As the Crow Flies: 2,500 miles on a homemade bicycle

If you were the kind of person who can't stop making things and you'd made your own bicycle in your shed from unsuitable off-the-shelf industrial steel box section, the obvious thing to do next would be to embark on a solo, unsupported ride round the country to the first place under each letter in the index of your 1998 AA road atlas. Lightly equipped and with a crow as guide Dave Ramsden reaches the parts other touring cyclists do not, including the heights of euphoria and the pit of despair. Along the way he is inspired to poetry, exposed to adversity and experiments with porridge. 'Tony Benn meets Alan Bennett, meets Bill Bryson, with none of the subtlety or style. Highly recommended.' Lesley Sadsack, Pigeon Fancier. 'Part travelogue, part political polemic, Dave Ramsden drags himself and his heavy home-made bike around beleaguered Britain.' Colin Outcast, Fartown Bugle