Daren

In this book Jacki Hill-Murphy describes a journey undertaken by each of three female explorers (well two, as the first journey was out of need rather than exploration) and then re-creates those journeys in modern times. Within the book the author states her criteria for selecting a journey to recreate are 1- no war zones, 2- a clear beginning and end, and 3- a means of travel close to the original explorer. Modern equipment is used, and transport to the commencement of the journey is modern.

The recounting of these journeys was good, but where the author could draw the parallels of her own journey with the 18th & 19th century added another dimension. Following the original route wasn't always possible of course, and she was aided by the forming of new roads and better access in many cases.

The first (and only one I was not aware of) was a journey by Isabella Godin, who is recognised as he first woman to travel the length of the Amazon River in 1769. Born in a part of Peru that is now in Ecuador, married to a Frenchman, she travelled from Ecuador to he mouth of the Amazon to be reunited with him. Hers was a tale of hardship and determination, and she succeeded while those who set out to assist and accompany her inevitably lost their lives on the way. The author undertakes a journey with three female companions (and guides and drivers of boats etc).

The second part covers her climb up Mount Cameroon to retrace British explorer, Mary Kingsley's journey in 1885. At thirty years old, with her parents both passed, she set out to explore West Africa. Mount Cameroon was one of her various achievements. Kingsley put many of her contemporary male explorers to shame with their enormous entourages, she sets off with a guide and a few assistants. On this repeat journey, Hill-Murphy is joined by five women, who, as part of the agreement must bring a Victorian dress in which to complete the last stage of the summiting.

Interesting to note here that those who accompany the author are in a couple of cases friends, but in most people who have responded to an advertisement. The book gains a few paragraphs on how sometimes they are not the most appropriate people. This doesn't differ in the third journey, other than the author no longer has an all-female team.

The final part retraces the journey of Isabella Bird over the Digar pass in the Indian Himalaya in 1890. Bird is another British Victorian explorer. Often of ill health early in her life she is miraculously cured when travelling the world, exploring (I wish I could have convinced someone to finance my life spent travelling). Extensively travelled in her life, this small journey in the Indian Himalaya is recreated by Hill-Murphy accompanied by an English ex-soldier who loved trekking, and Muslim Egyptian academic who had never been trekking and an Indian living in England who convinced himself he was a trekker, but wasn't.

Enjoyable for the most part, but I found the start of the first journey quite hard to get through, so glad I persisted.

3.5 stars.

In 1956 Richard Pape published Boldness be my Friend, a memoir of his time as a POW and escaped POW in the Netherlands and Germany in World War II. It was a complex explanation of his time with many people who aided him, and much went on unknown to him with those people after he has passed them by. For others he was not aware of their identity.

And so to this book - published in 1959, three years later - Pape's goal was to seek out information about the many people who helped him, visit hose who were still alive, or the families of those who were not and to share a little about their histories. There are many photographs throughout the book - some of the war years some of his visits to these people post-war.

There are many interesting stories about people here, although there are some where Pape spread the goodness on a bit thick. In his travels he revisited the UK, Netherlands and Germany, but also Canada, New Zealand and South Africa.

Of most interest to me was his visit to Christchurch, NZ where he met the man he swapped identity with in order to confuse the Gestapo - they both went on to swap identities again with other prisoners and make a real tangled web for the Gestapo to try and unravel. Of course this is not a travel book, so there was little about his journeying, but is all about the people.

Pape gives an outline of his previous story to link the narratives of the people, so it can be read standa alone, but really it would be best read shortly after the first book (as opposed to around 5 years after, as I did!)

An interesting book, 3 stars.

This is Ranulph Fiennes description of a journey in British Columbia's Rocky Mountain Trench between the Yukon border and the Pacific Coast at Vancouver. The journey (or series of journeys more accurately) took place in 1971. Over 900 miles of travel by RDF boats (a brand of outboard motor propelled 13 foot long inflatable boats) - they took two and for parts of the journey a C-Craft boat (another brand - they were rewarding their sponsors by referring to all their equipment by brand, I guess).

Accompanied (at various times) by 3 men from the Royal Scots Greys (the three chosen were Joe Skibinski, Jack McConnell and Stanley Cribbett); a photographer from The Observer Bryn Campbell; and three BBC men tasked with filming the journey; plus Fiennes wife Ginnie and a army engineer who would both drive support vehicles where the route was near a road.

The first objective was to reach Virginia Falls, twice the height of Niagara. Their route from Fort Nelson took them up the Fort Nelson River to Fort Liard; the Liard River to Nahanni Butte and then the Nahanni River through the Headless Canyon (so named for the burned and headless corpses of a dozen gold prospectors and trappers found there, a series of unsolved mysteries over the century).

The river was tough, with high flows, dangerous rapids and the like - an adventure story for sure. Add to this a huge forest fire and log jambs and semi-submerged forest creating a flooded lake.

The second leg of the journey was from the Yukon border to Wiliston Lake. It gets a bit hard to follow here, and having not taken notes I am winging it a bit. With the drew walking wounded, and many parts of the journey not navigable in boats there were many miles of walking. Fiennes was turned back several times due to those accompanying him becoming injured and needing to return. He also ran out of food, and being unsure oh his route, returned to his start point and eventually needed to set off alone as all others needed recovery time. Reckless for sure, but Fiennes is a determined man.

Eventually he found his way (much of the advice about the tracks turned out to be just plainly incorrect, and he spent far too long on the incorrect side of the river with the track being on the other!). He re met up with the rest of the crew, and set off again in boats. There was more navigable river, before they ended up dragging boats a long way and then portaging the Stifton Pass and in to the Fraser River, which had taken the lives of most who has tried to pass down it before.

Next was The Rocky Mountain Trench, from Fort Ware to Fort George on the Findlay River; and then from Prince George to Vancouver just above the US border.

There was action all the way, but there are only some many descriptions of rapids the reader needs, and I was very ready for the journey to end. It is only a 220 page book, but for a reader there was a lot of repetition in the daily events. Tough to hold interest in such a long journey I guess.

Not my favourite of Ranulph Fiennes books, but it was interesting to a point, and certainly reinforces the mans ability to push himself.

3 stars

It seems that different editions of this book have different stories, and some in a different order.

My edition, Hodder & Stoughton from 1911 contains the following stories as retold by Laurence Housman: Ali Baba and the Forty Thieves; The Story of the Wicked Half-Brothers; The Story of the Princess of Deryabar; The Story of the Magic Horse; The Fisherman and the Genie; The Story of the King of the Ebony Isles.

Contained within are twenty four color illustrations by Edmund Dulac. The illustrations are very well executed, of a style I guess is art nouveau, but show the Persian characters with big noses and mean expressions; the women thin, with all similar faces - perhaps recognised as beautiful at the time.

I enjoyed the stories, having read the Thousand Nights and the One Night. As others observe, not all stories reward the honest, and so are not moral guides, but then that would be disinteresting wouldn't it?

5 stars

Bond #9.

I went in with low expectations - in 2026 general consensus is that Fleming's Bond has not aged well.

With expectations set low, and having only seen movies, never read a Bond novel, i came out in an ok place. There was plenty of action, and more explanation and background to the story than I had expected. Yes Bond bedded one woman too many than a modern story would sustain, but that was not unexpected.

Before the story really starts, Bond is sent by M to a wellness retreat, where dieting and exercise replace drinking and smoking. This is an amusing interlude, and while technically related to the main storyline is somehow not proven to be by 007.

The first of the Bond novels to feature SPECTRE (Special Executive for Counter-intelligence, Terrorism, Revenge and Extortion) the global terrorist organisation. In this case they have stolen a plane with two atomic bombs, which they use to blackmail the US and UK governments to giving them one hundred million pounds (in gold).

M, on a hunch based on some flight data speculates that the stolen plane in in the Bahamas, which is where Bond is sent to snoop around. A millionaire with a hydrofoil boat, who claims to be a treasure hunter raises some suspicion in 007, and his 'niece' Dominetta Vitali who raises er, more than suspicion.

An amusing read that in no way puts me off reading more Bond.

3.5 stars.

Susan Graham was a well known journalist and author from the 50s & 60s era. She is very well travelled, and here she tells of a round the world trip taken in order to reach South America (back in the day there was no routing from New Zealand to South America, and it was necessary to fly to North America - the basis of her book is if you are flying all that way you may as well stop as often as you can and see lots of places! This book was published in 1963.

The first few chapters are basic travel preparation advice for those who have never travelled - it is a bit patronising, but to be fair in NZ back in the 60's there was the Kiwi backpacker who packs up and travels the world for a few years before returning home to get on with settling down, but there were plenty of people who had no idea how to get started, so perhaps these were helpful chapters!

It doesn't stop there, there is plenty of advice through out the book, but all given in a genuine and probably helpful way. The author makes a lot of stops, and we get around 3 pages for each stop she discusses. In the book she mentions that in her four month travels she visited 'over forty countries' whereas she mentions *only* about twenty one.

Her travels are almost exclusively city based (when you only have a few days in each country it makes sense), but she gets a little further afield in South America. You can check out the shelves I associated with this review if you are interested, but there is little to be gained from a few short pages other than a basic highlights reel.

This was amusing enough, in an easy to read format.

3 stars.

I didn't go into the reading of this book with particularly high expectations - I read a lot of mountaineering books (for some reason), but most involve the Himalaya, or South America. Few of interest have been in the Alps of Europe.

Published in 1946 it is (as the author says) "an account, not primarily of climbs, but of climbing holidays in the Highlands and the Alps. It records no great feats of mountaineering, no striking new ascents - a few new routes there were, indeed, but some of these were made by accident. Our aim was not to establish records, but to enjoy ourselves; and the book too was written for pleasure, to recall the enjoyment of days on mountains as well known as the Matterhorn and Mont Blanc, as little know as the minor peaks of the Haute Maurienne or Wester Ross."

So the Scottish highlands and Italian Alps are the primary locations, the French Alps also.

We are introduced to various climbing partners, guides and local personalities. The climbs are described, often in detail, but there are much wider ranging descriptions of meals and conversations, of accommodation and villages. It was a snapshot in time looking at mountaineering gear, travel and costs.

It had a certain charm to it, but honestly it was not a very exciting read. It had brief moments of excitement but they were few are far between, and it was not enough for me.

2 stars.