Review of The Furthest Points by Andy Hewitt

 

What are the ‘furthest points’? You may well ask, as did I when I saw the title for this memoir by Andy Hewitt. In this case, I discovered they were the extreme points south, east, north and west of Spain and Portugal, and in some cases, such as the furthest point south, these were of continental mainland Europe too.

The aim to travel to these points started as an idea for a motorbiking holiday. Andy and his wife Kim decide to tour the perimeter of Spain and take in these particular points as goals for their journey. Travelling on a swish crimson Harley Davidson (well, it looked swish to me, but then any HD bike does that), they set off for a three week tour that takes them from the Algarve, along the Spanish sunshine coast, and then on round the country to its north western tip before ducking down into Portugal again and following the coast until they reach home.

This is a good humoured, well written and light-hearted travelogue and I enjoyed getting to read about the beauties and regional characteristics of different parts of the Iberian peninsula, not to mention the vagaries of the Spanish weather (not full on sunshine and roses at all). I also liked the teasing way Andy writes about his relationship with his wife, the feisty and internet savvy Kim ‘dot com’, as well as reading about their encounters with the Spanish people they met along the way.

For motorbike lovers, there is a wealth of information about bikes Andy has had, both past and present, and also quite a bit of useful technical know-how woven in to the narrative. My knowledge of bikes is confined to the old classics my ex-husband used to love, but I can readily see the appeal of a Harley Davidson after reading this book. Andy Hewitt has made me want to urge my other half off his scooter and back onto a real bike!

The book is very ‘English’ in its idiomatic style and makes many comparisons between Spain and the UK. I’ll confess  these were a bit lost on me as I don’t know Spain that well and I haven’t lived in England for longer than I care to remember. As a result, the current situations as regards behaviour and culture in both countries are a bit academic for me, but I can imagine British readers will relate to it very well. He also describes rides in other parts of the world too, confirming him as an avid international biker.

Altogether, this was a very entertaining read and I hope Andy Hewitt keeps writing because he does it well.

Here is a link to the book

A shorter version of this review will be posted on Amazon and Goodreads