You can't find this book easily. I bought it from Kindle, but it's not listed on GoodReads. I searched this book out because the author, Matthew Blake, during his world bike tour from 2008-2012 stayed at our house for a few days.
A friend from Rwanda contacted us, said he'd be coming through and was looking for a place to stay. I was due any day - but we offered our home - barring any emergency runs to the hospital.
Matthew came muddy, soaked through, in the midst of the coldest days Ankara had ever seen and heaviest snows. And he was hungry. "I'm always hungry," he said.
We offered him what I know every traveler is grateful for: hot shower, laundry, home cooked food, Internet, and a free/safe/dry/warm/friendly place to sleep.
He shared his travels, played tavla with Baba, talked country flags with Gokhan (whose an expert at these), and ran errands with Tolga to get some rain boots and spokes for his bike.
He made me remember my travel days, but not miss them - because while they are great irreplaceable memories, I could also identify with his weariness and yearning to get home.
I finally read and finished his book.
What I liked: I enjoyed the parts where he shared some history, it made his stories richer. His perseverance, self-reflection, and even self-admonitions were admirable. He made mistakes, kicked himself like we all do, and vowed not to do it again. The whole book brought me back to my travel days and I could relate to a lot, and it inspired me to go back to my own travel writing.
What I didn't like: Overuse of cliches and turns of phrases (it was a lesson for my own writing), mixing his use of miles and kilometers, some explanations were skipped (like, what is QPP?), and some interesting things could be explained more - like, how did he fix that wheel - because all those details in the story were what made it fun to read. Some statements seemed to be conflicting in regards to best road, worst climb, hardest whatever... I think I read the same thing in different cities. And lastly, he was hard on himself for "cheating" when he was forced to take a bus, hitchhike, train, etc. - but these were only rules put on himself - it didn't feel like cheating to me, the reader, and didn't need to be continually brought up for it was his own unnecessary guilt.
What I would have like to read/see: a map charting his route, dates and miles/kilometers more frequently listed,
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