Between River and Sea

Woke up to snow again today, but like yesterday, it began to disappear quite quickly.

Feeling a bit groggy today, so haven't been out yet. It seemed a good opportunity to Blip the book that I'm reading. I've been a fan of Dervla Murphy for a long time. An Irish travel writer and adventurer, she left school at 14 to look after her invalid mother and it wasn't until she was 30 that she was able to set off from Dunkirk to cycle to Delhi, a journey that was the subject of her first book, 'Full Tilt'. She's written some 26 books about travel all over the world, later with her daughter and later still with her granddaughters. She doesn't travel as a tourist, but keeps a low profile and often lives with local people, listening to their stories and helping out where she can.

Her latest book should be read by everyone - 'A wake-up call to the world', one journalist called it. 'Between River and Sea' is her account of journeys to Israel and the West Bank between 2008 and 2011, when she was in her late 70s. Travelling alone and visiting places throughout the region, her book is a harrowing account of life in the Holy Land today, a place that many people still think of in Biblical terms, but a place which to me now seems like a savage jungle. I won't say any more as it would spoil it for anyone brave enough to read it, except that it's less of a travel book than most of her other books. I've been reading every day for more than a week and I'm barely half-way through.

Dervla is a fearless, compassionate and observant traveller and at 86, remains passionate about politics, conservation, bicycling and beer!

You can read more about this fascinating woman here.