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This is an unusual, but still entertaining, book because it is two books in one, or rather the stories of two motorcycle journeys for the price of one, if you will.

First up we have the trip of Geoff and his friend Patrick on two brand new Royal Enfield Bullets from the factory in India back home to Belfast.

Despite being a mechanical numpty (as Geoff readily admits) his journey, mechanically, is luckily trouble free, whereas Patrick suffers a bent conrod and then later damages his forks as the result of colliding with a sheep! In both books there is a lot of laugh out loud humour and excellent writing – but would you expect anything less from a journalist?

This first journey is a lot more challenging than the second but as someonewho secretly harboured thoughts of riding an Enfield back from the factory in the heady and exciting (cough!) days when they were first being imported into the UK again, I found it fascinating although it was obviously challenging not least because of the heat.

One thing that did strike me though was the generosity of the people they met on the journey both with their time and expertise without expecting financial recompense that puts us to shame.

The finale to the journey is suitably fitting and funny, but I won’t spoil it.

The second journey – Route 66 on a Harley – is a solo journey for Geoff and was enabled through sponsorship by Miller beer. Geoff is retracing a journey undertaken years before (but in the opposite direction) by Greyhound Bus.

Route 66 is the stuff of romance and song but I have to say I was (but no longer) rather ignorant of the route it takes. Sadly much of Route 66 has been sidelined by the new interstate, as is the want of governments and contractors in the West to allegedly improve networks and funnel us into their shiny new shopping centre complexes (Malls in the US) – yeuch!

As far as Route 66 goes this has left numerous ghost towns and villages plus closed businesses that were once the home of celebrated characters who are sadly now long gone.

However, the road still has a lot of history that thankfully has not all been destroyed by alleged progress,and the inclusion of these snippets in the book makes it even more enjoyable.

For me there were surprises in terms of the different kinds of landscape and vast changes in temperature encountered on the journey but this ultimately adds to the colour of the journey.

Overall a very enjoyable read, highly recommended for lovers of motorcycle travel books.

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