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Journey To The Centre Of The Earth
The story of the Crane cousins' bicycle-ride to a point on the planet's surface most remote from the open sea in every direction.
256 pages, Hardcover
First published June 18, 1987
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Displaying 1 - 11 of 11 reviews
July 1, 2016
Journey To the Centre of the Earth
http://web.archive.org/web/2004121104...
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I’m a huge fan of Nicholas Crane. This 1986 book describes a remarkable journey made by Nick and his cousin Dick (Richard), by bicycle, from Bangladesh to the Pole of Inaccessibility, the point on the Earth’s surface furthest away from the open sea.
From Patenga Point to Urumqui, they cycled over the Himalayas, across Tibet (a fascinating glimpse of Lhasa), the Gobi Desert, and much more. The boys kept a daily log of expedition distances and ascents (detailed in Appendix Two). The closer they got to their goal, the harder the going became. Much harder. This was no Sunday afternoon ride round the Isle of Wight! How two pairs of hard contact lenses “good for evening entertainment” (breaking language barriers) survived in such hostile environments, I cannot begin to imagine.
Written with typical Crane attention to detail and completeness, this hugely entertaining book is utterly compulsive reading. My sole regret was that I’d have much preferred to read a ‘dead tree’, illustrated, hardback book, rather than the perfectly adequate but soul-less e-copy on my Sony E-Reader. However, the e-reader does have a significant advantage of a search function. The sheer remoteness of the adventure is exhilarating. The peoples they met and technologies of the day are both fascinating and impressive.
For anyone who is inspired to fully plan and head off on their own adventures, this book offers an excellent and detailed reality check. It is also now something of an historic source of advice for practical expedition planning; ranging from stores and sundries, to a copy of US Air Defence Mapping Agency Sheet ONC F-7 of the Centre of the Earth. Not, of course, forgetting the Cranes “Book covers from our previous adventures in order to impress officialdom.”, “Spare passport photographs (8 each)”, and the 236 Puritabs “taken out of foil and carried in small plastic pill-tube fixed by cotton wool. So very much easier to handle than foil. Carried in Dick’s breast pocket to stop rattles pulverising tablets. Puritabs are chlorine-rich and in emergency could be crushed for disinfecting wounds.”
I felt a wistful yearning when I read that Nick & Dick’s bicycles were built by FW Evans (London), who at that time were located just south of the Thames, under the arches at Waterloo station. I still have my 1984 built FWE touring cycle. They don’t make them like that nowadays! Oh! To think that I had ‘just’ been too early to bump into the Cranes!
Back in China, the end game, and with it the final, eventful, utterly sweet, exhausting success, reads better than watching any James Bond film!
Thirty years on, the quality of this book cries out to be re-published and marketed afresh to a new generation, in addition to anyone who missed it first time around. In hardback, please.
http://web.archive.org/web/2004121104...
(please donate)
I’m a huge fan of Nicholas Crane. This 1986 book describes a remarkable journey made by Nick and his cousin Dick (Richard), by bicycle, from Bangladesh to the Pole of Inaccessibility, the point on the Earth’s surface furthest away from the open sea.
From Patenga Point to Urumqui, they cycled over the Himalayas, across Tibet (a fascinating glimpse of Lhasa), the Gobi Desert, and much more. The boys kept a daily log of expedition distances and ascents (detailed in Appendix Two). The closer they got to their goal, the harder the going became. Much harder. This was no Sunday afternoon ride round the Isle of Wight! How two pairs of hard contact lenses “good for evening entertainment” (breaking language barriers) survived in such hostile environments, I cannot begin to imagine.
Written with typical Crane attention to detail and completeness, this hugely entertaining book is utterly compulsive reading. My sole regret was that I’d have much preferred to read a ‘dead tree’, illustrated, hardback book, rather than the perfectly adequate but soul-less e-copy on my Sony E-Reader. However, the e-reader does have a significant advantage of a search function. The sheer remoteness of the adventure is exhilarating. The peoples they met and technologies of the day are both fascinating and impressive.
For anyone who is inspired to fully plan and head off on their own adventures, this book offers an excellent and detailed reality check. It is also now something of an historic source of advice for practical expedition planning; ranging from stores and sundries, to a copy of US Air Defence Mapping Agency Sheet ONC F-7 of the Centre of the Earth. Not, of course, forgetting the Cranes “Book covers from our previous adventures in order to impress officialdom.”, “Spare passport photographs (8 each)”, and the 236 Puritabs “taken out of foil and carried in small plastic pill-tube fixed by cotton wool. So very much easier to handle than foil. Carried in Dick’s breast pocket to stop rattles pulverising tablets. Puritabs are chlorine-rich and in emergency could be crushed for disinfecting wounds.”
I felt a wistful yearning when I read that Nick & Dick’s bicycles were built by FW Evans (London), who at that time were located just south of the Thames, under the arches at Waterloo station. I still have my 1984 built FWE touring cycle. They don’t make them like that nowadays! Oh! To think that I had ‘just’ been too early to bump into the Cranes!
Back in China, the end game, and with it the final, eventful, utterly sweet, exhausting success, reads better than watching any James Bond film!
Thirty years on, the quality of this book cries out to be re-published and marketed afresh to a new generation, in addition to anyone who missed it first time around. In hardback, please.
Read
September 29, 2014مذكرات تانية ثانوى و قصة الانجلش برضه :-)
كانت حلوة و سهلة و الله :-)
كانت حلوة و سهلة و الله :-)
January 19, 2013
They accepted our apologies, came to congratulate us, organized our return tickets, and we parted best of friends: an officially successful expedition of the Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region of China.
Last line from Journey to the Centre of the Earth. This read as an exercise in dot to dot, as there wasn’t much enthusiasm for and time spent on locations cycled through. Unfortunate because the route included some exciting places. Also, I preferred Nick’s fun and descriptive mini interludes to Richard’s majority of the book.
Last line from Journey to the Centre of the Earth. This read as an exercise in dot to dot, as there wasn’t much enthusiasm for and time spent on locations cycled through. Unfortunate because the route included some exciting places. Also, I preferred Nick’s fun and descriptive mini interludes to Richard’s majority of the book.
February 25, 2008
This is the story of two cyclist looking for an accomplishment, who decide to ride their bikes to the spot on the earth that is farthest from any ocean. It turns into quite an ordeal and adventure. It was slower than your average fiction, but seeing a biographical entry for such an undertaking was immensely satisfying. I'd reccomend it to anyone who dreams of international adventure and wants an account of a rather unorthodox and extraordinary one.
January 30, 2013
A remarkable account of a cycle ride from the coast in Bangladesh to the "centre of the Earth" or point of inaccessibility, i.e. the point on the earth's surface furthest from the sea. Entertaining and inspiring.
Read
January 29, 2017this is an amazing advenure book. i would advice this book to all my friends..
December 8, 2024
How things have changed since 1985! This book takes us back to the days when everything was drilled to make it lighter, when narrow tyres were pumped up rock hard even for cycling off tarmac, when drinking more than a litre of water was a sign of weakness, and when it was better to cycle 160km without food than to carry something with you. It's a fascinating read, and they are undoubtedly valiant and incredibly tough, yet you can't help sometimes wanting to knock some sense into these guys!
April 24, 2020
In 1985, two brothers from the UK decided to ride bicycles from Bangladesh to Urumqi, China. What could go wrong? Almost everything, which is why this is such a good book. Some stretches get a bit tedious, but all in all a great read for anyone into adventure travel.
July 8, 2019
ذكريات ثانوي ❤️
April 8, 2025
At parts fascinating, but at parts a slog - just like the real thing!
September 4, 2026
Very inspiring, crazy adventure that seems hard even now with better equipment and tools and GPS, and those guys did it in 1986!
Displaying 1 - 11 of 11 reviews