Here, in this selection of the best of Eric Newby's published writings, we learn how to clean out a pigsty in a gale near Cape Horn; what it is like to row 1200 miles down the Ganges, or live behind German lines in occupied Italy; how to brave dress buyers in post-war Edinburgh and in the wilds of Mayfair; deal with terrifying conductresses on the Trans-Siberian Railway; and cycle round Ireland in what was optimistically described as summertime - it actually rained for five months.