Full Tilt: Ireland to India with a Bicycle explained

Full Tilt: Ireland to India with a Bicycle
Author:Dervla Murphy
Orig Lang Code:en
Publisher:John Murray
Pub Date:1965
Pages:235 (first edition)
Oclc:773284636
Dewey:915.4
Followed By:Tibetan Foothold

Full Tilt is a book by Irish author Dervla Murphy, about an overland cycling trip through Europe, Iran, Afghanistan, Pakistan and India.[1] [2] It was first published by John Murray in 1965. The book is usually given the subtitle Ireland to India with a Bicycle, but has been called Dunkirk to Delhi by Bicycle and From Dublin to Delhi with a Bicycle.

Full Tilt has been described as both one of the best cycling books,[3] [4] and one of the best travel books.[5] [6]

Summary

In 1963 Murphy set off on her first long-distance bicycle tour, a self-supported trip from Ireland to India. Taking a pistol along with other equipment aboard her Armstrong Cadet men's bicycle (named Rozinante in allusion to Don Quixote's steed, and always known as Roz), she passed through Europe during one of the worst winters in years. In Yugoslavia, Murphy began to write a journal instead of mailing letters. In Iran she used her gun to frighten off a group of thieves, and "used unprintable tactics" to escape from an attempted rapist at a police station. She received her worst injury of the journey on a bus in Afghanistan, when a rifle butt hit her and fractured three ribs; however, this only delayed her for a short while. She wrote appreciatively about the landscape and people of Afghanistan, calling herself "Afghanatical" and claiming that the Afghan "is a man after my own heart". In Pakistan, she visited Swat (where she was a guest of the last wali, Miangul Aurangzeb) and the mountain area of Gilgit. The final leg of her trip took her through the Punjab region and over the border to India towards Delhi. Her journal was later published by John Murray in 1965.[7] [8] [9] [10] [11] [12] [13]

Editions

Notes and References

  1. News: Summer Reading; Travel. Andrew . Harvey . 1 June 1986 . 29 February 2020 . .
  2. News: The Perils of Dervla Murphy. Clifford . Graves . January 1969 . 27 February 2020 . .
  3. News: The 10 best cycling books. Rob . Penn . Rob Penn . 25 March 2016 . 29 February 2020 . .
  4. News: On your bike: the best books about cycling. Jon . Day . 13 July 2018 . 29 February 2020 . .
  5. News: My favourite travel book, by the world's greatest travel writers. William . Dalrymple . William Dalrymple (historian) . Paul . Theroux . Paul Theroux . 16 September 2011 . 29 February 2020 . .
  6. News: The 20 best travel books of the past century . Steve . Keenan . 17 September 2009 . 29 February 2020 . . subscription.
  7. News: I am filled with admiration for her courage, resource, good nature and unselfconsciousness ... the charm of spontaneity and the ring of absolute truth, . . 19 June 1965 . 8 . Ireland to India . subscription . Moira . Verschoyle . Moira Verschoyle.
  8. News: Punctures, broken ribs, hornets and scorpions notwithstanding, it was a high old time between Miss Murphy and her Islamic hosts ... her book is sensible, warm-hearted, unfinicky. . . Full Tilt By Dervla Murphy . 11 July 1965 . 22 . subscription.
  9. This vivid journal ... would have delighted Cervantes with its almost incredible surprises: a valley full of birds the size of butterflies and butterflies as big as robins; a village where the cattle eat apricots and the villagers eat clover ... Somewhere between Kabul and Jalalabad, she thought she was dreaming when she woke from a roadside nap to find that nomads had raised a tent over her to shield her from the sun. . . Review.
  10. News: She avoided wolves (animal and human), floods, robbery, had three ribs broken in a brawl in an Afghan bus; waded across an ice torrent, hugging a cow ... suffered extremes of heat and cold, ate everything, liked almost everybody . . Review.
  11. News: I don't know when I've enjoyed the account of a journey more. A great part of the enchantment of her book is that it is so good humoured and so funny. I laughed ... and learned a good deal ... one follows her with pleasure ... a brave, intelligent, rare and amusing human being. . Margaret . Lane . Margaret Lane . Review.
  12. News: A journey with incalculable hardships and perils. It is unexpected, but then everything Dervla Murphy does is unexpected ... an enchantment that holds the reader as engrossed as would an exciting thriller. . . 18 September 1965 . By bicycle it's a long way to Kabul.
  13. News: Warmly described, and with a lack of self-regard that immediately endears her to the reader. . . Review.
  14. Web site: Full Tilt: Ireland to India with a Bicycle . . 29 February 2020 . 4 May 2022 . https://web.archive.org/web/20220504200814/http://search.bl.uk/primo_library/libweb/action/dlDisplay.do?vid=BLBNB&search_scope=LSCOP-BNB&docId=BLL01008340051&fn=permalink . dead .
  15. Web site: Full Tilt: Ireland to India with a Bicycle . . 29 February 2020.
  16. Web site: Full Tilt: Ireland to India with a Bicycle . . 29 February 2020.
  17. Web site: Full Tilt: Ireland to India with a Bicycle . . 29 February 2020.
  18. Web site: Full Tilt: Ireland to India with a Bicycle . . 29 February 2020.
  19. Web site: Full Tilt: Dunkirk to Delhi by Bicycle . . 29 February 2020 .
  20. Web site: Full Tilt: From Dublin to Delhi with a Bicycle . . 29 February 2020 .
  21. Web site: Full Tilt: Ireland to India with a Bicycle . . 29 February 2020.

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