From top: Dervla Murphy, in India, on the journey that led to her writing Full Tilt: Ireland to India With a Bicycle (1965); Lucille Redmond of I BIKE Dublin presents Inspiring Cyclist of the Year Award medal to Dervla last night.
Last night.
I BIKE Dublin presented the inaugural Inspiring Cyclist of the Year medal to author and cycling pioneer, Waterford-born Dervla Murphy, aged 87.
Ciarán Ferrie writes:
Dervla has inspired generations of cyclists all over the world with her travels and her writing. She is a hero, cited by virtually every world-travelling cyclist to this day.
The book of her travels, Full Tilt: Ireland to India with a Bicycle, published in 1965, was an inspiration to the Ireland of the time, and to cyclists all over the world.
She was an example to men and women of how it was possible to get anywhere, if you just keep pedalling….
Always drink and cycle responsibly.
Meanwhile…
Dervla’s medal was made by artist Fergal Kilkenny and cast in bronze by Leo Higgins in the Cast Foundry in South Brown Street, Dublin 8.
Lovely work, in fairness.
It’s a bag of cans not a bag of can’ts
This ^^^
Nothing but respect for her having a can of Karpackie with it
Fair play to her, well deserved.
Medal looks a bit ceramic hobby clay in the oven, no?
Full Tilt was her best work. After that she became a bit of an anti Hindu pro Muslim crank.
Super well deserved. She went on to write a bunch of other books about wandering through Siberia, Tibet, Cameroon, Nepal, Transylvania, Cuba, etc, etc, finishing up last year with a stunning book on Gaza. Right after Full Tilt she spent months working as a volunteer in a camp for displaced Tibetan children, then went home and ran a fundraising campaign for them through Save the Children. If the President has any sense he’ll bring her in as an adviser, using the phone lines from Dublin to Lismore. Her advice would improve Ireland 1,000%.
She’s great. Her book on the North, A Place Apart, is a great read too.
I’d imagine she’s pretty much the inspiration for the well regarded IMMRAMA Festival of Travel Writing which is held in Lismore every year.
https://lismore-immrama.com/
Shame she didn’t express some cultural solitude with Indians in Ireland by using a Just Eat bike to do the trek.
I am sick of this cycling campaign’s lack of empathy with the rest of the non-car world (walkers, hikers, runners, wheelchair users) with their privileged tax breaks for bikes; special paths, free lights, cycle paths, etc., etc.
In 1965? Ha?
I dunno. Run it by her. I reckon she’d be game.
ROFLMAO