The Writing on the Road: A Tour de France for My Father by Nina Jenkin
The book is now available in paperback, or as an e-book, from Amazon.
In 1953 Roy Jenkin, a 21 year-old student from Exeter, cycled around France, Switzerland and Germany with his schoolfriend Gordon Newbery. They covered 2,286 miles, slept in potting sheds, hay barns, and even a railway marshalling yard, and the whole trip cost them £24 15s. His diary and this website, describes the long-gone Europe of horse carts, cobbles and old fashioned hospitality, a continent which was still recovering from six years of war.
In 2003 - fifty years on - Roy's daughter Nina retraced her father's route. Life on the road was very different for her than it was for Roy - she had a modern bicycle with plenty of gears, and she visited web cafes and e-mailed despatches home instead of posting letters - but she still had to average 55 miles a day, feed herself, and find a place to stay. Roy died of cancer when Nina was eight, and so this trip was also more than a mere cycling holiday - it was a chance to learn more about her father, of whom her memories are limited. Nina, together with her friend Simon, covered 2,432 miles in the end, and had many adventures along the way - read the rest of the site to find out what happened!
In 1953 Roy Jenkin, a 21 year-old student from Exeter, cycled around France, Switzerland and Germany with his schoolfriend Gordon Newbery. They covered 2,286 miles, slept in potting sheds, hay barns, and even a railway marshalling yard, and the whole trip cost them £24 15s. His diary and this website, describes the long-gone Europe of horse carts, cobbles and old fashioned hospitality, a continent which was still recovering from six years of war.
In 2003 - fifty years on - Roy's daughter Nina retraced her father's route. Life on the road was very different for her than it was for Roy - she had a modern bicycle with plenty of gears, and she visited web cafes and e-mailed despatches home instead of posting letters - but she still had to average 55 miles a day, feed herself, and find a place to stay. Roy died of cancer when Nina was eight, and so this trip was also more than a mere cycling holiday - it was a chance to learn more about her father, of whom her memories are limited. Nina, together with her friend Simon, covered 2,432 miles in the end, and had many adventures along the way - read the rest of the site to find out what happened!