On Roads That Echo by Charlie Walker

On Roads That Echo by Charlie Walker

★★★★★ A true adventure in every sense. Superbly written

★★★★★ Just a stunningly good hardcore travel adventure

★★★★★ I can't begin to do justice in describing how amazing this book is

★★★★★ An incredible story, beautifully written

★★★★★ I felt every turn of the pedal on this flabbergasting adventure

★★★★★ Had me gripped from start to finish. You must read this...

★★★★★ Truly amazing The book and the author

★★★★★ My heart was in my mouth throughout. I feel I must read it again

★★★★★ Far more than just an adrenalin-filled adventure...

★★★★★ I couldn't restrain myself from binge-reading

★★★★★ I'm not going to find another book to match this for a very long time, until he writes another of course

★★★★★ In a genre that's really competitive, big things are destined for the author

BOOK DESCRIPTION

Having already pedalled 18,000 miles from Britain to Beijing, Charlie Walker's homeward leg carried him a further 26,000 miles through Central Asia, the Middle East, and Africa.

The two-and-a-half-year journey spanned the mountains and deserts of former Soviet Republics, Afghanistan on the fearful brink of foreign withdrawal, and remote corners of the Congolese jungle. From hiking through sandstorms in the Gobi desert to barrelling down rapids in a dugout canoe, this perilous adventure, and Charlie's many encounters along the way, gives insight into the past, present, and future of often-overlooked places during periods of great change.

On Roads That Echo deftly achieves the delicate balancing act of relating an impressive and gruelling odyssey while also colourfully portraying the lands and lives encountered with empathy, perception, and a wealth of background knowledge.

A first class adventure by a first class adventurer - packed with compelling incident and insight.- BENEDICT ALLEN

An epic adventure, told candidly and vividly. Charlie's words make me want to go back and experience these places with the same depth.- MARK BEAUMONT

A mammoth journey that makes me yearn for the formative freedom of the open road.- ALASTAIR HUMPHREYS

Charlie Walker is a motivational speaker, writer, and adventurer from the United Kingdom. He specializes in long-distance human-powered trips and has cycled, skied, walked, rode a horse, kayaked, and paddled a dugout canoe over 50,000 kilometers. His work has appeared in The Times, the Daily Express, Wanderlust, Travelmag, Travel Africa, and Sidetracked magazine, among others. In 2013, the Association of Independent Tour Operators recognized him Travel Blogger of the Year. Before returning home, Charlie completed a 43,000-mile cycling tour that took him to the farthest cape in each of Europe, Asia, and Africa.

During the four and a half years he was gone, he traveled through 60 nations, facing extremes of weather, isolation, and physical weariness. Charlie trekked 1,000 km alone from China to Mongolia through the Gobi desert in 2010. This feat necessitated walking six marathons every week for six weeks while carrying enough food and drink to last. He also walked 600 miles across Central and Northern Mongolia in 2012, with just a semi-feral pony and a stray dog he found in the forest as company.

In a leaky dugout canoe, Charlie descended the Lulua, a little-known branch of the Congo River, in 2014. Rapids, waterfalls, hippos, crocodiles, and, shortly after leaving the river, terrible attacks of malaria and typhoid fever marred this expedition into distant and completely undiscovered DRC terrain. Charlie completed a 5,200-mile triathlon in 2017 along the apparent European-Asian border. This eight-month journey took him from the Russian Arctic's midwinter snowfields to Istanbul's Bosporus via a tortuous river in Kazakhstan.

Charlie resides in London while he is not on an adventure.