Free Country: A Penniless Adventure the Length of Britain Author: Visit Amazon's George Mahood Page | Language: English | ISBN:
1471721159 | Format: EPUB
Free Country: A Penniless Adventure the Length of Britain Description
- Paperback: 316 pages
- Publisher: lulu.com (February 11, 2013)
- Language: English
- ISBN-10: 1471721159
- ISBN-13: 978-1471721151
- Product Dimensions: 9 x 5.9 x 1 inches
- Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
George Mahood is the sort of chap you'd like to have a beer with. Actually, I think he's the kind of fellow you'd find yourself buying a beer for after just the briefest of conversations. I say this having never met the man but I feel like I've just had the adventure of a lifetime with my new pal after having read his very funny and surprisingly inspirational book Free Country.
Free Country tells the true story of two young men, George and his friend Ben, who decide to cycle the length of Britain from Land's End to John O Groats. While this ambitious journey has been undertaken by many others, none have done it in quite the same way as George and Ben. Because, you see, they begin with nothing. Well, not quite nothing, they each have a pair of Union Jack boxer shorts (and George later confesses, a camera, a notebook, a pencil and stack of cards containing the words "I am OFFICIALLY a very nice person.")
Over three weeks in September, with a vow to spend no money they wander their way north like the maddest of monks on the most quixotic of quests. What they find along the way is a country filled with very interesting people, a great number of whom are very nice. Ben and George manage, through charm, wit, fast talking and willingness to do tasks ranging from cleaning, to loading onions to singing for their suppers, to acquire clothes, food, bicycles and someplace to sleep every night. It is a wonderful adventure and very, very funny. George is a great observer of life and a very witty writer and he and Ben bicker throughout the journey in the way that only true friends can. A few quotes will give you the flavor of this delightful book:
`Yeah. There's a place called Neilston in another ten miles.' `Ten miles? Are you kidding me?' asked Ben. `Err, no.
Many great travelogues have at their centre a streak of insanity - what made this couple uproot from cosy Surrey and start keeping bees in Roumania? What made this family of seven want to sail the Pacific Ocean in a dinghy? `Free Country' takes this insanity to a whole new level - two barmy Brits decide to bike-ride the full length of the UK, from Land's End to John O'Groats, in just three weeks - with no clothing (except the boxer shorts they stand up in), no food, no money...and no bikes. "Why??" you might ask."What special kind of madness is this??" The simple answer is: `to prove the kindness of strangers.' Britain is not broken, the author (and friend Ben) have us believe. We are not a nation that has lost sight of basic values of humanity and kinship, there lies within everyone the desire to help others. And so the plucky twosome plunge into their 1000 mile journey without money and provisions, relying entirely on the mercy and generosity of strangers to get them through.
Starting out with one trainer and half a pair of socks, graduating to a pair of wellies four sizes too small and six pairs of the biggest socks in existence, the pair acquire a scooter and a mini BX and are on their way! What follows is the road trip to end all road trips - a kind of Around the World in Eighty Days meets Around Ireland with a Fridge - with a bevy of colourful characters (crazy, pizza-tossing Arek, even crazier phone-freak Roobals, Glastonbury-legend Michael Eavis) and, for me at least, a belly-laugh on practically every page. My favourite line? `It is bloody cold and windy on the top of a mountain in a pair of silky shorts and a T-shirt.' Well yeah, it must be!!
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