Description

‘Bill Bryson on two wheels’ Independent

Scaling a new peak of rash over-ambition, Tim Moore tackles the 9,000km route of the old Iron Curtain on a tiny-wheeled, two-geared East German shopping bike.

Asking for trouble and getting it, he sets off at the Arctic winter’s brutal height, bullying his plucky MIFA 900 through the endless and massively sub-zero desolation of snowbound Finland.

Haunted throughout the journey by the border detritus of watchtowers and rusted razor wire, Moore reflects on the curdling of the Communist dream, and the memories of a Cold War generation reared on the fear of apocalypse – at a time of ratcheting East-West tension.

After three months, 20 countries and a 58-degree jaunt up the centigrade scale, man and bike finally wobble up to a Black Sea beach in Bulgaria, older and wiser, but mainly older.

Publisher Review

It's a hoot. -- Michael Kerr * Daily Telegraph, Book of the Year * It's a hoot. -- Michael Kerr * Daily Telegraph, Book of the Year * A good, entertaining writer, laugh-out-loud funny in parts. * Irish Independent * The world's funniest travel writer. * Observer * Bill Bryson on two wheels. * Independent * One hundred per cent self-inflicted ... Beyond stupid ... It's hilarious. -- Adrian Chiles * Radio 5 Live *