Free Country: A Penniless Adventure the Length of Britain

4.4 4.4 out of 5 stars | 10,677 ratings

Price: 21.83

Last update: 11-14-2024


About this item

The plan is simple. George and Ben have three weeks to cycle 1,000 miles from the bottom of England to the top of Scotland. There's just one small problem - they have no bikes, no clothes, no food, and no money. Setting off in just a pair of Union Jack boxer shorts, they attempt to rely on the generosity of the British public for everything from food to accommodation, clothes to shoes, and bikes to beer.

During the most extraordinary of challenges, George and Ben scavenge through rubbish bins, search for the Loch Ness monster, wash dishes, clean hotels, sing Christmas carols for food, swim in lakes, descend Cornish hills on children's bikes, and cook a barbecue for 30 old people in a field. They spend the night in a greenhouse, a canal boat, a posh hotel, an empty house, a pub, a tent in a car park, and a barn with a bull.

Through the course of their hysterical journey, they are clothed, fed, and sheltered by the generous people of Britain.


Top reviews from the United States

Kent Peterson
5.0 out of 5 stars I'd like to buy these guys a beer
Reviewed in the United States on November 28, 2012
George Mahood is the sort of chap you'd like to have a beer with. Actually, I think he's the kind of fellow you'd find yourself buying a beer for after just the briefest of conversations. I say this having never met the man but I feel like I've just had the adventure of a lifetime with my new pal after having read his very funny and surprisingly inspirational book Free Country.

Free Country tells the true story of two young men, George and his friend Ben, who decide to cycle the length of Britain from Land's End to John O Groats. While this ambitious journey has been undertaken by many others, none have done it in quite the same way as George and Ben. Because, you see, they begin with nothing. Well, not quite nothing, they each have a pair of Union Jack boxer shorts (and George later confesses, a camera, a notebook, a pencil and stack of cards containing the words "I am OFFICIALLY a very nice person.")

Over three weeks in September, with a vow to spend no money they wander their way north like the maddest of monks on the most quixotic of quests. What they find along the way is a country filled with very interesting people, a great number of whom are very nice. Ben and George manage, through charm, wit, fast talking and willingness to do tasks ranging from cleaning, to loading onions to singing for their suppers, to acquire clothes, food, bicycles and someplace to sleep every night. It is a wonderful adventure and very, very funny. George is a great observer of life and a very witty writer and he and Ben bicker throughout the journey in the way that only true friends can. A few quotes will give you the flavor of this delightful book:

`Yeah. There's a place called Neilston in another ten miles.' `Ten miles? Are you kidding me?' asked Ben. `Err, no. It doesn't look like there's anything else before there anyway. We've done really well today. I reckon we'll have done over 90 miles.' `WHAT? My god, you are such a slave driver. If I'd known we had done anything near that much, I would have stopped for the day ages ago.' `I know. That's why I didn't tell you.'

-----

Before eating the sandwiches we tried a rendition of Silent Night in German that I could still remember from primary school. A guy on a bmx, in his mid thirties, approached with a small paper bag from Greggs. `Hi guys. You can have these two donuts if you promise to stop singing.' `You've got yourself a deal. Thanks, mate,' I said.

-----

The descent from Kirkstone Pass was undoubtedly the fastest I have ever been on a bike. It was possibly the fastest that man has ever travelled, in any form of transport. If The Falcon had had wings, I swear she would have taken off. It was one of the scariest, but most exhilarating things I have ever done. Braking wasn't really an option for me, as The Falcon's brakes only had any slight effect when travelling at a ridiculously slow speed, or uphill. I just gave in and let The Falcon do what she was best at doing - not stopping.

-----

We explained our challenge and asked if there was anything we could do in exchange for some free food. `Oooooh, what do you reckon, Jan? Should we give these two strapping young lads any food?' she said to her colleague. `Yeah, why not. If that one with the skimpy shorts shows us a bit more leg,' she laughed. `That'll be you then, George,' said Ben. This was a new low. I was being made to flaunt my body in exchange for food. I felt used. I felt cheap. I liked it. I lifted up the side of my skimpy blue shorts, and exposed my flabby white thighs. `Phwoooooaarr,' said both ladies...

-----

If a nutritionist had analysed what we ate during the bike ride, I think they probably would have concluded that we should not be alive, let alone fit enough to cycle. I read somewhere that beige food is bad for you. Almost everything we ate was a shade of beige; bread, pasta bakes, chips, pasties and bananas. Anyway, all I'm saying is that peas and carrots taste unbelievable if you only eat beige food for 17 days beforehand. Give it a try.

-----

Free Country is one of the funniest books I've ever read and it is a book that celebrates the tremendous kindness that exists in the world. George and Ben completed their journey thanks to the kindness of strangers, but after reading the tale of their journey, I feel that I owe them much more than the meager cost of this book for the laughter and wisdom I've found in its pages. George and Ben, if you ever make it to Issaquah, look me up. I'll make sure you've got a good meal and a place to stay.
Girl in the Green Bathrobe
4.0 out of 5 stars Good-hearted, inspiring, but repetitive
Reviewed in the United States on August 6, 2015
I had a lot of problems with this book- there's a lot of repetition of the same sort of language joke, the journey itself is fairly repetitive, and I got a little tired of too many "not gay" jokes.

That said, it's also easy to read, it's mostly a lot of fun, and the fact that it's just so good-hearted earned it that fourth star. It's far from literature, but it's light, entertaining, and worth a few hours of your time.

It was enough to make me think LEJOG is a good idea, and I don't particularly like rain nor exercise!

(Note: There are pictures from their adventure at the end of each chapter. On Kindle, it's disappointing not to be able to see the pictures and their captions very well because you can't enlarge them. Since it's an ebook and page count isn't an issue, why not have the pictures full-page sized?)
J.Edgar Sis
5.0 out of 5 stars Really surprised
Reviewed in the United States on April 3, 2014
I have read several self published and published, low and high cost authors etc. But as many readers have mentioned about other books, sometimes the editing, grammar, or writing style alone , of a writer can be irritating, bad, unedited or filled with problems in general that take away from the story, if there is one.

That said, that is not the case with this book, though some have said they got a little tired of the expletives etc. I almost didn't buy the book for a number of reasons, but was leery because of some of the reviews. It was excellent in story and editing and writing style, as far as I am concerned. I loved it! I needed something easy, funny in places, reminiscent of my visits to England and the friends who come to visit me, who argue with me and my family hilariously over our differences in language and our unique perspectives of our own countries problems, Constitutions, and people. Possibly because I am a retired L.E. I can be the most cynical of people and politics, while absolutely loving the kind, generous and quirky people and law abiding taxpayers and non, in America that I have served and know, which is just about what this book is about.
Two crazy and adventurous young men, go across England on a whim, so to speak and start out with self limiting and outrageous, unwritten rules of the road and of engagement with people, business and conditions of travel. The trip and stories are beautiful, sometimes funny and sometimes outright, giggling good! In two visits to England, I have been to the start of their journey, Cornwall, and the finish at Lands End. But, I was in car or train, so I knew nothing of all the places these men stopped "and begged, borrowed and tooled through on their less than perfect bikes. You don't need to know the geography or England to appreciate and understand this book. The author writes well and completely, beautiful discriptions, without too many details or romanticizing of about countryside or whether (though enough to make you laugh and appreciate what detail he gives).

If you are tried of politics, news, family, problems or work, and just want a delightful and well written first book by a native Brit writer on a Bike, buy the book and decide for yourself. It is one you can lay down and pick up later without having to remember where you were at a week ago. I can see how some may have been disappointed, because they "expected" something different. It is not a thrill ride or a simple ride or read. It is what I would called a excellent, joyful, calming and surprising ride through the landscape of people who surprise you and them, while many may laugh or fear, a trip that you think only "my idiot kids" would do. But the outcome and ending is rather exceptional, if you imagine doing the same thing in America or any other country, where we are all, at the least, leery of strangers and cynical about money and how many good and trusting people are "really out there". The quotes are mine, but every parent knows the difficulty of teaching little children about goodness and mercy, and the difference between trust but be prepared. So that is why I say I was amazed and surprised by both the writing, editing and story itself. Mostly the story of the people who trusted or helped these nutcases, was uplifting if not totally beguiling. Try it you will like it.
Moore AZ
5.0 out of 5 stars Fun and entertaining
Reviewed in the United States on August 6, 2024
Usually when I see a description of a book as hilarious etc, it's not. I don't remember how this was described, but it was very entertaining, I thought about it alot during the times I wasn't reading it.

Nice British travelog and testament to the kindness of strangers.

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