A hat, a kayak and dreams of Dar
A book by journalist Terry Bell detailing his and his wife's travels in a kayak from London to Tangier, was launched in Durban last week.
IN December 1965, in a smoke-filled hotel room in Morocco, South African journalist Terry Bell accepted a challenge by a Canadian friend to paddle a kayak from London to Tangier.
At the time, Terry and his wife Barbara were living as political exiles in London . By August 1967, they agreed it was time to get back to Africa but decided to up the ante. Their plan was to paddle 11 000 kilometres from England to Dar es Salaam in a 5-metre glass fibre kayak.
Bell’s book, A hat, a kayak and dreams of Dar, the hilarious story of a 1967 kayak trip that lasted more that a year, was launched last week at Ike’s Books and Collectables in Florida Road.
Terry said he and Barbara left in August 1967. Barbara mutinied just east of Barcelona on the Spanish coast and they continued on foot and various vehicles, reaching Ndola, Zambia in November 1968.
Responding to whether Barbara and Terry had a good rapport during the adventure, he said: “Well, we’re still together and we finally got to Dar, 13 years, two children and two continents after setting out!”
Bell said there were many frights and highlights during the expedition, such as getting lost in high seas in fog, having lost the compass overboard and paddling through Paris on a warm Autumn day.
ALSO READ: Join our book club and enjoy huge discounts on brilliant reads
The Bells always meant to put together a book about the expedition, but only did so recently.
“We were writing about our experiences as we travelled, carrying a portable typewriter, ream of paper and carbon paper along with camera and film. All were stolen and it was only when, 50 years later, we consulted the postcards Barbara had sent her family throughout the journey that we realised we had an effective diary. Once we had sorted out the detail from the postcards and from some early reel to reel tapes that had survived from the latter part of the trip, it probably took us about eight months to put the book together,” he said.
Journalist and wine guru John Platter describes the book as “A terrific, uproarious story about the pluckiest, most ham-fisted, naïve, fun-loving and articulate couple ever to set off in a kayak.”
The Bells decided the book had to include Barbara’s recipes for the food she cooked along the way after Platter pressed them for the story of how they cooked in a kayak for over a year. The recipes at the back describe the delicious meals she concocted from the French, Spanish and Moroccan markets they came across along the way.
ALSO READ: Author pens children’s book
This is one of Bell’s many books, having also written Fordsburg Fighter (2016), Right to Fight (2011), Comrade Moss – a political journey (2009), Unfinished Business – South Africa, apartheid and truth (2001, 2003) and ‘a number of earlier bits and pieces.’
For extracts from the book, visit: https://readinglist.click/sub/an-anniversary-dinner-to-remember-read-an-excerpt-from-a-hat-a-kayak-and-dreams-of-dar/
The book is available at major Durban booksellers.
Do you want to receive news alerts via WhatsApp? Send us a WhatsApp message (not an sms) with your name and surname to 060 532 5535.
You can also join the conversation on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.
PLEASE NOTE: If you have signed up for our news alerts you need to save the Berea Mail WhatsApp number as a contact to your phone, otherwise you will not receive our alerts
