One Man and His Bike: A Life-changing Journey All the Way Around the Coast of Britain Paperback – June 1, 2012

This is an interesting book on many levels. A travel adventure, a bit of learning about British history and an update on the current state of the economy in various parts of Britain. Plus a how-to of off-the-beaten-path travel while cycling and camping, with a few gems of mostly undisturbed scenic places. And a bit of a meditation on the difference between people from the big city, London, versus those living in small towns. The author bicycled around the entire coastline of the UK which is much father than you might first think, because of all the bays and inlets - 5,000 miles he says. Along the way he encounter untold numbers of characters and lots of kind and helpful people.It's well-written too, the author is a professional journalist ( the Guardian ). A fun adventure. If you can't or won't ever make such a trip yourself this will give you a good feel for it.

At times laugh out loud funny like Bill Bryson, at times wistful and penetrating like some of Paul Theroux, this book deserves to become a minor classic. At a superficial level, it fits into the road-trip-brought-on-by-a-midlife-crisis genre, but manages to get beyond the flaws typical of that genre to a more interesting place. Much like Paul Theroux's The Happy Isles of Oceania: Paddling the Pacific, the writer begins a trip following the collapse of his marriage in midlife. Unlike Theroux's book, there's no bitterness, but more a sense of dislocation and existential confusion made bearable by looking at the world with good hearted wonderment and self-deprecating humor. He's a lost soul, sure enough, looking for something he doesn't quite find in the pages of the book, bonding long term only with his tent and his bike, but his personal story takes a back seat to the people and scenery he passes by as he circles his native land. A range of characters enlivens the tale, from the unhappiest man in England sitting at the northern end of the Lands End-John O' Groats trail, to passing a fully alive septuagenarian cycling round England in the opposite direction (at a much faster pace than the author), to a motley assembled family gathered at a farm turned flea market in Scotland, to a ferry man who pedaled (bikes and pedal boats) from England to Hawaii (concluding that crossing an ocean in a 23 foot boat or going back and forth a few hundred yards in a ferry is all the same if you just learn to live in the moment). You get a sense for the spectacular beauty of some of the more isolated spaces in Britain, as well as a feel for the hollowed out industrial centers and half abandoned working class seaside resorts left behind in the shift to a finance driven services economy. It's a book I think I will pick up again and reread in whole or part sometime.It's a picaresque tale of the road, but not so much a technical cycling book or a travel guide. The next time I travel around England I'll look through it before going, but it's not trying to do what Rick Steves or Lonely Planet do. In the same way, while to a touring cyclist many aspects of the long distance cycling felt true, it's not really a bike book, any more than Theroux's The Kingdom by the Sea: A Journey Around the Coast of Great Britain or Bill Bryson's Notes from a Small Island are mainly about the British railways. It's about Britain, and about a funny man trying to find his way, with the bike something more than incidental but not the point of the story.

An amusing book that is well written, The writer apparently on the staff of a well known national paper the Guardian is at times a little crude in his language but the adventures are interesting and at times the reader needs a decent atlas.

Throughly enjoyed this book. Mike Carter takes us with him on his journey around the British coastline with vivid descriptions of people and places. The reader feels his pain and joy often in the same paragraph. Mike's humor is the magic sauce that brings his story to life.

Would recommend to all readers, travellers, and especially cyclists. Mike manages to be witty, sardonic, vulnerable, & inspiring all at once. Read it. You’ll not regret it. Perfect companion for your own bike tour.

I've read several books like this, including several about the Lands End to John O' Groats trip. This book stands out for its distinct routing, and for the author's review of how the UK has changed since his childhood, as well as the contrast between normal city living and life on the road. Best of all is his appreciation of his homeland and fellow citizens. Well written. I thoroughly enjoyed it, and recommend it!

Great book. Really did inspire me to cycle from London to Paris and later from Berlin to Amsterdam

I'm not done with this book yet, but I'm fascinated with it. I actually bought a copy in England, but gave it to my friend for his birthday. So, I had to purchase a new copy. The book was not on Amazon Prime and it took FOREVER to get. Okay, I'm used to 2 days; this book took over seven days. And I believe it was only coming from Chicago.I'm thankful that I have an English boyfriend, because some of the things said are confusing or mean something completely (and dirty) to Americans. I only wish the map had more locations on it instead of just the base maps. I found out so many places I want to visit next time I'm in the UK. The book also inspired me to do a similar coastal trip on my bike. I have a few people excited to participate.

I stumbled across this book by searching “biographies.” I enjoy reading about the journey much more than the trophies awarded at the finish line. A further preference is to read about the average person, not the famous. This book looked like it would fit the bill (and it did).By coincidence I am a touring cyclist. I generally avoid cyclo-touring books because of the poorly written focus on technical detail and often the purpose of the book is to try and convince the reader about the importance of the finishing trophy. Downloading and reading the sample of this book hooked me. It became clear that this book has little to do with cycle touring or riding a bicycle for that matter. Another reader might disagree. To quote from the book: “I’m sure that anybody who loves their bike will understand what I mean.”The book is well written. The story is compelling and provides the perfect framework to examine the struggle that many face. The (real life) characters, including Mike Carter, offer something to ponder. Mr. Carter’s sense of humor allowed me to laugh at the seriousness of the human condition without dismissing same.At the suggestion of another review, I grabbed my phone and followed Mike around “the island.” Stopping from time to time to read about the location and its history and look at photos offered on various web sites.To quote one of the characters, Stevie: “You can enjoy the first step and the last step and every step in between. They are all just as important.” I did!

ottimo libro, ben scritto belle avventure e viaggi. io ho letto tutti i libri di quest' autore.

Absolutely great, couldn't put it down. I wanted to stretch it out and make it last but ended up reading it over 1 weekend.Would highly recommend this book.

It is quite rare that I enjoy a book so much I feel compelled to write a review, but this is one such book. As a cyclist with aspirations to go on a long tour I found Mike Carter's story inspirational. As someone who often despairs at the number of Britons who constantly berate their own nation and talk about it so negatively I found Mike's experiences a wonderful antidote.His encounters with such a wide range of interesting people - most of them friendly and helpful and only a handful of them not so reflect my own experiences. And as Mike observes, we really do live in one of the most beautiful countries on Earth.I read a few negative reviews based on the fact the the majority of the book covers the first half of the journey, and Wales, the West Country and South Coast don't get the same level of coverage as the East Coast, Scotland and the North-West, but this is well explained in the book by the author himself, and it is quite clear that his best experiences were in the first half of the journey and by the time he got to Wales clearly was getting tired or the trip (not a good time to be in that frame of mind given the fact that the worst hills of the journey are going to be in Wales and the South-West.Perhaps Mike should try the journey again but going the other way around! Although as someone who has also cycled some of those hills in Devon and Cornwall ..... he could definitely be forgiven for never wanting to do them again.Overall though this book is well deserving of 5 stars. An uplifting book and a wonderful tale of travels through Britain.

This book seems - at first look - to fit into the category “man is unsatisfied with life, takes on challenging journey to discover the meaning of it all”. And yes, there is a bit of that, but thanks to the fact that the unsatisfied man is Mike Carter, respected columnist of The Guardian, this is quite a bit more. I will get back to that.One tends to compare a bit when reading travel books, and in this case, Andrew P. Sykes comes to mind, especially his “Crossing Europe on a bike called Reggie”. In there, it is demonstrated well that sharing the clumsiness of a debuting bicycle traveller, making all the mistakes of packing too much and so on, strengthens the relationship with the reader, and shows more of the human behind.Mike Carter also shares how he packs way too much. (He took a blazer for the evenings!) And he describes it cleverly. All in all, this books starts a little too cleverly. With superior writing skill, Mike Carter tells the story of how his journey begins. But as a columnist, he is used to write with a certain distance, the observer, rather than the “Gonzo”, as he is in the book. This somehow fails to engage.This reader hung on, though, and softened up as Mike Carter reached Skegness. In an encounter with a fortune teller, the clever columnist steps back, and the person known as Mike Carter bleeds through the pages. And from here, the only way is up.In Whitley Bay, just north of Tynemouth, Mike Carter encounters Bill Scott, and stays in the B&B he runs. The conversation between the two men is so amazingly described, it is as Bill Scott rises through the page, and stands before you. Portrayal of people is certainly a great skill of Mike Carter.Well, it has to be said, mostly men. Almost only men. The two women I can remember from this book, would be the fortune teller. And a lovely girl cycling by Mike Carter’s side for a couple of miles, before inviting him to stay over at her place. Mike rejects.Regardless of that, the way Mike Carter bicycles around Britain, talking to people, and portraying them in this wonderfully vivid way, makes this book a unique piece of litterature. The portrait of a country, simply. And in between everything one wants to read in a travel book, how life on the bicycle swings between divine and horrific, how sometimes he just wants to go home, and how the journey changes a man.This reader hopes Mike Carter will continue to share people’s stories in this way. This is a good read, and still, years after it was written, stands as a must read for anyone wanting to understand Britain. And it becomes clear why more than one bicyclist and traveller has named Mike Carter as an important source of inspiration.