Seven League Boots

As an eighteen year-old, Wendy Myers left her job in a bank, and departed England to see the world. It was April 4 1960. Seven years later, on April 4 1967 she returned. A few days earlier she had made her first phone call to her parents in those seven years, from Amsterdam.

In seven years, she visited 100 countries - It said that on the blurb. I am not so sure it is 100 exactly, so I will shortly start a list to see where I get to. It isn't necessarily easy - sometimes a country disappears in less than a paragraph. Same with time. Infrequently she stops and works in order to finance her onward travel, but for the most part she is on the move, favouring hitchhiking, or cheap public transport, but as often one person she meets will put her in touch with another with a common destination, or someone who can assist her on her way.

Being young and female has a number of advantages and disadvantages. Without doubt, people go out of their way to help he to an extent unlikely to be matched for a male - but that is, of course, understandable. Various wealthy people she meets purchase onward travel - plane flights etc that she would struggle to budget for; others provide free accommodation and meals, take her on holiday with them, or generally share their lifestyles with her. The downside of a young woman travelling alone is obvious - safety. There are few occasions where the worst of threats - unwanted sexual advances - occur, but there are also dangerous weather events, trails in remote places where getting lost is a risk, a war (Vietnam - she visited both South and North Vietnam), and other such situations she explains.

Myers is also brave, and keen to experience as much as she can. Food is no exception - dog in the Philippines, snake in Cameroon, pigs brain in Vietnam, reindeer in Lapland, tiger in Cambodia and monkey in the Congo are against her culinary investigations. It is a different time now, of course, but it is an adventurous girl to try all of these.

So an interesting book - certainly inspiring. Seven years is a significant period of time. Certainly few people can sustain travel for anything like that. I consider myself well travelled and have had some decent stints of travel, but I believe six and a half months is the longest sustained period of travel. I would probably have been keen to carry on, but my partner at the time was over it after around 5 months, so that was that!

The writing is good without being great, but I don't think the writing it the key feature here. I think the authors drive and determination, her constant positive outlook and generally the inspiration she brings to others make this book excellent. I am not sure why it isn't more popular - 3 ratings and two reviews for a book published in 1969? Having said that, no idea where I heard of it, I think I picked it up second hand for a couple of dollars. There are only 6 copies on Abebooks.

There were also a couple of very minor cameos from well known travellers - Eric Newby and Robin Hanbury-Tennison, which were a little fun.

Anyway, without further ado, I will scour the pages for countries visited. Those with an Asterisk achieve more than a basic transit. I have listed the route, including double ups where these occur in her travels.

Chapter 1: Apr - May 1960: Britain-Western Europe* - Turkey - Iran - Pakistan (3)
Chapter 2: May - Dec 1960: India - Ceylon (Sri Lanka) - India (2)
Chapter 3: Dec - Feb 1961: Burma (Myanmar) - Thailand - Malaysia - Singapore - Hong Kong (5)
Chapter 4: Feb - Mar 1961: Japan - Taiwan - Philippines (3)
Chapter 5: Mar - Jun 1961: Philippines (0)
Chapter 6: Jun - Jan 1962: Australia - New Zealand (2)
Chapter 7: Feb - Aug 1962: Peru - Bolivia - Chile (3)
Chapter 8: Aug - Nov 1962: Argentina - Paraguay (2)
Chapter 9: Nov - Apr 1963: Brazil - Peru - Ecuador (2)
Chapter 10: Apr - Aug 1963: Ecuador - Colombia - Venezuela - Colombia - [Panama] -[ Costa Rica] - [Honduras] - [Guatemala] - Mexico (8)
Chapter 11: Aug - Jan 1964: United States - Canada - USA - Canada - USA (Alaska) - Canada (2)
Chapter 12: Feb-July 1964: USA (Hawaii) - Fiji - New Zealand - Australia - Singapore - Malaysia (Sarawak, Borneo) (1)
Chapter 13: Aug-Nov 1964: Thailand - Laos - Cambodia - Vietnam (South) - Cambodia (3)
Chapter 14: Nov - Jan 1965: Hong Kong - China - Vietnam (North) - China - Mongolia - Russia (3) Chapter 15: Jan-Apr 1965: [Poland] - [Germany (East)] - [Czechoslovakia (Czech Republic now)] - [Austria] - [Hungary] - [Yugoslavia (Serbia)] - [Hungary] - [Turkey] - Syria - Iraq - Syria (8)
Chapter 16: Apr - Jun 1965: Jordan - [Syria] - [Lebanon] - Egypt - Cyprus - [Lebanon] - [Iraq] - Kuwait (5)
Chapter 17: Jun - Oct 1965: Saudi Arabia - Yemen - Djibouti - Ethiopia - Sudan (and South Sudan) (5)
Chapter 18: Oct - Jan 1966: Uganda - Kenya - [Tanzania] - [Malawi] - [Mozambique] - Rhodesia (now Zimbabwe) - South Africa - Swaziland - Botswana - Rhodesia (9)
Chapter 19: Jan - Apr 1966: Zambia - Congo - Central African Republic - Cameroon (4)
Chapter 20: Apr - May 1966: Nigeria - [Dahomey (now Benin)] (2)
Chapter 21: May - Sept 1966: [Niger] - [Upper Volta (now Bukina Faso)] - Ghana - [Togo] - Ivory Coast - Liberia - Sierra Leone (7)
Chapter 22: Sep - Dec 1966: The Gambia - Senegal - Mauritania - Senegal - Mali - Niger (4)
Chapter 23: Dec - Feb 1967: Algeria - Tunisia- Libya (3)
Chapter 24: Feb - April 1967: Malta - Italy - San Marino - Italy - Switzerland - Liechtenstein - Germany - Denmark - Sweden - Finland - Sweden - Norway - Denmark - Germany - Netherlands - Belgium - France - Britain (12)

Therefore by my count, we are at 95 countries visited. In terms of lee-way, I didn't count North and South Vietnam separately, nor East and West Germany. I also didn't count Sarawak separately from mainland Malaysia. It is of course perfectly viable that I missed one or two - especially in Africa where some countries were transited through in a short sentence! On balance 100 countries - or thereabouts is fine with me.

5 stars, based on such an undertaking! Recommended for those with itchy feet - and who hasn't got those in these times of isolation with Covid?

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