My favourite travel book is Full Tilt, Irish travel writer Dervla Murphys account of her 1963 bicycle ride from Ireland to Delhi. Setting off in January, through one of Europes coldest winters, the indomitable Murphy, now 85, endures blizzards and wolves, fighting off the latter with a pistol shed been trained to use by the Irish police. Later, in Afghanistan, Pakistan and India, she bravely pedals her faithful steed, Rozinante, across scorching deserts and barren mountains, enduring it all with characteristic fortitude and good humour. In Pakistan, Dervla portrays a way of life seemingly unchanged for centuries. Not only is her writing exemplary, but theres a freshness to the book, and a sense that she was cycling through a world that would soon vanish. And the whole journey cost just 66what a contrast to the heavily-sponsored long-distance cyclists of today Dervla is everything a travel writer should be interesting, interested, observant, humorous, compassionate, brave and endearingly humble. Still writing at 85, I cant think of a more inspiring woman or travel writer.

Antonia Bolingbroke-Kents latest book is Land of the Dawn-Lit Mountains