I have an addiction….to motorcycle travel books. Luckily my addiction is being fed at the moment and the latest to be finished is Old Man on a Bike by Simon Gandolfi.

I am sad to have finished this book as it was rather comforting
to snuggle down with it and be transported to somewhere in Central
or South America.

When writing a travel book you are conveying your experience of that
journey to the reader, but judging by reviews of other books on Amazon,what readers want from a travel book can vary enormously and a few complain that they did not get enough information about the bike, about the people the writer met or about the country being travelled through.

Luckily, for you and me, Simon Gandolfi has incorporated all of these ingredients into his book as well as a good dose of self-deprecating humour.

Even he thought he was mad riding from Mexico to Ushuaia in Tierra del Fuego on a Honda 125 pizza bike. But given that he was 73 at the time and that he wore his Church’s leather shoes all the way we also could be forgiven for considering him truly bonkers! Although there is also a certain amount of class.

Simon has an advantage over most of us, I suspect, in that he can speak Spanish fluently, and whilst this is not openly admitted to in the book, it mean’t that he got to have lots of really interesting conversations with the (mostly) indigenous peoples that he met. That added shed loads of colour plus in addition the fact that Simon is an accomplished author gives you have a fully rounded book.

The bike performed well throughout and by and large the journey was not compromised by him being on such a small bike. I won’t say more than that as I don’t want to give too much of the story away.

What this book did for me was break down some of the stereotypes I had of the countries of Central and Southern America and the people living there as well as opening my eyes to how their neighbour up North, with co-conspirators in Europe, had treated these peoples and reinforced these stereotypes.

As I said earlier I am sad to have finished this book but hope is on the horizon as I understand that there is another trip in the offing to China this time – hurrah!

I totally recommend this book and hope you enjoy it as much as I have.

To get your own copy of the book click here

You can also hear Simon talking about his journey on the BBC Radio 4 program Excess Baggage by clicking here

Other book reviews you might enjoy:
Lois On The Loose
Red Tape and White Knuckles