No, not a book signing tour, just a family bike tour. We practice what I preach…
We’ve just returned from a week-long, lodge-based break in the Scottish Highlands. Normally we ride from B&B to B&B or from campsite to campsite but it was good to call a posh lodge home for a week, taking lots of micro rides in the area rather than an A to B tour of a region.
Below are my from the trip. As you can see, the weather was bright and sunny, just like last year’s bike trip to Scotland. Thinking of booking a trip to Scotland? Call us to find out when we’re going next, that’s the guaranteed good weather week!
The new ‘Family Cycling’ book doesn’t include any of the pix above. But maybe a second edition might. If the book sells out, that is. If you want a copy of ‘Family Cycling’, it’s cheap-as-chips over on , but if you’d like a signed, personalised copy I’ll do you one. I’ll throw in the postage and can even seal with a SWALK (I draw the line at locks of my hair, mainly because there’s not much left).
For American readers, paying me direct, via PayPal, is very probably the quickest way to get hold of the book because it’s not yet available on Amazon.com (although it’s available for pre-order for delivery in October!). Delivery to the UK or to the US, or to anywhere, really, is in with the list price of the book. So, it’s £11.99 in real world book shops so that’s how much I’ll charge.
If you want me to sign the book to a person, and with a specific message, let me know. I have the hand-writing skills of an ape, mind.
Send me your requested text in the wee box below, or via an email to
, and pay the £11.99 here:
The book can be previewed in page-flippy mode on Issuu.com, including the intro and, embedded below, a chapter on teaching a child to ride a bike:
Here’s how to get a signed, personalised copy of the brand new ‘Family Cycling’
I do weddings, christenings, bar mitzvahs…and now, book signings.
If you want a plain vanilla version of ‘Family Cycling’, it’s cheaper over on , but if you’d like a signed, personalised copy I’ll do you one. I’ll throw in the postage, too.
For American readers, paying me direct, via PayPal, is very probably the quickest way to get hold of the book because it’s not yet available on Amazon.com (although it’s available for pre-order - in October…). Delivery to the UK or to the US, or to anywhere, really, is in with the list price of the book. It’s £11.99 in real world book shops so that’s how much I’ll charge.
If you want me to sign the book to a person, and with a specific message, let me know.
Send me your requested text in the wee box below, or via an email to
, and pay the £11.99 here:
Thanks! The book can be previewed in page-flippy mode on Issuu.com, including the intro and, embedded below, a chapter on teaching a child to ride a bike:
I’m a member of The Pickwick Club, the world’s oldest extant bicycle club, founded in 1870. It’s also the world’s oldest extant Dickensian association. As a member, I can invite guests to the club’s functions. There are two main ones each year: posh and ribald ‘luncheons’ in the 200-year old New Connaught Rooms, near Covent Garden. The great and good of the bicycle world go to these functions, from industry bigwigs to pro riders (I sat next to David Millar at a previous function). And I’d like to invite you to be my guest at the 2009 President’s Luncheon, taking place on Thursday, May 7th.
I have a number of guests already booked in – including some famous names – but I’ve reserved another space for you. That is if you’re a man. Sorry, but this Pickwick Club is male-only, unlike this Pickwick Club which allows members to, ahem, hang free. And you have to tell me why you’d like to be my guest. Be witty, be smart, get into the flavour of the event by drinking a glass or three of red wine before you pen your prose.
Your Pickwickian request needs to be short; must be an @ reply to me – ; and must include the hashtag #BeMyGuest. This will then appear on for all to see. This isn’t a competition, there’s no ‘prize’, I want to invite somebody who’s never had a chance to go to one of these wonderful functions.
So, what should you expect to see at the Pickwick Club? Hundreds of men in club ties and straw boaters, the uniform of the club since 1870, the year Charles Dickens died. His first novel was The Pickwick Papers. Club members are given sobriquets, all taken from characters in this book. I’m Mr. Grundy. There are only a finite number of characters in the book so to become a member you go on what is now a ten-year waiting list and, when an unfortunate member shuffles off this mortal coil, in you jump.
The Pickwick Papers, serialised in 20 monthly instalments in 1836 and 1837, follows the adventures of Samuel Pickwick Esq., his sidekick Sam Weller, and their fellow members of the eponymous, all-male club. It’s a very funny, laddish sort of a book, full of vim and vigour.
And intoxicating liqueur.
The modern-day luncheon starts at midday and finishes about three-ish: but members have been known to arrive home in the wee hours of the morning. As my guest you’ll sit with me and my other Pickwickian guests. You’ll also rub shoulders with lots of big-names from the world of cycling and be entertained by an after-dinner speaker.
You’ll need to make your own way to London, and must have the ability to get on a tube train (or collapse into a taxi) after an afternoon, and very possibly early evening, of wine, no-women and song.
