just found this from c.1900 so perhaps an indication of the kind of surface -- wouldn't fancy it without pneumatic tyres!

https://pixels.com/featured/railroad-wo ... hives.html

Just finished Bicycle Dairies - David Byrne ... interesting read but not really too much about cycling - he takes a bike with him when he travels so it's mostly urban riding around the world. Hence the Talking Heads revival here

Mid way through Andrew Miller's The Land In Winter...never read any of his work before or even heard of him, but i'm enjoying it quite a lot so far. More so the impression it leaves than the style of the prose, but that isn't a criticism, it just so far seems to be a novel that sticks in the mind more than the prose itself. It's also a good time of year to be reading it, as it's set in the winter of '62/3 - I hold out a hope of a prolonged freeze this winter for some reason (as long as our kids' school stays open!)...

faustus wrote: ↑Wed Dec 18, 2024 5:37 pm …..as it's set in the winter of '62/3

Ah, the winter of 62/63… I remember it well… Tom, our cart-horse lived in our garage to keep him out of the weather.. Right at the end of the snow, I made a sledge and burned my dad’s electric drill out in the process.

Some holiday reading for me

Alexander Cordell's "Rape of the Fair Country" - again, as I enjoyed it so much the first time round. And I have the next one in the series ready and waiting for me...

Really must sort myself out with a copy. They fetch quite high prices pre-loved though. £132 on abebooks! 600 for a signed one. Maybe you should flog yours and retire on the proceeds . I didn't think our library had one but maybe I need to look again.

RIP wrote: ↑Tue Dec 31, 2024 7:18 pm Really must sort myself out with a copy. They fetch quite high prices pre-loved though. £132 on abebooks! 600 for a signed one. Maybe you should flog yours and retire on the proceeds . I didn't think our library had one but maybe I need to look again.

I'll lend it to you when I've finished, how's that?

Verena wrote: ↑Tue Dec 31, 2024 8:52 pm

RIP wrote: ↑Tue Dec 31, 2024 7:18 pm Really must sort myself out with a copy. They fetch quite high prices pre-loved though. £132 on abebooks! 600 for a signed one. Maybe you should flog yours and retire on the proceeds . I didn't think our library had one but maybe I need to look again.

I'll lend it to you when I've finished, how's that?

Thank 'ee most kindly ma'am, much appreciated

Nowt to do with biking, but no doubt very familiar to generations(?) of Boners tramping the valleys up behind Mach - just bought a history of Aberllefenni Slate Quarry, the last commercial underground slate operation in Wales. It's not just about the rock extraction, although that in itself would be more than enough for slate fanatics/perverts such as Reg, but also the social history, working conditions, architecture, transport (including the horse-drawn railway) etc. Now closed, it lives on as the base for a sheep-poo greetings cards company.......

Bit daft having the Aberllefenni book without also getting the one for Ratgoed in the next valley . Very scarce book these days. Plenty of exploration food for the Winter Event anyway .

Reg, not a book but have you seen the Shonky Tours channel on YouTube? Vists a lot of the old N. Wales slate mines.

Ta Bob, not seen that one, will have a nosy...

And, er, also it's a bit, erm, daft having Aberllefenni and Ratgoed without Corris as well, so my finger just slipped on ebay, oops. Mrs P wants to know why I'm smiling but I'm saying nowt. Well it's my birthday soon. I think I'm now fully covered with histories of all the Narrow/Broad Vein quarries , also including ones about Bryn Eglwys, Hendre Ddu and Minllyn. Sigh.

Now those books look spot on to me!

Here's another I'd be tempted by...

https://www.corris.co.uk/shop/books-jou ... ris-uchaf/

The little railway at Corris is lovely.

Cheers,

Keith

2/3rds of the way through Mark Beaumonts original RTW book.
Hmmm. Once again it confirms it's the worst possible thing to do on a bike even if you try and take it 'easy' with only 100 miles per day average (compared to Jenny Grahams 250k and Mike Halls 200 miles!)

Plus he carried an unbelievable amount of s*** with him, including a laptop!

I really wish Mike Hall had written a book about his ride, that would have been a fabulous read. *sigh*

fatbikephil wrote: ↑Fri Jan 10, 2025 11:32 pm 2/3rds of the way through Mark Beaumonts original RTW book.
Hmmm.

I bought a copy from the a village hall book sale a couple of years ago, but gradually got bored by the book, somewhere around Pakistan, perhaps I should give it another go!

I prefer Alastair Humphreys two books, which I've reread a few times, especially the section he does in Russia and the South America leg, compelling reading.

Cheers,

Keith

Tractionman wrote: ↑Fri Jan 10, 2025 9:25 pm Now those books look spot on to me.
Cheers,
Keith

I mean just look at that slate staircase on the front of the Corris book. Does that not.. no, OK, fair enough.... anyway, beautiful workmanship. I'm not quite sure it's the same as the one at Aberllefenni but will double-check on Feb 1st. Poor old Frog, he just thought he was going on a bike ride .

Tractionman wrote: ↑Sat Jan 11, 2025 12:49 am

fatbikephil wrote: ↑Fri Jan 10, 2025 11:32 pm 2/3rds of the way through Mark Beaumonts original RTW book.
Hmmm.

I bought a copy from the a village hall book sale a couple of years ago, but gradually got bored by the book, somewhere around Pakistan, perhaps I should give it another go!

I prefer Alastair Humphreys two books, which I've reread a few times, especially the section he does in Russia and the South America leg, compelling reading.

Cheers,

Keith

Now finished. I'd agree it became a bit repetitive after Asia. It also further re-affirms I do not want to cycle around the world....

fatbikephil wrote: ↑Sun Jan 12, 2025 10:55 pm

Tractionman wrote: ↑Sat Jan 11, 2025 12:49 am

fatbikephil wrote: ↑Fri Jan 10, 2025 11:32 pm 2/3rds of the way through Mark Beaumonts original RTW book.
Hmmm.

I bought a copy from the a village hall book sale a couple of years ago, but gradually got bored by the book, somewhere around Pakistan, perhaps I should give it another go!

I prefer Alastair Humphreys two books, which I've reread a few times, especially the section he does in Russia and the South America leg, compelling reading.

Cheers,

Keith

Now finished. I'd agree it became a bit repetitive after Asia. It also further re-affirms I do not want to cycle around the world....

I'm with you on that !! I've read a few RTW cycling books and it just makes me think why the feck would I want to do that !
The Cycling Home from Siberia was similar ... loads of detail in the first 2/3 of the book then sort of hits Vietnam then it's "and I arrived back in London"

2025 is going to be history year for me.

I was given two books for Xmas, one on the silk road which I'm starting today and the other a more generic history of civilisation.

Dave Barter wrote: ↑Mon Jan 13, 2025 11:08 am I was given two books for Xmas, one on the silk road which I'm starting today and the other a more generic history of civilisation.

Which one...? Love a bit of Silk Road info...

Peter Frankopan - The Silk Roads

Forged by Speed - Steve Peat.

Perhaps not in the purview of most on here, but certainly an interesting take on what I remember back in the early days of the UK MTB scene as quite a decisive character but has mellowed as the years have rolled by. IMHO

Now if JMC had not tragically been killed in his prime. Who knows what the outcome may have been??

From the library but will be buying a copy.

That looks an interesting read Gecko, might look out for that one.

I recall, many years ago, being in the Highland Spring / Famous Grouse cafe at Blackford and seeing a really interesting book on the development of Scotland's post war hydro electric network. I didn't buy it as I was on my bike and it was a coffee table book, but since then, the cafe shut and I've not found it anywhere else!