I received this very interesting (and kind) response to my first book.

Hi Alastair,
Just finished reading ‘Moods of Future Joys’ today and thoroughly enjoyed it and in some ways was challenged myself.
As a cycling expeditioner myself at one time (though on a much smaller scale), I always like to read others’ stories of travel in this mode. I especially find them stimulating when the author speaks of how the journeys have changed or challenged them personally in some way and your experiences were fascinating reading. Your writing comes from the heart and is that much richer because of this.
I’mve always been inspired by T.E Lawrence’s quotation about how those who dream by day are dangerous for they may make their dreams a reality (I’mm sure you’re familiar with this as it is found in the initial chapter of ‘Seven Pillars of Wisdom’). I am impressed by how you have ‘dreamed by day’ – in my own Christian scriptures, the Bible speaks of the ‘wind of God’s spirit’ blowing where it pleases. Most of us hide from that wind and never allow it to carry us to a place where we can discover all that we have been created to be, leading lives which are diminished because we do not let ourselves engage with the adventure that is life, and the strong sense to live it in all its fullness. You have responded admirably to the challenge to your spirit that I would dare to venture in saying, could well have a divine origin. Having completed your journey around the world, I am sure that in future you will be less shackled by the anxieties and fears that often cripple our lust for life. May your journey around the world so strengthen and inspire you, that your future journey through life is enlivened by it.
Reverend J