Around The World By Bike: Part 1 – Alastair Humphreys’ “Moods Of Future Joys” Book Review

There are dozens of books written by individuals who have traveled around the world on a bicycle, but none of these books captures the full round-the-world bicycle touring experience quite as well as Alastair Humpreys’ “Moods Of Future Joys“.

The first of two books about Alastair’s 46,000 mile bicycle touring adventure, “Moods Of Future Joys” not only encapsulates the raw sights and sounds associated with round-the-world bike travel, but does so in such a way that is at various point, honest, humble, and heartbreaking.

Just two weeks after starting his tour and setting out across Europe from his home in London, England, two commercial airliners crashed into the World Trade Center buildings in New York City and the world as we knew it was forever altered. While Alastair’s original plan was to cycle across Europe and then pedal through the Middle East, this drastic turn of events on September 11, 2001 led to Alastair changing course and taking a sharp turn to the south, where he then spent the next several months slowly making his way through the hot desert sands of Africa.

While on his journey, Alastair has heart-warming encounters with local people, frighteningly sleepless nights under the stars, and wild and wooly adventures with friends from back home who come out to visit him at various stages of his journey.

While I myself have spent several years riding my bicycle through dozens of different countries all around the world, I could never truly capture the feeling and emotion of the road as well as Alastair has so beautifully done in this book. His descriptions of the people he met, the experiences he had, and the heartbreak he felt along the way is both deep and contemplative in one moment, and laugh-out-loud funny in the next.

While “Moods Of Future Joys” deals only with the first half of Alastair’s round-the-world bicycle touring adventure, the text is a must-read for any bicycle tourist, arm chair traveler, or adventurous soul. By the time you finish the book and pull into Cape Town with Alastair and his busted up touring bicycle, you’ll be leaping out of your chair for book number two (Thunder & Sunshine) and anxiously awaiting the second half of Alastair’s incredible round-the-world adventure.

My Rating: 10 out of 10

Learn more about Alastair Humphreys by visiting his website at: www.alastairhumphreys.com

Save