It's been a while since I've read this book, but it still lingers. Selby, a middle-aged woman biking alone through the Pyrenees and across Spain to Santiago de Compostela, is full of wit, great stories, and endless energy (how she kept peddling after quaffing a bit of the free vino offered to pilgrims itself is amazing). It inspires an amateur bicyclist like me to pedal a few extra miles whenever I envision her journey. Even if you are not a bike enthusiast, you'll love her tales of the people she meets, the tiny towns she travels through, and the sense of triumph she feels upon reaching her destination

Inspired and curious about what she'd learned about the Crusades, the author of this travelogue decides to make a pilgrimage of her own - from London to Jerusalem on a bicycle. She takes us along for the ride, using her significant knowledge of Christian history to put her itinerary into context for us. This book becomes not just a story of adventure, but a traveling history discussion . Selby has a Christian, feminist viewpoint, and while she often questions the brutality done in the name of religion, she still finds strength and beauty in her religious heritage and the religions of the Jews and Moslems she meets along the way. A wonderful book for those readers interested in the history of the Middle East and/or of the Judeo- Christian religious tradition

I read this book in preparation for a visit to Jerusalem. Reading Selby's account changes a visitor into a pilgrim. I felt like I was not just another tourist heading for Israel, but the latest in a centuries old tradtion of pilgrims! Her description of the last day of her journey, culminating with her entry to Jerusalem, is one of the best travel pieces I have ever read, and gives the reader a great sense of the conflict and tension that is such a real part of this city. I would recommend Riding to Jerusalem as a "must read" for anyone traveling to Israel!

I purchased this book on an overflow shelf. Ms Selby offers another diatribe on how the Israelis are entirely to blame for the current sad state of affairs in the Mid East, and how the Arabs and Palestinians would be in a state of bliss -- just like they were prior to 1948 -- if the Jews simply packed up and left the Holy Land. When she equated the Israeli Army with the Nazis, I figured enough was enough -- she seems to forget that had she tried this narcissistic bike trip prior to l967, she would have been barred from re-entering Jordan. This book is an insult to the Arabs as well as the Israelis.

I picked up this book, thinking it would be a political analysis of the Middle East. Instead, I was surprised to find that while it covered this angle admirably, it was in actuality a travel book summarizing Selby's tour of the Holy Land on her bicycle. The stories she tells of her journey really bring home the scale of human suffering caused by the conflict between Israel and its neighbours. The stories surrounding her travels through the settlement camps in the occupied territories are particularly moving. I recommend this book for anyone interested in the Middle East, peace and conflict studies, or for those who enjoy their travel books written with a strong dose of reality by a razor-sharp wit.