Harley to Mali

'Turn right at that roundabout and keep going for a thousand miles, even you can't get lost,'  said the Brigadier. Naturally he was wrong. Former ship's officer Ian Mutch pits his navigational skills against the limited options of the Sahara's road network and finds that while it isn't hard to get it right, it does not follow that it's difficult to get it wrong. Sand berms, minefields and some of the worst blacktop on earth lie ahead. Sticking to his maxim of 'gently Bentley'  Mutch sets out on a five week trek to Mali in company with a group of more serious overlanders on purpose-built BMWs with working Garmins and shovels. Mutch's Harley-Davidson- mounted efforts calls a lie to the notion that such trips require appropriate motorcycles, the correct riding gear, and meticulous.  training. If you're looking for a serious travel book packed with helpful information and advice you will be cruelly disappointed by this frivolous volume of  personal observations. Why detail the mechanics of puncture repair in the sand when you can dwell on the ascending altitude of waistbands with age? 'When you are 80, you will hitch your trousers until the waistband is in you armpits as you study your profile in a mirror and you will think you look cool.' 

'Never,' said Hamish defiantly.

'You will,' said Alex, 'it's the law.' 

The real question of course is - did Alex recover Hamish's Abba albums from Mutch's Mac? If you fail to buy this book you may never know.