Bikers' Bookshelf

Mansfield’s exquisitely written travel biographies never fail to surprise. Notes From The Road Vol IV is an especially insightful view of Continental Europe, from London, England out through the Baltics, to Ukraine and back via the Balkans. Using his acerbic wit and observational skills, choosing to travel by motorcycle, though the method of conveyance is only referred to twice, he introduces the reader to the culture and lives of the people he meets on his way. His viewpoint is unique, rarely mentioning the country he is in. Europe is without borders, countries and nations are mainly distinguished by language and architectural style. How do you ever know where you are? In Mansfield’s case, he finally deployed dice as a navigational aid. His notes of the human aesthetic are at times frank, at others esoteric; the constant in his writing is its staccato delivery.

The tale tells of the extraordinary lives of ordinary people. Like a confessional, people are happy to share intimate secrets with an open-minded stranger from the west. Their stories are distilled, never embellished, and provide an insight to those who, through the accident of birthplace, still struggle with the failed ex-Soviet past whilst welcoming the new. The story flows in the context of political unrest, revolutions, the beginnings of a new war, and old wars still unsettled. Mansfield demonstrates a welcome humility for the kindness and help he finds on the road given, and gratitude that he survived at all. It is, he says, ‘love from his family and friends’ that keeps him going through the hardships. Told in his unique style, using words like brush strokes to propel the reader forward, his story telling is an inspiration for all who would learn to travel on unknown roads. Since 2010 the author has travelled in more than forty countries on four continents; many more than twice. Some 65,000 of these miles were travelled solo, on a motorcycle.