Dervla Murphy
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Dervla Murphy (born November 28, 1931, Ireland) is a female touring cyclist and author of adventure travel books.
Murphy grew up in the small town of Lismore, County Waterford, to parents she describes as "Dublin bourgeoisie". [1] Her father was the local librarian and her mother suffered from rheumatoid arthritis. [2] From an early age she wanted to travel; she claims that for her tenth birthday she received an atlas and a bicycle and decided to cycle to India.[3] However, she left school at 14 and spent much of the next 16 years taking care of her invalid mother. In her 20s, her wanderlust had to be satisfied with month-long cycling trips to France, Spain and Germany. [2] But the death of her mother in 1962 left her free to make a longer trip. [3]
In the midst of a record-setting blizzard in 1963, Dervla Murphy packed a pistol aboard Roz, her Armstrong Cadet bicycle and set off on her first international bicycle tour - a completely self-supported solo trip from Ireland to India. In Yugoslavia, she began keeping a journal instead of mailing letters home. That journal was later published as her first book Full Tilt: Ireland to India with a Bicycle. In Full Tilt, she describes her adventures through Persia, Pakistan and Afghanistan. She particularly enjoyed Afghanistan and wrote lovingly of that country.
Before returning to Ireland, Murphy spent several months in Dharamsala working with Tibetan refugees (Tibetan Foothold). She also worked with another group of Tibetan refugees in Nepal (The Waiting Land). Her fourth travel book describes a journey through Ethiopia (In Ethiopia with a Mule). In 1968 she gave birth to her only child, Rachel, fathered by Irish Times journalist Terence de Vere White, and spent the next five years working as a book reviewer before returning to travel writing. [1] During her childhood, Rachel accompanied her mother on trips to India (On a Shoestring to Coorg), Baltistan (Where the Indus is Young), Madagascar (Muddling through in Madagascar) and South America (Eight Feet in the Andes).
Generally travelling alone and unaided, Murphy offers insights into the cultures and the lives of the people she meets. Her travel writing has sometimes touched on political issues, for example the Northern Ireland troubles (A Place Apart), race relations in Bradford and Birmingham (Tales From Two Cities), AIDS (The Ukimwi Road), the aftermath of apartheid (South from the Limpopo), and the post-war reconstruction of the Balkans (Through the Embers of Chaos).
In 2002, at the age of 71, she planned to cycle in the Ussuriland region of eastern Russia. However, she broke her knee while travelling on the Baikal Amur Mainline railway, and then tore a calf muscle while recuperating at Lake Baikal. Her plans changed to a journey around Siberia by train, boat and bus, documented in her book Through Siberia by Accident. She later revisited Siberia and wrote a companion book, Silverland.
Murphy currently lives in Lismore when not travelling. She avoids computers and wordprocessors for her writing, preferring instead to use a typewriter.[citation needed] She does not own a television or washing machine, preferring to wash her clothes in the bath. [4]
[edit] Publications
- Full Tilt: Ireland to India With a Bicycle, 1965.
- Tibetan Foothold, 1966.
- The Waiting Land: A Spell in Nepal, 1967.
- In Ethiopia with a Mule, 1968.
- On a Shoestring to Coorg: An Experience of South India, 1976.
- Where the Indus is Young: A Winter in Baltistan, 1977.
- A Place Apart, 1978.
- Wheels Within Wheels (autobiography), 1979.
- Race to the Finish? The Nuclear Stakes, 1982.
- Muddling through in Madagascar, 1985.
- Changing the Problem: Post-forum Reflections, 1985.
- Ireland, Orbis, 1985.
- Eight Feet in the Andes: Travels With a Mule in Unknown Peru, 1986.
- Tales From Two Cities: Travels of Another Sort, 1987.
- Cameroon With Egbert, 1990.
- Transylvania and Beyond, 1993.
- The Ukimwi Road: From Kenya to Zimbabwe, 1995.
- Visiting Rwanda, 1998.
- South From the Limpopo: Travels Through South Africa, 1999.
- One Foot in Laos, 2001
- Through the Embers of Chaos: Balkan Journeys, 2003.
- Through Siberia by Accident, 2005.
- Silverland: A Winter Journey Beyond the Urals, 2006
[edit] References
- ^ a b Wroe, Nicholas (2006) Free wheeler The Guardian, April 15, 2006
- ^ a b Murphy, D. (1979) Wheels Within Wheels.
- ^ a b Murphy, D.(1965) Full Tilt.
- ^ Murphy, D. (2005) Through Siberia by Accident.
