West Surrey member publishes cycle-touring book

While the Sunday All-Day Intermediates were enjoying elevenses at Pilgrim Cycles at West Humble who should walk in but long-standing member Clive Williamson.

I expect that very few reading this will remember him, for he is now 86 and says that he no longer keeps up with club rides.  To jog your memories you could look at the first two photographs on this archive page.  He lives in Walton and rode with the Weybridge Wheelers until that club’s demise, and now he is a member of Little Ron’s club, the Hounslow and District Wheelers.

Only a couple of months ago he published a book describing a selection of his many world-wide cycle tours.  ‘Life Cycle’ is a substantial, well-produced paperback describing 18 tours widely scattered across the northern hemisphere, and is well illustrated with photographs and maps.  Many of the tours were solo, or with a single companion, enabling/requiring Clive to interact closely with the natives and cultures of the countries visited.  Another was a small group tour to Gorbachev’s Russia in 1990, with Clive in charge of the UK arrangements.  And a year later Clive organised a return visit of their Russian friends and led their tour of south-west England.  There are also accounts of a few CTC Tours to Asian destinations.

Clive writes well, and his accounts are as much about the people as about their lands.  A good read!  Recommended!  Make sure it goes on the Christmas present list of your nearest and dearest, or simply present yourself with it, like I did.

The paperback is available from Amazon or Waterstones at a very reasonable £10.99, and Amazon also sell a Kindle version at £5.99 but Clive says that has a problem with the display of the maps (electronic) which needs to be fixed.