>Dervla Murphy

1931-

Irish Writer and Traveler

Dervla Murphy is a fearless, female traveler who writes about her adventures with a straightforward punch. She travels simplistically by bicycle, by pony, or on foot, allowing her to truly connect with the people she encounters.

Murphy has been writing and traveling for over 30 years with no plans of stopping. Her first travel book, Full Tilt, describes her 1963 experience on a solo bicycle journey over 4,000 miles (6,436 km) from Dublin to New Delhi. She traveled with only one change of clothes, a toothbrush, and a .25 automatic pistol in her backpack. Luckily, she only had to use the gun on a pack of wild wolves she encountered while riding through Turkey.

Born in Lismore, County Waterford, Ireland, on November 28, 1931, Murphy was an only child who dreamed of far away places. Her father, the county librarian, brought home picture books and Murphy would plot journeys through each page. Murphy got her own atlas and bicycle at age 10 and mapped out her first journey to India. However this journey would have to wait. Four years later, she left boarding school to keep house for her father and take care of her invalid mother. Later, after both parents died, she prepared for her long bicycle ride to New Delhi, which began a life filled with incredible travels.

While in India, she worked with Tibetan refugees and wrote her second book, The Waiting Land: A Spell in Nepal. In 1968, her daughter, Rachel, was born. Married life did not agree with Murphy, but she readily took on the role as a single parent. After a five-year hiatus, Murphy returned to India with her daughter, who became her companion through many of her future adventures. Together they roamed through southern India, described in her 1976 book On a Shoestring to Coorg, trekked across 1,300 miles (2,092 km) of the Andes (Eight Feet in the Andes, 1983), and more recently crossed Cameroon on a horse (Cameroon with Egbert, 1990). In the later book, Rachel, who was 18 at the time, accompanied her mother by choice and traveled more as Murphy's adult companion than her daughter.

Although she has written of her many adventures in Madagascar, Nepal, and Africa, she has also written about less exotic destinations, some of which were politically important to Murphy. In A Race to the Finish (1982), Murphy describes the nuclear arms struggle in Northern Ireland. She also described accounts of the Handsworth riot in 1985 and the troubles of ethnic minorities living in Northern Ireland.

Her interest in these causes and others around the world gave Murphy another reason to travel and write about what she encountered. Since her early 20s she has been interested in the old South African apartheid regime. Visiting there on three separate occasions, twice before the 1994 election that brought about a democratic government, and once since, Murphy has given her readers a serious look at world travel. While traveling the second time through South Africa on bike, she wrote about her encounters with the serious disease of AIDS, or "ukimwi." Although her journey from Kenya to Zimbabwe was intended to be lighthearted, Murphy knew that "ukimwi" would follow her throughout her trip. Even at the age of 62, she bicycled 40 to 80 miles (64-129 km) a day. She also contracted malaria, starved, and was beaten up during this visit.

Although she has survived many unpleasant experiences, Murphy is no stranger to fear. In 1969, when she was riding a mule through Ethiopia, four bandits robbed her and debated whether to kill her. In her latest travelogue, One Foot in Laos, both brakes on Murphy's bike gave out while riding down a steep track with hairpin turns and a 500-foot (152 m) drop. Ironically, although she is fearless on her treks, Murphy continues to have a phobia of spiders.

Murphy's books serve as a guide for other travel/adventure writers who look to her for inspiration. Riding alone on a bike through scenic landscapes and tucked-away villages allows her to get close to people. She is an honored guest in many villages, where she sleeps on the floors of huts, eats insect delicacies, and enjoys hearty portions of rat stew. She is interested in and fascinated with every detail of her journeys, which makes for excellent travel writing.

KATHERINE BATCHELOR