Red Tape and White Knuckles: One Woman's Motorcycle Adventure Through Africa

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Editorial reviews

Book Description
One Woman's Motorcycle Adventure Through Africa

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Synopsis
To most thirty-something women, walking across the street to get a skinny latte and the latest copy of heat in excruciating high heels is an all-terrain task in itself. But Lois Pryce isn't just any woman - nine to five and post-work white wine spritzers have never been her thing. Unafraid of a challenge - having already ridden her motorbike from Alaska to the southernmost tip of South America - she decided she could never be one to settle for a last minute package holiday in Viva Espana. So, she began the kind of adventure most of us could only ever dream of. Donning her sparkly crash helmet and armed with her trusty maps and a baffling array of visas, Lois got on her bike once more to make an impressive international journey. Alone. No support vehicles, no fancy GPS and no satellite phone.Leaving from London, finishing in Cape Town - and the small matter of tackling the Sahara, war-torn Angola and the Congo Basin along the way - this feisty independent woman's grand trek through the Dark Continent of Africa is the definitive motorcycling adventure.

It was certainly never going to be easy but, equipped with a formidable strength of character and an immense passion for life, Lois Pryce's astonishing achievement is an inspiration to us all. She paints a vivid picture of travelling through the vast African landscape. Colourful and hilarious, "Red Tape and White Knuckles" is an action-packed tale about following your dreams that will have you packing your bags and jetting off into the sunset on your own adventure before you know it.

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From the Back Cover
To most thirty-something women, walking across the street to get a skinny latte and the latest copy of heat in excrutiating high heels is an al- terrain task in itself. But Lois Pryce isn’t just any woman – nine to five and post-work white wine spritzers have never been her thing. Unafraid of a challenge – having already ridden her motorbike from Alaska to the southernmost tip of South America – she decided she could never be one to settle for a last minute package holiday in Viva Espana. So, she began the kind of adventure most of us could only ever dream of.

Donning her sparkly crash helmet and armed with her trusty maps and a baffling array of visas, Lois got on her bike once more to make an impressive international journey. Alone. No support vehicles, no fancy GPS and no satellite phone

Leaving from London, finishing in Cape Town – and the small matter of tackling the Sahara, war-torn Angola and the Congo Basin along the way – this feisty independent woman’s grand trek through the Dark Continent of Africa is the definitive motorcycling adventure.

It was certainly never going to be easy but, equipped with a formidable strength of character and an immense passion for life, Lois Pryce’s astonishing achievement is an inspiration to us all. She paints a vivid picture of travelling through the vast African landscape. Colourful and hilarious, Red Tape and White Knuckles is an action-packed tale about following your dreams that will have you packing your bags and jetting off into the sunset on your own adventure before you know it. .
Praise for Lois on the Loose:

'Lois makes merry work of a rough road. She knows how to tell a good story, and her light-hearted account almost disguises the grit, the resilience and the brave independence that lay behind her choices. It's a great read, and I hope there will be more. ' Ted Simon, author of Jupiter's Travels

'The narrative roars along at a breakneck pace, and is full of funny asides and snappy accounts' Sunday Telegraph

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About the Author
Torn between the career paths of two illustrious relatives, Max Born, the Nobel Prize Winner in Physics and his granddaughter, Olivia Newton-John, Lois Pryce abandoned her interest in Quantum Theory at the age of 16, left school and spent the next couple of years as a carrot picker, painter and decorator and failing an audition as a kiss-o-gram before bowing to the inevitable and going into rock ‘n roll. After various underpaid jobs in record shops and as a product manager in the Beeb, she decided to jack it all in and ride her trail bike from Alaska to Tierra del Fuego. Her on-line diary of her journey became a cult hit and led to her first book, Lois on the Loose. When not on her bike she is at home on her houseboat with husband Austin.

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Customer reviews

review by: Nigel in NZ date: 2008-09-01 rating:
Lois, you're my hero!
This is the second Lois Pryce book I have bought and read, to add to my large collection of travel books (not all motorcycle travel), and I unable to decide if it is the best or the second best book on my shelf. Either way they are both written by Lois! This book is well named; at times I found myself holding my breath as I turned the pages, wondering what was going to happen next. I'm sure there were indentations in the covers when I finished.
My good lady is not a travel book or motorcycle fan but she simply devoured both these books in a day or two each, so I can recommend this book highly to people with a passion for bikes, a passion or adventure travel AND to people without! If Lois can go to these places and do these things by herself, I'm really looking forward to seeing what she and her husband Austin Vince Mondo Enduro: The Ultimate Adventure on Two Wheels - 44,000 Miles in 400 Days can do together. Heaven help us if they ever have kids! Buy it for yourself and leave it laying around for the rest of the family to read. Thanks Lois!

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review by: Tilbopiet date: 2008-08-22 rating:
Women Rule!
Reading Motorcycle travel stories can be addictive.
Only the best are contagious, making me want to ride again.
This one definitely is.

'Lois on the Loose' is a perfect give away present for the (too few) motorcycle women I know, more so because there is a Dutch version.
But now, after reading this second book, I want to spread the bug again and again and again. Will there be a Dutch translation?

I am a fan. Check out her site; loisontheloose.com

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review by: date: 2008-08-19 rating:
wonder woman
What a great read!This is one of those rare books that you just want to go on and on and never stop.I've now read both of Lois's books and can thoroughly reccomend them.Her bravery is outstanding-makes Charlie and Ewen look like a pair of woossies.Can't wait for the next instalment.

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review by: date: 2008-08-18 rating:
Wheely great!
My trailbiking boyfriend loaned me this book after he had powered through it and I wasn't sure it was going to be my sort of thing, motorbiking types being rather obsessive. But it was great! Lois Pryce clearly knows that the secret of a good travel book is to have a hook upon which to hang the tale - and there is just the right amount of biking talk in here - but that what readers really want to know about is the people, the places and her reactions to both as opposed to the minute details of bike repair and maintenance. Exciting, funny and admirable this book makes me want to jump on a bike and try it for myself, albeit somewhere a little less daunting...


review by: Snasher date: 2008-07-18 rating:
Great ride, great read
Half way through this book I had the slightly surreal experience of actually meeting Lois (she of the sparkly crash helmet & sheepskin saddle) by accident on the M3 as she was riding to Spain for her next adventure with husband Austin Vince (of Mondo Enduro fame). I was able to whip the book out of my tank bag for an impromtu book signing. She was on the bike that made the trip from London to Cape town and she proudly proclaimed still on the same chain and sprokets. But what of the book?Well, even before I met Lois I thought it a superb read having devoured it to the 1/2 way point in one evening. She has an honest, self depricating style that completly captures the essence of the journey without taking herself too seriously in light of all the obvious poverty throughout Africa. Makes The Long Way Down look like an embarrassing, self-obsessed lovee in for complete wozzies. Cheap bike, minimal kit and a proper mental attitude -it's an adventure, so enjoy it for what it is and she does. Putting it down I felt I'd riden the whole way with her. Highly recomended as an antidote to the stale, nanny state, H&S concious world we live in. Can't wait for the next one. Recommended for motorcyclists and non-motorcyclists alike it is a very whitty non-pretentious tale.

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Books . Refinements . Language (feature_browse-bin) . English
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