Ten years after Ewan and Charlie brought overlanding to our TV screens, some people are still using their movie-title as a cue. Jonathan Yates has done it again with this picture-book of his year on the road aboard a 660 Ténéré. Physically it’s a nice hard-backed publication, stuffed with imagery of his experiences on 6 continents.
An introduction to each chapter/country provides some useful facts and figures, a small route map and a handful of notes: “Quite wet: imminent rainy season meant wet afternoons; good roads”, before the ‘Rider Log’ begins, which is exactly that.
I can’t say the writing is engaging, or even factually accurate: “Although in the EU, Romania is not part of the EEC.” This statement doesn’t make any sense, but I presume he’s trying to refer to the Euro currency. For a book that endeavours to offer travel advice, these sorts of mistakes about countries so close to home, don’t fill the reader with confidence.
Similarly, the book cover makes great play of one man and one motorcycle yet he is accompanied for much of the journey by other riders he had pre-arranged to meet, although we are never actually introduced to them.
It’s certainly a nice book to flick through and there are some images that inspire, but most are just snap shots. Half the number, better presented, may have improved things, but it could still make a nice Christmas present for someone with an interest in the subject.
Published by Veloce
ISBN: 978-1-845842-94-9 (HB)
224pp, 692 colour images £40