana” is to the travel book”. (Paul Fussell). ” In any list of the great travel books of the 20th century, Robert Byron`s account of his travels in Persia & Afghanistan, ” The Road to Oxiana”, must be put somewhere near the very top”. (” Telegraph”).


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Each year, over 200, 000 people pilgrimage to the Cathedral of Santiago de Compostela in Spain. Often called the Way of St. James, this journey has been an important Christian tradition for centuries. ” The Road to Santiago” is one man`s incredible story of walking almost a thousand miles to experience it. As Rene Freund learns, when you reach the edge of the European continent having walked along the Way of St. James which pilgrims of former times thought to be the end of the world only then do you realize that the old pilgrim s saying is true: the journey does not end in Santiago. The journey begins in Santiago. In this vivid travelogue, Freund not only introduces us to the overwhelming natural beauty he encountered along the way, but also shares his experience of reaching his physical & psychological limits during the arduous journey. ” ...

In 1995, at the age of twenty-three, Michael Meyer joined the Peace Corps &, after rejecting offers to go to seven other countries, was sent to a tiny town in Sichuan. Knowing nothing about China, or even how to use chopsticks, Meyer wrote Chinese words up & down his arms so he could hold conversations, &, per a Communist dean`s orders, jumped into teaching his students about the Enlightenment, the stock market, & Beatles lyrics. Soon he realized his Chinese counterparts were just as bewildered by China`s changes as he was. Thus began an impassioned immersion into Chinese life. With humor & insight, Meyer puts readers in his novice shoes, winding across the length & breadth of his adopted country --from a terrifying bus attack on arrival, to remote Xinjiang & Tibet, into Beijing`s backstreets & his future wife`s Manchurian family, & headlong into efforts to protect China`s vanishing heritage at places like ” Sleeping Dragon, ” the world`s largest panda preserve. In the last book of his China trilogy, Meyer tells a story both deeply personal & universal, as he gains greater
- if never complete
- assurance, capturing what it feels like to learn a language, culture & history from the ground up. Both funny & relatable, The Road to Sleeping Dragon is essential reading for anyone interested in China`s history, & how daily life plays out there today.

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Celebrating the wonder, comedy & adventure to be found in the most unlikely places, best-selling author James Dodson takes his young son Jack on a once-in-lifetime trip through the great cities & eccentric byways of Europe. There are two kinds of travel, someone once said: first class & with children. During the summer of 2001, Jim Dodson discovers that travelling with a kid can almost make a grown man feel
- & behave
- like a child again. Two battered bags & an old baseball glove in h&, father & son set out to circle the globe & spy the wonders of the world. But the best-laid plans usually tend to go awry & Jim & Jack encounter a myriad of unforeseen obstacles during their journey
- some hilarious & others heartbreaking. What they discover, on the busy marketplaces & sightseeing hot spots, the country inns & dusty back roads of Western Europe, are not the knights & dragons young Jack had once dreamed of, but something far more valuable: each other`s company & a world where, at the end of the day, unexpected laughter & pain can make us all friendly small-town neighbours. With humour, warmth & wisdom, James Dodson explores the meaning of father-son relationships & the importance of finding & savouring friendship, beauty & wonder
- especially when you least expect them.



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In 490 BCE Pheidippides ran for 36 hours straight from Athens to Sparta to seek help in defending Athens from a Persian invasion. He was hailed as a hero & his run stands enduringly as one of greatest physical accomplishments in history. Dean Karnazes honours this achievement & his own Greek heritage by attempting this ancient journey in modern times. His account of running the gruelling Spartathlon, fuelled only by the figs, olives & meats available to Pheidippides, will captivate even the most sedentary readers. ...

In 490 BCE Pheidippides ran for 36 hours straight from Athens to Sparta to seek help in defending Athens from a Persian invasion. He was hailed as a hero & his run stands enduringly as one of greatest physical accomplishments in history. Dean Karnazes honours this achievement & his own Greek heritage by attempting this ancient journey in modern times. His account of running the gruelling Spartathlon, fuelled only by the figs, olives & meats available to Pheidippides, will captivate even the most sedentary readers. ...