A wholly original history of France, filled with a lifetime’s knowledge and passion-by the author of the New York Times bestseller Parisians. Beginning with the Roman army’s first recorded encounter with the Gauls and ending in the era of Emmanuel Macron, France takes readers on an endlessly entertaining journey through French history. Frequently hilarious, always surprising, Graham Robb’s France combines the stylistic versatility of a novelist with the deep understanding of a scholar. Robb’s own adventures and discoveries while living, working, and traveling in France connect this tour through space and time with on-the-ground experience. There are scenes of wars and revolutions from the plains of Provence to the slums and boulevards of Paris.
Bike touring
French Revolutions: Cycling the Tour de France
Battling it out with the old men on butchers’ bikes across the plains of Aquitaine and pursued by cattle over Europe’s second highest road, Moore soon finds himself resorting to narcotic assistance, systematic overeating, and waxed legs before summoning a support vehicle staffed by cruelly sceptical family and friends.
Bicycle Diaries
An enchanting celebration of bike riding and of the rewards of seeing the world at bike level, this book gives the reader an incredible insight into what Byrne is seeing and thinking as he pedals around these cities.
Signs Of Life: To The Ends Of The Earth With A Doctor
In 2010 Stephen Fabes rode away from his career as an emergency doctor in London, on a journey that would see him ride the length of six continents; a cycling circumnavigation which took six years. Signs of Life is his story of a world of challenges — from Tajik camel spiders to camping on a frozen lake in Mongolia, to coaxing another few kilometres out of ‘Ol’ Patchy’ (his faithful inner tube), and of fascinating interactions with the people of seventy-five countries; from hospitable nomads and curious children to vindictive border guards and gangsters. It is also a story of medicine calling Stephen back; he recalls his first pronouncement of death as he examines the frozen body of a monk high in the Himalayas; he is drawn into treating patients at a leprosy clinic; he helps refugees at The Jungle in Calais. All the while, he reflects on how societies treat their most vulnerable and draws comparisons with the lost souls he had treated back home in London; people who he resolves to truly listen to, when he returns to his vocation.
Nala’s World
Instagram phenomenon @1bike1world Dean Nicholson reveals the full story of his life-changing friendship with rescue cat Nala and their inspiring adventures together on a bike journey around the world. When 30-year-old Dean Nicholson set off from Scotland to cycle around the world, his aim was to learn as much as he could about our troubled planet. But he hadn’t bargained on the lessons he’d learn from his unlikely companion. Three months after leaving home, on a remote road in the mountains between Montenegro and Bosnia, he came across an abandoned kitten. Something about the piercing eyes and plaintive meowing of the bedraggled little cat proved irresistible. He couldn’t leave her to her fate, so he put her on his bike and then, with the help of local vets, nursed her back to health. Soon on his travels with the cat he named Nala, they forged an unbreakable bond — both curious, independent, resilient and adventurous. The video of how they met has had 20 million views and their Instagram has grown to almost 750k followers — and still counting! Experiencing the kindness of strangers, visiting refugee camps, rescuing animals through Europe and Asia, Dean and Nala have already learned that the unexpected can be pretty amazing. Together with Garry Jenkins, writer with James Bowen of the bestselling A Street Cat Named Bob, Dean shares the extraordinary tale of his and Nala’s inspiring and heart-warming adventure together.