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These Are The Days That Must Happen To You

These are the days that must happen to you (also sold as Endless Horizons) by Dan Walsh Review by Rich Poulter Before I start this review I should fill you in on a little history which may explain my passion for this book. My dad is motorbike mad and when I was a kid he used [...]

These are the days that must happen to you (also sold as Endless Horizons) by Dan Walsh
Review by Rich Poulter

Before I start this review I should fill you in on a little history which may explain my passion for this book.

My dad is motorbike mad and when I was a kid he used to get a magazine called Bike UK. When I was bored of annoying my brother and sister and there was nothing on the telly I used to flick through this magazine looking at the expensive shiny bikes and the exotic locations they were being ridden in.

One day as I flicked through I came upon a photo of a guy stood in front of a knackered looking old BMW motorbike. Shirt open, obviously hungover, unshaven, wearing shades with a cigarette in one hand a beer bottle in the other.

That man was Dan Walsh. For the next few months I always checked Bike for Dan’s articles. His style is raw, aggressive, offensive but always interesting. Unfortunately Dan is not a reliable man as one publisher has said “I only hear from Dan when hes hungry” and I was quiet often dis-appointed, but when there was an article it was fantastic.

His story as I understand is that one day Dan sold everything packed his bike and set off around the world and hasn’t looked back since.

“I get my bum pinched by a tranny, my pocket picked by a grifter and get a gun pulled on me by a one-eyed, one-armed midget who’s upset cause I winked at him. These are the days that must happen to you.”

This statements sums up Dan Walsh and his style of writing. His best feature is the lack of pretence he never pretends that he is anything other than a lazy drunk whose looking to score.

This book took a long time to appear with many false starts as Dan lived up to form. Luckily at some point he ran out of “walking around money” and so this book a collaborative of all his articles came to life.

Follow Dan as he drags himself first through Africa and then the Americas. As he travels he’s been mistaken for a bum in New York, bashed by deadly tequila in Mexico, contracted typhoid in a dilapidated Bolivian hotel, and visited The Most Beautiful Road in the World in Peru.

“For me, Chile will always be South America’s supermodel sister – very beautiful but too long, too skinny, and too expensive to ride, and despite the groovy exterior, unpleasantly right-wing underneath.”

Whils this book is definetley for the over 18’s and won’t win any literary awards it is one you definetley shouldn’t miss. Dan hasn’t been heard of since 2006 when he made a quick stop in London before heading back to South America so we don’t know yet if he will ever publish anything again so this is well worth a read.  The last word I shall leave to Dan himself:

“Riding a bike removes the need for clutter, toys, rubbish that other men have to take on holiday. If I want adrenaline, I’ll rush a giddy overtake, not rent a jet ski.”

God Bless You Dan!

Shop for These Are the Days That Must Happen to You on Amazon.

Filed under: Books, Motorcycle Travel, South America

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  • Wade | VagabondJourney.com April 19, 2011, 1:20 pm

    Another excellent review, Rich. This seems to be a book that could spark a lifestyle — there is something essential in the human psyche that seems to love the idea of leaving everything behind to go out into the world of pure adventure. Thanks for recommending this book.

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    • Rich Poulter April 22, 2011, 8:18 pm

      Thanks Wade. It’s definitely one of my favourites. Just hope he resurfaces and writes again!

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