Explorers Awheel

Explorers #1

by Garry Hogg

Four children are taken by their uncle on a cycling and camping holiday over the tallest hills of Somerset and Devon

Hardcover

First published January 1, 1938

About the author

Garry Hogg (1902-1976) was an English author, journalist, reviewer, broadcaster and lecturer.

Reviews

[Tig · Rating 3 out of 5]

I like travel-and-camping children's books and this one was an especial pleasure for two reasons. Firstly, the whole business of travelling on a bike and camping out is taken seriously and the detail of the trip well described: bikes have to be pushed uphill; food runs out; the messy business of trying to eat a soft-boiled egg when you've forgotten to bring any egg cups is wonderfully described; and I nodded in recognition from similar scenes from my own camping (I also loved their techinque for creating egg cups from wire - there is a diagram in the book). A search for the source of a river (the Exe, I think) leads not to a triumphant climax but lands them in a marshy bog, jumping from grass tuft to grass tuft and experiencing their leg going in up to the knee when they miss - been there, too. A trip to see the Cerne giant is minutely described but curiously omits any mention, in illustration or text, of the giant's huge erect phallus - wonder if it didn't exist at the time the book was written (1938). These children are TOUGH. They choose their route to include all the highest points along the way (which is mad when you're cycling) and sweat up those hills without complaint. They're always up for an additonal hill climb at the end of the day and the description of them climbing up an ice-cold waterfall, in the water, barefoot among sharp rocks, slipping constantly, had me really appreciating the fact that I was reading it in my blissfully comfortable bed. My second reason for liking this book is that it does very good food descriptions; that always gets me happy, and their picnics sound wonderful; not just a string of kid-friendly food blandly listed a la Blyton, but with a real open-air-hunger savour that lingers on description. It's not perfect; the dialogue isn't its strongest point, and the plotline a bit perfunctory -there's a fire, there's a rescue from drowning - which is why it's not ranked higher, but I did enjoy it a lot and I will reread it sometime, if only for the pleasure of seeing a cycle and camping trip described accurately in every way (and when I say in every way, I'll just mention the rather laborious style of the author so that, for example, every single time the children get off their bikes, he tells you where and how they have stacked them, bless him.)