Autobiography

English, Solitaire, Cowboy, Cuckoo...

By Mike Leaver

(1 customer review)

Publication Date: 28 Aug 2024

ISBN: 9781835740293
eISBN: 9781835741641

£11.99

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Description

This bizarre-but-true autobiography chronicles Mike Leaver's madcap travels and death-defying misadventures as a solo mountaineer.

In pioneering Eddie-The-Eagle style, Mike overcomes childhood illness, climbing Birmingham's post-war bombsites, to build lifelong resilience to endure alone in often wild and perilous environments.

Ride with Mike on his adapted motorbike as he tackles serious winter climbing in Snowdonia (featuring a miraculous, split-second rescue), the Lake District (getting hopelessly lost), and the Ben Nevis massif (with a Hogmanay Party on summit). Then brave a classic 1970s Brit-abroad road trip to the French Alps – scaling icy Mont Blanc rock unroped, wearing a yellow crash helmet, and using nine-inch nails inside glaciers!

Join Mike in his self-converted truck as he travels to North Africa, walks across the Sahara Desert to swim in the Atlantic, and climbs the tallest mountain in Morocco's High Atlas in unexpected snow! Share his epic driving escapade to the High Arctic's winter wilderness: barely surviving Scandinavia's three highest peaks in Finland, Sweden, and Norway, and crawling frozen back to his lorry!

Now a retired handyman and author, Mike enjoys his lorry-home lifestyle in a pretty Snowdonia town, while promoting more leisurely mountaineering, potholing, and sailing for older folk!

Reviews

Andy Mullaney - 24 Aug, 2024

As I’ve been reading this book, I’ve often thought about how I would review it. Every time I felt like I had finally captured my thoughts, another unexpected, madcap adventure would unfold on the following pages, forcing me to rethink my summary.

Mike is one of the last great adventurers this country has produced—someone who takes on a challenge simply because it’s there, often without any plan, preparation, or thought for his own safety, recovery, or return. He embodies a certain eccentricity that is endearing and makes you want to cheer him on.

I’ll admit, I found myself becoming incredibly frustrated at times. As someone who prepares, plans, and is not a risk-taker, reading this book has been akin to watching a horror film: one where you know it’s going to make you uncomfortable and make you want to look away, but you can’t help but keep watching.

Mike has an encyclopedic recall of situations and encounters. The level of detail is incredible, and the vivid pictures he paints with his words are utterly absorbing.

I finished the book feeling somewhat sad that Mike had never found his true love and had only encountered near misses along the way. However, I also get the sense that a partner might have caged Mike, and as we know, some birds are meant to fly free. I do think he would have made a wonderful father.

I wholeheartedly recommend this book to anyone who wants to delve into the mind of an English gentleman whose wanderlust and desire for adventure completely overtook his life. The stories will leave you gasping in awe, holding your breath, and laughing out loud.

Given Mike's writing style, I believe this book would make a fantastic TV series, complete with commentary and scenes rich in comedy and self-deprecation.

Thank you, Mike, for writing this and keeping me so thoroughly entertained during my convalescence. It has been a privilege to read, and I hope many more will add it to their reading lists.