When ex-headmistress Anne Mustoe gave up her job, bought a bike and took to the road, she couldn't even mend a puncture. 12,000 miles and 15 months later, she was home. Her epic solo journey took her around the world, through Europe, India, the Far East and the United States.

An account of a journey by bike and train through South America's colourful and historically interesting areas.

Using historical routes as her inspiration, Anne followed the ancient Roman roads to Lisbon, travelled across South America with the Conquistadors, pursued Captain Cook over the Pacific to Australia and Indonesia and followed the caravans along the fabled Silk Road from Xi'an to Rome.

An account from the pages of Anne Mustoe's book as she pedals along three very different, but equally evocative, roads - the Amber Route from the Baltic to the Adriatic, the Santa Fe Trail from the Missouri River to New Mexico and the Pilgrims' Way of St James from Le Puy to Santiago de Compostela.

An account of a phenomenal lone cycle ride - to the original site of Cleopatra's Needle at Heliopolis in Egypt. Leaving behind home comforts, Anne set herself the challenge of travelling close to water wherever possible - via the Seine and the Rhone, then alongside the Burgundy canal, the Po and the Venetian Lagoon.

An account of an exhilarating journey round the Indian subcontinent. Beginning in Kathmandu in Nepal and ending in the tranquil hill town of Kandy in Sri Lanka, this book recounts Anne's journey with keen observation and the relish of the open road.