Reviews of Hit the Road, Jac!
Thank you to these very busy people for taking the time to read my book and review it.
Links to some web reviews of Hit the Road, Jac!
Sump Magazine
Overland Magazine
Hitchcocks Motorcycles
Verve Magazine
Good Reads
Me and My Books
Sump Magazine
Overland Magazine
Hitchcocks Motorcycles
Verve Magazine
Good Reads
Me and My Books
An ex-nurse and a long time motorcyclist, Jacqui Furneaux left the UK in 2000 and travelled by plane to India where she collected a brand new 500cc Royal Enfield Bullet. She was fifty years old.
What followed was a daring, scary, comedic, romantic, stubborn, dramatic, violent, death-defying and often lonely journey armed with her obvious wit, her natural resilience, yards of self-reliance, a bag of tools, a spare can of petrol, a few changes of clothes, around £300 per month and a large knife.
On the journey, Furneaux faced (and faced down) amorous brothel keepers, ruthless pirates, mad drivers, madder sailors, wild animals, and any number of other hazards that are all part of a day's ride for the average global motorcycle trekker.
Sump Magazine
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A big trip which bounces along, full of life. Jacqui's enthusiasm for travel, new experiences and her Enfield Bullet comes through loud and clear.
Peter Henshaw, travel section editor of Motorcycle Sport & Leisure magazine.
---
What Jacqui has done with her life is extraordinary. Much more than an absorbing book, this is a manual for self-discovery.
Ted Simon, author of “Jupiter’s Travels” and many other motorcycle travel books
---
Read this and you'll want to go on an adventure. Jacqui's tale is not just obviously inspiring, but her story makes you think about the pleasures of nature and simplicity; about taking the time to just stand and breathe life in, something we all quite wrongly think we don't have the time for. Her words reminded me of myself as a child, being inventive, imaginative and at times pretty cheeky to get what I wanted. Though clearly tough and dangerous at times, her journey seemed to create joy, a self made joy. Nothing better. I'm a huge fan of her trip, it's made me think...... I bet it will make you think too....!
Suzi Perry, television presenter
---
Her style of travel is unhurried, optimistic, spontaneous, yet her writing is punchy, candid and involving.
Overland Magazine
---
I’d already heard about some Jacqui Furneaux’s adventures with her globe-dawdling 500cc Enfield.
Now, having read the full story of her personal odyssey in ‘Hit The Road Jac’, I find myself drawn further in to her outlook on life, ideas that have been quietly inspiring me for a while now.
There’s something very attractive about her style of travel; unhurried, optimistic, spontaneous. This is the often surprising story of an already highly capable person, whose typically conventional life is upended in an equally conventional manner but who responds to her change in circumstances in ways that many find surprising in someone of her age and background.
By remaining open to what the world can be like, Jacqui Furneaux has developed a capacity for self-reliance, based on a kind of soft-strength rather than the sort of mobile siege-mentality that some travellers feel they need to adopt.
An independent spirit responding to the people she meets with a happy-go-lucky openness to the kindness of strangers, based on her growing self-awareness rather than simple naivety.
Told with understated, matter-of-fact candour, Jacqui’s heart-warming story is one of self-discovery at a time when the world is in flux just as much as she is.
Through her account of romance on the road, fending-off amorous sea-dogs, dodging pirate attacks, facing adversity with courage, we begin to see how Jacqui’s upbringing prepared her to grow in confidence when faced with the unexpected.
I’m trying to avoid using the word ‘memoirs’; it seems such an outdated term to use, suggesting the reader can expect the rambling reminiscences of past-glory and dry facts gone musty with age. But the best of memoirs are anything but that and, if it seems a somehow inappropriate word to use when reviewing a motorcycle travel book, just consider how many great memories we all have as the result of a willingness to go places on two-wheels.
Overland Magazine
---
I’m not often inclined to start comments about a book with words such as, what a phenomenal read! ‘Hit The Road Jac’ more that deserves the description.
To my mind this is a book that takes the very best of travelling – highs and lows – and wraps them up with phrases and descriptions that almost have you riding with the author. And that is a fascinating thing to do. In fact, I don’t remember the last time I read a motorcycle travel book and thought; I’d get a real buzz out of travelling with this person.
Jacqui Furneaux takes you riding for 7 years around the world, on a Royal Enfield Bullet which she bought in India. The front cover makes it clear that this is a story with no journey plan, and how excellent is that - few deadlines, and lots of taking advantage of opportunities. The story has romance, landscapes, riding, culture, sounds and smells, fear, frustration, humour, people and she is a repeat offender with something that I think is vital. The times of joy sing at you! As for the fear, she describes these moments in such a way that you can almost feel the hair rising on your arms. People? Her descriptions are show a wonderful reality of the world. As for the sounds and the smells, it’s almost as if she has captured them in this book, and releases them as you turn the pages. I think you can tell by now that I really like this book! It’s very easy to give it 5*
Sam Manicom, author of many motorcycle travel books
What followed was a daring, scary, comedic, romantic, stubborn, dramatic, violent, death-defying and often lonely journey armed with her obvious wit, her natural resilience, yards of self-reliance, a bag of tools, a spare can of petrol, a few changes of clothes, around £300 per month and a large knife.
On the journey, Furneaux faced (and faced down) amorous brothel keepers, ruthless pirates, mad drivers, madder sailors, wild animals, and any number of other hazards that are all part of a day's ride for the average global motorcycle trekker.
Sump Magazine
---
A big trip which bounces along, full of life. Jacqui's enthusiasm for travel, new experiences and her Enfield Bullet comes through loud and clear.
Peter Henshaw, travel section editor of Motorcycle Sport & Leisure magazine.
---
What Jacqui has done with her life is extraordinary. Much more than an absorbing book, this is a manual for self-discovery.
Ted Simon, author of “Jupiter’s Travels” and many other motorcycle travel books
---
Read this and you'll want to go on an adventure. Jacqui's tale is not just obviously inspiring, but her story makes you think about the pleasures of nature and simplicity; about taking the time to just stand and breathe life in, something we all quite wrongly think we don't have the time for. Her words reminded me of myself as a child, being inventive, imaginative and at times pretty cheeky to get what I wanted. Though clearly tough and dangerous at times, her journey seemed to create joy, a self made joy. Nothing better. I'm a huge fan of her trip, it's made me think...... I bet it will make you think too....!
Suzi Perry, television presenter
---
Her style of travel is unhurried, optimistic, spontaneous, yet her writing is punchy, candid and involving.
Overland Magazine
---
I’d already heard about some Jacqui Furneaux’s adventures with her globe-dawdling 500cc Enfield.
Now, having read the full story of her personal odyssey in ‘Hit The Road Jac’, I find myself drawn further in to her outlook on life, ideas that have been quietly inspiring me for a while now.
There’s something very attractive about her style of travel; unhurried, optimistic, spontaneous. This is the often surprising story of an already highly capable person, whose typically conventional life is upended in an equally conventional manner but who responds to her change in circumstances in ways that many find surprising in someone of her age and background.
By remaining open to what the world can be like, Jacqui Furneaux has developed a capacity for self-reliance, based on a kind of soft-strength rather than the sort of mobile siege-mentality that some travellers feel they need to adopt.
An independent spirit responding to the people she meets with a happy-go-lucky openness to the kindness of strangers, based on her growing self-awareness rather than simple naivety.
Told with understated, matter-of-fact candour, Jacqui’s heart-warming story is one of self-discovery at a time when the world is in flux just as much as she is.
Through her account of romance on the road, fending-off amorous sea-dogs, dodging pirate attacks, facing adversity with courage, we begin to see how Jacqui’s upbringing prepared her to grow in confidence when faced with the unexpected.
I’m trying to avoid using the word ‘memoirs’; it seems such an outdated term to use, suggesting the reader can expect the rambling reminiscences of past-glory and dry facts gone musty with age. But the best of memoirs are anything but that and, if it seems a somehow inappropriate word to use when reviewing a motorcycle travel book, just consider how many great memories we all have as the result of a willingness to go places on two-wheels.
Overland Magazine
---
I’m not often inclined to start comments about a book with words such as, what a phenomenal read! ‘Hit The Road Jac’ more that deserves the description.
To my mind this is a book that takes the very best of travelling – highs and lows – and wraps them up with phrases and descriptions that almost have you riding with the author. And that is a fascinating thing to do. In fact, I don’t remember the last time I read a motorcycle travel book and thought; I’d get a real buzz out of travelling with this person.
Jacqui Furneaux takes you riding for 7 years around the world, on a Royal Enfield Bullet which she bought in India. The front cover makes it clear that this is a story with no journey plan, and how excellent is that - few deadlines, and lots of taking advantage of opportunities. The story has romance, landscapes, riding, culture, sounds and smells, fear, frustration, humour, people and she is a repeat offender with something that I think is vital. The times of joy sing at you! As for the fear, she describes these moments in such a way that you can almost feel the hair rising on your arms. People? Her descriptions are show a wonderful reality of the world. As for the sounds and the smells, it’s almost as if she has captured them in this book, and releases them as you turn the pages. I think you can tell by now that I really like this book! It’s very easy to give it 5*
Sam Manicom, author of many motorcycle travel books