Vagabond by Jeremy James
The journey starts when author and long-rider Jeremy James buys two horses from gypsies at a fair in southern Bulgaria. He and his long-suffering friend Chumpie then set off on horseback winding northwards to Berlin and on the way encounter a marvellous array of local characters from all walks of life as they ride from Bulgaria to Berlin, via Romania, Hungary, Czechoslovakia and Poland. On a low budget, they are sustained by local fire-water, indigestible food and the forceful personalities of their horses who steal, run away, misbehave or suddenly comply at will and add a whole new dimension to the experience of travel. As Jeremy says, 'If you go by train or car, the world rushes past you, and you don't even get to smell it. But if you travel on a horse, you feel the world as you move through it, every step, every scent, every breeze, every dimple in the ground, and it's always fresh. The horse carries you into village life: he's a point of reference, something to focus on.' After five long months, they finally reach their destination. It has taken Jeremy through an Eastern Europe full of surprises, which, with the collapse of communism, has almost disappeared today.
Born in Kenya in 1949, educated at the Royal Agricultural College, Cirencester and University of Wales, Jeremy James spent most of his early life working with horses and cattle in Africa and the Middle East. In 1987, he wrote his first book, Saddletramp, the story of his horseback adventure from Turkey to Wales, which was followed in 1991 by Vagabond. In the early 1990s he was Turkish correspondent for several broadsheets and magazines, and in 1992 was commissioned by the International League for the Protection of Horses to write about their work in Debt of Honour. In 2005 he wrote The Byerley Turk, the extraordinary true story of the founding sire of the modern racehorse. Jeremy lives in Shropshire where he now writes full-time for his living.
| SKU | Unavailable |
| ISBN 13 | 9781910723012 |
| ISBN 10 | 1910723010 |
| Title | Vagabond |
| Author | Jeremy James |
| Condition | Unavailable |
| Binding Type | Hardback |
| Publisher | Merlin Unwin Books |
| Year published | 2015-09-03 |
| Number of pages | 224 |
| Cover note | Book picture is for illustrative purposes only, actual binding, cover or edition may vary. |
| Note | Unavailable |