Notes from the Road. VOL III: Europe, Russia, Siberia, Mongolia, Kazakhstan

Mansfield's beautifully written travel biographies always contain an element of the surprising, bordering on the surreal. Notes From The Road Vol III describes his journey from London to Mongolia and back through the countries of the former Soviet Union. Choosing to travel by motorcycle, he journeys with both trepidation and rich good humour; most usually staying in outlandish places, he introduces the reader to the culture and lives of the people he meets on his way. The honesty of the telling is remarkable; ordinary people with extraordinary tales, deep intimacies exchanged and recorded, dark shadows from the author's past illuminated, and, when suffering from depression in Mongolia, an earnest account of his attempted suicide two decades earlier. The story is given historical context with lucid descriptions of battlefields, visits to Gulags and nations at war; his personal experience is coloured by encounters with gangsters, corruption, mechanical failures and the breaking of bones. Taking all of this in his stride, he also writes of being humbled by kindness, help and assistance readily given, and his ultimate gratitude that he survived. Told in his unique style with wry observations and acerbic wit, the story is ultimately an inspiration for all who would learn to travel on unknown roads. Since 2010 the author has travelled in more than forty countries on three continents; many more than twice. Some 65,000 of these miles were travelled solo, on a motorcycle. It is, he says, 'love that keeps him going.'