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Amber, Furs and Cockleshells: Bike Rides with Pilgrims and Merchants
Product Group: Book
Publisher: Virgin Books (2007-06-07)
ISBN: 0753509830
EAN: 9780753509838
Dewy Decimal #: 910.4
Paperback: 256 pages
Edition: New title
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Customer Reviews
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Three very different pilgrim journeys
Rating  (5)
Date: 2005-06-17
2 out of 2 customers found this reveiw helpful
Anne Mustoe's latest adventures are three quite different journeys - each in their own way 'pilgrim routes'. By her own admission she is a classicist and a lot of her narrative is interspersed with historical facts and observations. The indomitable ex-headmistress takes us from Skagen on the northernmost tip of Denmark on the Amber Route via Hamburg, Prague, Vienna and finishes in Aquileia. Just as you are recovering from that mini epic you are whisked off to Kansas. Kansas? you say, well on this journey Anne follows the pioneers on the Santa Fe trail over the American mid-west via Colorado to New Mexico. It is on the New Mexico leg that she experiences her 'coldest night ever'. Her description of the night sky 'I was blinded by the glittering planets and the swathe of galaxies so bright that they lit every pebble on my track. I stood gleaming in the frosty night, phosphorescent as a fish.' You can almost imagine yourself there, staring up and shivering too. Finally, she takes us on the famous pilgrim route to Santiago de Compostela her third time! But this is quite a short description of her pilgrimage but as she says at the end 'I would not have missed it for the world'.I look forward to her next book and only hope that I can emulate her on my own bicycle pilgrimage.
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Good but moe detail in some sections
Rating  (4)
Date: 2005-04-09
4 out of 4 customers found this reveiw helpful
I bought this book having read all but one of Anne Mustoe's books. There are three separate rides:-
1, The Amber Route (Denmark to the Adriatic coast).
2, The Santa Fe Trail (Kansas City to Santa Fe)
3, The Camino de Santiago (she started at Le Puy, to Santiago de Compostela).All the rides she admits to having written up with a slightly different angle. Of the three, the one I enjoyed the most is the Amber Route where her background as a classics scholar shows, but does not overtake the story. The Santa Fe trail is covered with a race (headwind allowing!) against the approaching winter.
The Santiago route is covered in depth as she crosses France, until the Pyranees. The second part of the route, across northern Spain, was disappointing due to lacking depth. This was probably due to it being her third time along this route; as she admits in the preface there are probably better books on the subject. Having also travelled that route I know how much there is to see and do along this stretch. This route was main reasons I ordered the book so rapidly.
On the whole a good book but some sections are glossed over very quickly, but I would still recommend it for a winter's evening (or two).
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Retail Price: £9.99
Amazon.com's Price:£0.01
That's 100% Off!
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