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Rating: 
Summary: low mileage from Low Gear
Review: can't help but agree with another reviewer and concur that this book neither inspires nor stimulates, an unexpected experience with Eric Newby's writing. The occasional and unwelcome slide into condescension displayed might well be a reflection of the author's mood. I suspect this might have resulted from an almost unbelievably bad choice of travel timing for a book of this nature. Ireland, in winter, on a bicycle? As gloomy a metereological prospect as the literary result. Try Tony Hawkes' 'Round Ireland with a Fridge' for an infinitely more enjoyable read.
Rating: 
Summary: A pig in a poke
Review: I found this book very disappointing. It is neither a travel book or a history book. Eric Newby's positive approach to life and adventure seems to be missing in this book and I found his attitude towards the people, the weather, the condition of B&B's, the roads and the food very condescending. His complaints about his bicycle sounded to me like a bad workman blaming his tools. Even if you have 21 gears you still need the skills to use them. Why oh why does he complain about the weather when he chooses to cycle around the westernmost outpost of Europe in Winter? Want a good cycling book? Then try Miles from Nowhere with a sympathetic author who gets into more serious scrapes and comes out of them with better grace and humor than the Newbys.
Rating:
Summary: Oddly Flat
Review: I slogged my way through half of this book before I gave up. (My usual threshold is 50 pages) Eric & Wanda Newby cycle through Ireland in winter and are suprised/perturbed by the weather (?!!). Mr. Newby is stangely self-centered. The book is a catalog of their travails with little comment on anyone they meet. I assume that he thought this would be humorous and entertaining, but after awhile I wanted him to shut up about himself and go home or get on with describing Ireland. When he does touch on history the descriptive passages seem to be read wholesale out of various guidebooks, which Newby acknowledges and feel like an add on instead of woven into their narrative. There are a few wonderful pages of landscape description but only enough to rate two stars and far too few to justify 298 pages. I would not recommend this book. Instead read any of the late Thomas Flanagan's three novels about Ireland, The year of the French, The Tenants of Time or The End of the Hunt. Even Ray Bradbury's Green Shadows, White Whale (about living in Ireland while writing the screenplay for John Huston's film of Moby Dick.)
Rating: 
Summary: a little flat... and I'm not talking about their tires!
Review: I've enjoyed all the Newby travel books I've read, but I'll confess I was a little disappointed with this adventure. The classic Newby formula of amusing misadventures, historical anecdotes, and of course lots of colourful characters is on tour in Ireland. Eric and Wanda Newby make the almost unbelievable decision to cycle round large parts of Ireland in the winter. There are some brilliant descriptions of the weather, the people and the countryside. However I think the book suffered from too much detail, it seemed like every crossroad or country path they wandered down was described in almost painful detail. A good travel book captures my interest and attention by drawing me in, making me want to go there, to experience the place. The prospect of wet and sometimes miserable rides put a huge damper on the whole experience of the adventure. There is a lot to enjoy in this book, perhaps too much. Just don't book your winter flight before reading this book.
Rating: 
Summary: Some Gold Nuggets at the end of a lot of Rain
Review: The author and his wife, sexagenarians both, took four tours of Ireland in one year in the 1980s, mainly by bicycle. The author has no inclination to conceal his rather acerbic personality, so you may find yourself rooting for the trucks early on. But keep reading, there's many a worthwhile nugget awaiting, and it's easy enough to discard the refuse. By page 291, when the author or his editors or the Lonely Planet reprinters get the spelling of "fuchsia" right on the fourth attempt, you will feel that anything is possible. So when the author cuts short his description of the final leg, decides not to undertake a planned trip to Northern Ireland, and leaves the book in its present rather untrim state, you're apt to feel a considerable sadness. The maps provided by Lonely Planet add value to this edition.
Rating:
Summary: Some Gold Nuggets at the end of a lot of Rain
Review: The author and his wife, sexagenarians both, took four tours of Ireland in one year in the 1980s, mainly by bicycle. The author has no inclination to conceal his rather acerbic personality, so you may find yourself rooting for the trucks early on. But keep reading, there's many a worthwhile nugget awaiting, and it's easy enough to discard the refuse. By page 291, when the author or his editors or the Lonely Planet reprinters get the spelling of "fuchsia" right on the fourth attempt, you will feel that anything is possible. So when the author cuts short his description of the final leg, decides not to undertake a planned trip to Northern Ireland, and leaves the book in its present rather untrim state, you're apt to feel a considerable sadness. The maps provided by Lonely Planet add value to this edition.
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