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Through Europe at Four Knots: A Tale of Boating Mayhem and Family Adventure Les Horn

Through Europe at Four Knots: A Tale of Boating Mayhem and Family Adventure By Les Horn

Through Europe at Four Knots: A Tale of Boating Mayhem and Family Adventure by Les Horn


£9.80
New RRP £11.99
Condition - Very Good
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Summary

With an ambition to navigate Europe's inland waterways, from England to Greece, in a small sailboat, New Zealand schoolteacher Les Horn set sail on with his family on a balky boat down the Thames River. This book tells about their adventures in France, Germany, Austria, Czechoslovakia, Hungary, Yugoslavia, Bulgaria, and Turkey.

Through Europe at Four Knots: A Tale of Boating Mayhem and Family Adventure Summary

Through Europe at Four Knots: A Tale of Boating Mayhem and Family Adventure by Les Horn

New Zealand schoolteacher Les Horn had a brainstorm: why not navigate Europe's inland waterways, from England to Greece, in a small sailboat? Much to his surprise, he managed to sell his wife, Despina, and preteen children, Victoria and Charles, on the idea, and the following summer, installed in their 24-foot fixer-upper, Alea Jacta Est (the die is cast), the Horns set sail on the wry family odyssey chronicled in this delightful tale of misadventure. The Horns' ambitious plan was to pilot their balky boat down the Thames River to the English Channel and then on to Despina's native Greece via the Seine, Rhine, Danube, Black Sea, and Aegean. Along the way, the Horns would be treated to transforming glimpses of the real Europe; by plying the meandering waterways that nourish the continent like a gigantic circulatory system, they would discover all the hidden splendors not covered in any tour book and out of reach to all but the most intrepid wayfarers.Needless to say, things didn't turn out quite as expected. Plagued by accidents, breakdowns and delays, forced to forage for provisions, stymied at every turn by petty officials and cantankerous natives, the Horns, propelled more by pluck than by their cranky outboard motor, eventually made it to the Aegean, but not without their share of uproarious adventures in France, Germany, Austria, Czechoslovakia, Hungary, Yugoslavia, Bulgaria, and Turkey.In Through Europe at Four Knots, Les Horn combines an appreciation of the absurd with a journalist's eye for detail to weave a shrewdly funny account of a family voyage through Europe's variegated landscapes. Especially memorable are the family's surreal experiences of the epochal upheaval that swept Eastern Europe in the early 1990s. Through Europe at Four Knots is a rousing good read for fellow expatriates, sailors, travelers, and adventurers - both actual and armchair. 'A riotous cruising adventure, liberally sprinkled with nuggets of comedy and history, which builds in tension as the Horn family crosses the European continental divide and is swept by the inexorable current of the Danube River deeper and deeper into Eastern bloc trouble. A great read that holds you to the end. Highly recommended' - Nigel Calder, boating author.

About Les Horn

Les Horn (Christchurch, New Zealand) is a teacher and amateur sailor.

Table of Contents

a thank you to the reader1. The Offing2. The Thames: But Isn't France the Other Way?3. Maidenhead: What Goes Up Must Come Down4. Misadventure off the Goodwin Sands5. The Channel Crossing, Hedgehog Style6. France Ahoy7. Citizens of Compiegne8. To Paris and Back9. Odd Fish in the Haul to Nancy10. The Hike to Strasbourg11. Rhine Madness12. In the Main: An Easy and Relaxed Affair13. Overland to Regensburg14. Launched on the Danube15. Austria to Starboard16. Vienna: The Visa Waltz17. Czech-Mate18. Hungary and the Buda Pests19. Yugoslavia: The Beginning of the End20. Through the Iron Gates to Romania21. A Last Look at Yugoslavia22. Between the Devils and the Neap Blue Danube23. The Battles of Calafat and Corabia24. Comrades in Oltenita25. Fool Speed Ahead through the Constantsa Canal26. Marea Neagra: The Black Sea at Last27. Bulgaria--and Back into the Frying Pan28. Turkey, a Land of Milk and Honey29. Istanbul without the Girls30. Hikmed of Troy31. The Road to Yenikoy32. Gallipoli: In the Wake of Heroes33. A Welcome in the Dockand farther down the trackabout the author

Additional information

GOR003013754
9780071361378
0071361375
Through Europe at Four Knots: A Tale of Boating Mayhem and Family Adventure by Les Horn
Used - Very Good
Hardback
McGraw-Hill Education - Europe
20000616
304
N/A
Book picture is for illustrative purposes only, actual binding, cover or edition may vary.
This is a used book - there is no escaping the fact it has been read by someone else and it will show signs of wear and previous use. Overall we expect it to be in very good condition, but if you are not entirely satisfied please get in touch with us

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