'The mass of men lead lives of quiet desperation', and few realise their dreams of escape. Dave Cook followed his dream and in 1989 set off for Australia on his bicycle. His vivid account tells of his rock-climbing adventures en route, of friends made and of the political situations he found ­ including a tangle with Saddam Hussein's police.

Throughout he records with keen observation and refreshing honesty his reflections on social injustice from Yugoslavia to the Indian continent; and on his own moral values and the pursuit of dreams.