Book Reviews For...
Beyond Bucharest
Motorcycle Adventure Travel
Rough ride for bikers
in a new adventure
Review by Andrew Malkin.
Lincolnshire Free Press, Tuesday December 1, 2009.
ONE-Time Spalding couple Bob and Viv Goddard's bid to emulate the televised Long Way Round motorcycle adventures of Ewan McGregor and Charley Boorman turned into a hard way round nightmare of Biblical proportions. Their overland trek, recorded in their new book Beyond Bucharest, took them to the Bulgarian coastline and along some of the worst roads in Europe in the worst weather.
Anyone who has ever set out on two wheels - motorized or not - will cringe at the following Romanian passage: ‘…violent gusts met us on roads awash with water and mudslides. We hadn’t been rolling 20 minutes when we came across the first fatal crash of the day. Impatient motorists nudged my bike with their bumpers. We were constantly cuffed by great fists of wind that threatened to knock us off. We were sucked into Bucharest via a long, awful one-way nightmare of pot-holes, trenches and floods.
‘The road works were horrifying - huge trenches deep enough to swallow us without bollards or fences - most full or rapidly filling with swirling brown storm water. Where the road was awash there was no telling if there was a road surface beneath, or a death trap. Then the tramlines - not flush with the road surface but fully-raised train rails, like steel barriers, criss-crossing the road at oblique angles. "My God," I whimpered, "they can’t mean us to ride over those, surely?"
There follows a terrifying account of a white-knuckled ride, crashing and sliding over wet steel as the dangerous duo lurched, bumped and banged their two large and heavily-laden motorbikes through a labyrinth of chaos. With dogged determination, and using skills gained on other long-distance motorcycle trips - one around New Zealand told in Bob’s travelogue Land Of The Long Wild Road - the two complete their journey from Norwich to Sozopol in Bulgaria, via their main destination, Bucharest.
Along the way - adventure, danger, hazards, trials, tribulations, humour and some nudity, all told in Bob’s self-deprecating, laid-back style. Bob, a former Spalding Grammar School boy, who started his career as a reporter on the Lincolnshire Free Press, and Viv, also from Spalding and a former pupil of Spalding High School, made the trip to support and publicise the work abroad of UK charity EveryChild - royalties from the sale of the book being donated to EveryChild.
Beyond Bucharest can be ordered from www.timbuktu-publishing.co.uk and will be sent by post free to any UK address, price £5.” Andrew Malkin, Lincolnshire Free Press, Tuesday December 1, 2009.
I have a confession. I think I could easily read and enjoy anything that Bob Goddard writes. Bob's well crafted style of writing is refreshingly easy to read, yet captures a story in its full technicolour, 3D, smell-o-vision realness. On top to this, the drama is always peppered with Bob's very funny ramblings on life.
Travel books aren't my thing, but it is not only a good read, it is a fascinating insight into life and travel in Eastern Europe. I think this is what I like most about Bob's writing. He manages to capture how bleak the real world can be at times without losing sight of how magical and special it can be at others; especially when relating to the people they meet on their travels.
If you are a biker or a traveller, then this book will give you a very useful insight into travelling across Europe and into the Eastern European countries. It will help you understand the challenges and will probably take you to places of great beauty and history that would have remained unknown.
As a traveller's guide, this book clearly offers many tips and lessons that will be of great value. For the non-traveller; well, it's simply a book about a daring and dramatic motorbike journey that is full of jeopardy, fascinating information and affectionate humour. It's a great read, both inspiring and informative.”Richard Blackburn, Energi-Tech.
What would possess an otherwise sane grandmother to forsake her knitting and ride a powerful motorcycle to the Black Sea and back, tackling the worst roads, most atrocious weather and most dangerous driving on the way? A love of children, a UK charity and an adventurous husband, it would seem, judging by the book of their travels published this week.
Beyond Bucharest by Buxton author Bob Goddard tells the tale of his and wife Viv’s extraordinary journey on two motorbikes, through 12 countries and 16 borders, to help raise publicity in Romania and Bulgaria for UK charity EveryChild. Their ride through storm, flood and tempest, was almost a challenge too far. They even spent an inadvertent night in a brothel!
This, Bob’s second book of madcap motorcycle adventures and the author’s royalties from all sales will be donated to UK charity EveryChild. For more information about ‘Beyond Bucharest’ by Bob Goddard, visit www.timbuktu-publishing.co.uk The Round, north Norfolk.
Not-so-easy riders tell of a gruelling trip for charity
Review by Mary Hamilton
Eastern Daily Press, Evening News, North Norfolk News, Thursday December 10th 2009
Two north Norfolk grandparents who abandoned their sleepy village to ride powerful motorbikes into the 'valley of death' and killer floods in Eastern Europe have published the tale of their troublesome trek. Bob and Viv Goddard were in their early 50s in 2005 when they donned leathers and helmets to make the trip of a lifetime through 12 countries to raise publicity for charity Every Child's work in Romania and Bulgaria.
But the couple could not have foreseen the horrendous storms, widespread flooding, “nigh-suicidal” driving and awful roads that made their 5,000-mile trip seem almost impossible to complete. Now they have penned their tale for posterity in Beyond Bucharest, and will be signing copies and meeting readers and motorbike enthusiasts in Norwich shop Hein Gericke on Sunday.
“It was a life-changing experience to visit these places,” said former motorcycle journalist Bob Goddard. “The journey was much harder and more traumatic than we had imagined and we felt lucky to come back alive. We got to Romania at the same time as an absolutely horrendous storm which was so severe it washed away houses, roads and bridges.”
Romania was the country worst hit by the European storms in 2005, which killed 62 people across central and Eastern Europe and left thousands more homeless.
“We rode through it all,” said Mr Goddard. “We were determined to get out of Romania. We got to a hilltop town in Bulgaria and were completely stuck because all the rivers had burst their banks and we couldn't ride anywhere. When the news came on it was a bit of a shock - we hadn't realised quite how dangerous it had been.
“On the way back through Romania we were held up in a motel for 24 hours waiting for the water to recede before riding through the valleys north of the Danube. All the roads follow the valleys and all the valleys were filled with water. We rode for hours and tried to find a hotel, but everywhere was full of people who had been displaced or closed because of the flood damage.
“Eventually we found a very strange, rickety building that looked like a truck halt, who said they had a room. The place was full of young girls serving but we went straight to the room, which was desperate - there was no mattress on the bed, and wires hanging out of the walls. It wasn't until after we left the next day that we realised it was a brothel. I think they could see we were too exhausted to raise a smile, let alone anything else!”
The Goddards, who are from Buxton near Coltishall and have sponsored children in deprived areas through Every Child for more than a decade, decided to visit their projects to discover how their money was used and the difference the charity made to communities. They raised money for the charity from illustrated talks with slides of their journey, and royalties from the sales of Beyond Bucharest will also go to the charity.
Beyond Bucharest by Bob Goddard is available from bookshops in Cromer, Holt, Aylsham and Norwich priced £7, or for just £5 direct from www.timbuktu-publishing.co.uk. Hein Gericke motorcycle shop on Ber Street, Norwich is holding a book signing and meet the authors event on December 13 from 12pm to 3pm. Mary Hamilton, 10/12/09 –
Eastern Daily Press, Evening News and North Norfolk News
Click Here To Go To The Order Page & get your copy sent to you today. It's a BARGAIN!
in a new adventure
Review by Andrew Malkin.
Lincolnshire Free Press, Tuesday December 1, 2009.
ONE-Time Spalding couple Bob and Viv Goddard's bid to emulate the televised Long Way Round motorcycle adventures of Ewan McGregor and Charley Boorman turned into a hard way round nightmare of Biblical proportions. Their overland trek, recorded in their new book Beyond Bucharest, took them to the Bulgarian coastline and along some of the worst roads in Europe in the worst weather.
Anyone who has ever set out on two wheels - motorized or not - will cringe at the following Romanian passage: ‘…violent gusts met us on roads awash with water and mudslides. We hadn’t been rolling 20 minutes when we came across the first fatal crash of the day. Impatient motorists nudged my bike with their bumpers. We were constantly cuffed by great fists of wind that threatened to knock us off. We were sucked into Bucharest via a long, awful one-way nightmare of pot-holes, trenches and floods.
‘The road works were horrifying - huge trenches deep enough to swallow us without bollards or fences - most full or rapidly filling with swirling brown storm water. Where the road was awash there was no telling if there was a road surface beneath, or a death trap. Then the tramlines - not flush with the road surface but fully-raised train rails, like steel barriers, criss-crossing the road at oblique angles. "My God," I whimpered, "they can’t mean us to ride over those, surely?"
There follows a terrifying account of a white-knuckled ride, crashing and sliding over wet steel as the dangerous duo lurched, bumped and banged their two large and heavily-laden motorbikes through a labyrinth of chaos. With dogged determination, and using skills gained on other long-distance motorcycle trips - one around New Zealand told in Bob’s travelogue Land Of The Long Wild Road - the two complete their journey from Norwich to Sozopol in Bulgaria, via their main destination, Bucharest.
Along the way - adventure, danger, hazards, trials, tribulations, humour and some nudity, all told in Bob’s self-deprecating, laid-back style. Bob, a former Spalding Grammar School boy, who started his career as a reporter on the Lincolnshire Free Press, and Viv, also from Spalding and a former pupil of Spalding High School, made the trip to support and publicise the work abroad of UK charity EveryChild - royalties from the sale of the book being donated to EveryChild.
Beyond Bucharest can be ordered from www.timbuktu-publishing.co.uk and will be sent by post free to any UK address, price £5.” Andrew Malkin, Lincolnshire Free Press, Tuesday December 1, 2009.
I have a confession. I think I could easily read and enjoy anything that Bob Goddard writes. Bob's well crafted style of writing is refreshingly easy to read, yet captures a story in its full technicolour, 3D, smell-o-vision realness. On top to this, the drama is always peppered with Bob's very funny ramblings on life.
Travel books aren't my thing, but it is not only a good read, it is a fascinating insight into life and travel in Eastern Europe. I think this is what I like most about Bob's writing. He manages to capture how bleak the real world can be at times without losing sight of how magical and special it can be at others; especially when relating to the people they meet on their travels.
If you are a biker or a traveller, then this book will give you a very useful insight into travelling across Europe and into the Eastern European countries. It will help you understand the challenges and will probably take you to places of great beauty and history that would have remained unknown.
As a traveller's guide, this book clearly offers many tips and lessons that will be of great value. For the non-traveller; well, it's simply a book about a daring and dramatic motorbike journey that is full of jeopardy, fascinating information and affectionate humour. It's a great read, both inspiring and informative.”Richard Blackburn, Energi-Tech.
What would possess an otherwise sane grandmother to forsake her knitting and ride a powerful motorcycle to the Black Sea and back, tackling the worst roads, most atrocious weather and most dangerous driving on the way? A love of children, a UK charity and an adventurous husband, it would seem, judging by the book of their travels published this week.
Beyond Bucharest by Buxton author Bob Goddard tells the tale of his and wife Viv’s extraordinary journey on two motorbikes, through 12 countries and 16 borders, to help raise publicity in Romania and Bulgaria for UK charity EveryChild. Their ride through storm, flood and tempest, was almost a challenge too far. They even spent an inadvertent night in a brothel!
This, Bob’s second book of madcap motorcycle adventures and the author’s royalties from all sales will be donated to UK charity EveryChild. For more information about ‘Beyond Bucharest’ by Bob Goddard, visit www.timbuktu-publishing.co.uk The Round, north Norfolk.
Not-so-easy riders tell of a gruelling trip for charity
Review by Mary Hamilton
Eastern Daily Press, Evening News, North Norfolk News, Thursday December 10th 2009
Two north Norfolk grandparents who abandoned their sleepy village to ride powerful motorbikes into the 'valley of death' and killer floods in Eastern Europe have published the tale of their troublesome trek. Bob and Viv Goddard were in their early 50s in 2005 when they donned leathers and helmets to make the trip of a lifetime through 12 countries to raise publicity for charity Every Child's work in Romania and Bulgaria.
But the couple could not have foreseen the horrendous storms, widespread flooding, “nigh-suicidal” driving and awful roads that made their 5,000-mile trip seem almost impossible to complete. Now they have penned their tale for posterity in Beyond Bucharest, and will be signing copies and meeting readers and motorbike enthusiasts in Norwich shop Hein Gericke on Sunday.
“It was a life-changing experience to visit these places,” said former motorcycle journalist Bob Goddard. “The journey was much harder and more traumatic than we had imagined and we felt lucky to come back alive. We got to Romania at the same time as an absolutely horrendous storm which was so severe it washed away houses, roads and bridges.”
Romania was the country worst hit by the European storms in 2005, which killed 62 people across central and Eastern Europe and left thousands more homeless.
“We rode through it all,” said Mr Goddard. “We were determined to get out of Romania. We got to a hilltop town in Bulgaria and were completely stuck because all the rivers had burst their banks and we couldn't ride anywhere. When the news came on it was a bit of a shock - we hadn't realised quite how dangerous it had been.
“On the way back through Romania we were held up in a motel for 24 hours waiting for the water to recede before riding through the valleys north of the Danube. All the roads follow the valleys and all the valleys were filled with water. We rode for hours and tried to find a hotel, but everywhere was full of people who had been displaced or closed because of the flood damage.
“Eventually we found a very strange, rickety building that looked like a truck halt, who said they had a room. The place was full of young girls serving but we went straight to the room, which was desperate - there was no mattress on the bed, and wires hanging out of the walls. It wasn't until after we left the next day that we realised it was a brothel. I think they could see we were too exhausted to raise a smile, let alone anything else!”
The Goddards, who are from Buxton near Coltishall and have sponsored children in deprived areas through Every Child for more than a decade, decided to visit their projects to discover how their money was used and the difference the charity made to communities. They raised money for the charity from illustrated talks with slides of their journey, and royalties from the sales of Beyond Bucharest will also go to the charity.
Beyond Bucharest by Bob Goddard is available from bookshops in Cromer, Holt, Aylsham and Norwich priced £7, or for just £5 direct from www.timbuktu-publishing.co.uk. Hein Gericke motorcycle shop on Ber Street, Norwich is holding a book signing and meet the authors event on December 13 from 12pm to 3pm. Mary Hamilton, 10/12/09 –
Eastern Daily Press, Evening News and North Norfolk News
Click Here To Go To The Order Page & get your copy sent to you today. It's a BARGAIN!
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