Riding The Desert Trail

This is the third of Bettina Selby's travel books I have read - all cycle based trips. This one takes her from the mouth of the Nile to its source (well, it doesn't split hairs over the actual source - Lake Victoria is her final destination), taking in of course, Egypt, Sudan and Uganda. Published in 1987, the journey was just before - perhaps ‘86.

It was an ambitious and very brave journey - Egypt is well known for its ability to separate travellers from their money, but it is in Sudan and Uganda where things were particularly risky.

In this book, perhaps more than I remember in the other books, Shelby goes a long way into this history and culture of the places she visits. She draws inspiration from, and parallels the journey of Amelia Edwards in 1887, although Edwards never ventured forth on a bicycle of course! Selby however had a cycle purpose built, and painted bright red, which made it quite a point of interest for the locals whose own cycles, where available, were old, in poor repair, and not red.

So Selby sets off, putting in long hours in the saddle to cover a lot of ground, but not so stubborn as to refuse assistance where necessary - especially in the more dangerous desert routes, or where civil war is close. As is often the case with this type of travel (and travel book), the story is made by those people the author encounters on the way - and being on a cycle bring her into much closer contact with local poeple. Almost exclusively they are welcoming and feel obliged to feed and shelter the visitor to their land, and of course add a level of detail to the journey that is not usually found in other modes of travel where the traveller engages less.

Readable, and fairly fast moving, this book desn't suffer from the drudgery of reading about the pedalling, or cataloguing every meal.

4 stars